JSU / Playbooks / Manufacturing
How to price your Manufacturing sales bottleneck
Run the same math as the JSU Bottleneck Index on your own Manufacturing numbers in three steps.
The Manufacturing bottleneck prices a single question: what does it cost you per year to be slow and unfocused at first contact? For a typical firm it is around $680,000.
The formula
Annual bottleneck = average deal value × winnable deals lost per quarter × 4. For Manufacturing, that is $85,000 × 2 × 4 = $680,000.
Run it on your real numbers
The published figure is representative. Take your own average deal and your honest quarterly loss to slow and generic follow-up. Quote cycles measured in days.
- A competitor misses deliveries or exits a line
- Reshoring or tariffs force re-sourcing
- A target outgrows their supplier
- An OEM mandates dual sourcing
Then decide if it's worth closing
Once you have your number, compare it to the cost of fixing speed and aim at first contact. In manufacturing, the leak is almost always the larger figure.
Remember what each variable really represents. The $85,000 is one manufacturing relationship walking out the door. The 2 losses a quarter are not no-fits; they are deals you could have won had you reached the buyer inside the 2 business days window. Multiply by four and you have a full year of revenue that went to whoever simply answered first. That is the figure to price your fix against.
The bottleneck is rarely effort. It is speed and aim at the first touch.
What does a cooled quote cost a manufacturer?
At an $85,000 average order, two lost deals a quarter is $680,000 a year. Most second-source decisions go to the supplier who answered first and stayed warm.
Which signals predict a buyer sourcing a second supplier?
Competitor delivery failures, reshoring and tariff activity, capacity strain, and OEM dual-sourcing mandates.