JSU / Playbooks / Wholesale Distribution
How to price your Distribution sales bottleneck
Run the same math as the JSU Bottleneck Index on your own Distribution numbers in three steps.
The Wholesale Distribution 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 $432,000.
The formula
Annual bottleneck = average deal value × winnable deals lost per quarter × 4. For Wholesale Distribution, that is $54,000 × 2 × 4 = $432,000.
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. Counter quotes, first in line wins.
- A competitor's supplier relationship breaks publicly
- A contractor or dealer expands regions
- A manufacturer changes channel terms
- An account's order pattern signals supplier trouble
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 wholesale distribution, the leak is almost always the larger figure.
Remember what each variable really represents. The $54,000 is one distribution 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 1 business day 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 late counter quote cost a distributor?
At $54,000 average annual account value, two lost accounts a quarter is $432,000 a year. Consolidation goes to the distributor who answered first.
Which signals predict an account ready to consolidate?
Supplier disruptions, line-card gaps, branch openings, and order-pattern changes that signal supplier trouble.