In this episode of the Revenue Builders podcast, our hosts John McMahon and John Kaplan talk to MW Components’ VP of Sales Kara Bosse about the current state of the manufacturing industry and how they are addressing the most recent challenges, including the backlogs caused by the supply chain issues. Kara emphasizes the need to be communicative, keep a healthy and deep pipeline, and be open to having challenging conversations to develop better relationships. 

 

Additional Resources:

• Connect with Kara on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kara-bosse-93469320/
• Listen to More Revenue Builders: https://forc.mx/3bfW5Od

 

HIGHLIGHTS

• Navigating a sea of black swans 
• The more severe the crisis, the more transparent you need to be 
• Companies are taking their manufacturing back in-shore
• Supply chain issues are changing business relationships
• Challenging conversations can help build deeper relationships
• You can't fight a bad pipeline
• Tips for managing relationships between sales and manufacturing 
• Current challenges and chokepoints in the manufacturing sector
• Knowing your walk-away point is an important part of negotiation 

 

QUOTES

Kara on being communicative to customers in times of uncertainty: "That's really all that you can do, right? Being proactive, have those transparent discussions. When we don’t get any information, we always tend to think the worst. With an absence of information, we create the worst possible scenario."

Kara on adapting to unexpected market changes: "Ultimately, you've got to be pretty wide and robust with your pipeline overall because you can't fight a bad pipeline. And it really ended up exposing the folks that weren't deep in their pipeline overall."

How Kara is improving the relationships between manufacturing and sales: "The structure that we have is really valuable to our customers and very well aligned with our value proposition. But at the end of the day, there are still some of these holes where we need to be able to pivot. So we've invested in product managers who work for the manufacturing site and work for the outside sales rep. They're kind of the conduit between the two, and they’ve helped us get through supply chain issues"

 

Check out John McMahon’s book here: https://www.amazon.com/Qualified-Sales-Leader-Proven-Lessons/dp/0578895064

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