Pivots, Supply Chain Challenges and Building Great Client Relationships with Kara Bosse

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