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Thread: Hello!!

  1. #1

    Default Hello!!

    Hello, my name is Nickie. I am on my 3rd week in operation. I have started my own freight brokerage company. I have been in the industry for 16 years & know the dispatching inside & out. However, I am dealing with challenges in the sales side. Anyone have advice for cold call sales &/or cold emails? I am not a creative writer but I know I need to get their attention.

    Look forward to some feedback!

    Thanks

  2. #2

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    Welcome to the forum, Nickie. I have clients in the logistics business but don't have a clue about the sales side. All of my brothers and sisters, save one, are or have been in sales at one point in their professional lives, but none of it has rubbed off on me.

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    Welcome to the forum Nickie. Can't say I know the logistics business and I've never been big on cold calling or cold emails. I take it yours is a business to business operation. From the little bit of cold calling I have done and other sales related jobs I've had, the main thing with all of them was to prepare your pitch as best as you can. Try to think through every question and objection the person you're talking to might have. Think of the best response you can give to those questions and objections. You're kind of preparing a script, but not one you have to follow linearly. It's mainly to prepare yourself so you have an answer for whatever is thrown at you.

    Then you build up the courage and start making some calls. You won't have your "script" perfect right away. Use each call to make it better. Whenever you think of something better to say than what's on your "script" incorporate it. Keep practicing what you'll say so it becomes natural and second nature. Little by little you get better at what you're doing.

    There are a few people here who have worked sales a lot and know this stuff better than most of us. I'm sure one or two will be along to offer better advice than me.

    Thanks for joining the community.
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  4. #4

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    Can you give us some more detail on what a freight brokerage company does? Who your customers are? etc. I don't know the industry so its kind of hard to give sales advice.

  5. #5

    Default Freight Broker

    Avid Logistics LLC is a freight brokerage company. The freight broker is the middle man of the shipping industry. They are also known as third party transportation companies. Freight brokers provide a service by linking the customers/shippers and trucking companies. Their service is indispensable when moving goods throughout this country as there are literally hundreds of different shippers offering thousands of different services. The freight brokers make the process of securing a shipper quite easy with one-stop shopping. Freight brokers provide an important and valuable service to both motor carriers and shippers. They help carriers fill the trucks and earn a commission for their efforts. They help shippers find reliable motor carriers that they (the shippers) might not have otherwise known about. Some customers use brokers as their traffic department, allowing the broker to coordinate all their shipping needs.

    So I am calling up customers that make product & need to ship it. I am targeting food product & packaging products. So in most cases it is shipping from the manufacture & going to the grocery distribution center. I have had some success in getting customers to send me quotes. But now a days it is hard to get someone on the phone as they have caller ID. Many won't answer their phone if they don't recognize the #. So I may have to be sneaky & get their email address & introduce myself that way. Just looking for pointers on how to start that email. I want to keep it short & to the point. But that 1st line has me stumped. Yesterday I tried this technique. I called a potential customer, the receptionist said the person I needed was in a meeting but I could leave a voicemail. I ask them what that person name is & also if I could get their email. I then left the voicemail & followed up within mins with an email. The customer responded to my email with a customer/carrier contract within 20 mins. So I know it can work. But I want to polish up my email. Below is what I wrote....



    XXXXXX,
    I just left you a voicemail and I thought I should follow up with an email. My contact information and website are listed below. I would love an opportunity to work with you and your company. Please let me know if there is anything that I can help you out with. We specialize in LTL & truckload. I look forward to hearing from you.

    Have a great day!

    (below I had my information in my signature)


    Thanks for any advice!!!
    Nickie
    Avid Logistics LLC
    www.avidlogisticsllc.com

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    Default

    Thanks for the extra info Nickie.

    One thing I notice in your email is there's no mention of why someone should contact you. Maybe you mention it in the voicemail, but I don't see anything in the email suggesting why contacting you would be good for me. Can you save me money? Make me money? Make things more convenient for me? If I already have a freight broker why should I switch? If I don't have one how do you help me?

    I realize you can't answer all those questions in an email and probably don't even need to, but I think mentioning some kind of benefit, some reason why contacting you is in my best interest could get more people to contact you.
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    Nickie, first of all welcome. Second, you should start a thread dedicated to your questions and you will get more response. Not all the members check in on introductions, so you'll get more exposure in other areas of the forum.

    At one time I did a lot of cold calling so I have plenty of experience. Since that is not something I've done for quite some time now, things have changed and the rules a bit different. With that said, your technique should be good even with all the changes. You made a good point about caller ID, so getting through may be tougher now. But the follow-up is important. Getting through by phone has always been tough even before caller ID. Although I had some success with using the phone for first contact, it's never been a preferred method from either side of the call.

    You have the advantage that many of your potential customers would be in industrial zones allowing you to target them in person. You won't typically get past the receptionist, but if you devise a clever presentation package, you can get the business card of the decision maker and leave your info for them. Then when you call, they are more receptive because you took the time to leave them something first. This call goes a long way to measure the potential for turning them into customers. Keep following up according to the responses you get.

    When I first started doing this, I was as nervous as anyone would be. Over time it gets easier. You will probably start enjoying it once you gain some experience.

    Since many of your potential customers won't be local, I would advise getting mailing lists that include phone numbers. New business listings would probably work very well for you. Send them something in the mail, then follow up with a phone call. This may sound "old school" but email will just be treated like spam. Your response rates will be very low. With snail mail, do something "lumpy" that they will want to open. You don't have to spend a fortune, just be creative.

    Keep spending time here too. You have access to a lot of experienced people with an abundance of ideas that will help.
    Steve Chittenden

    Web design, graphic design, professional writing, and marketing.

    "Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat." -- Theodore Roosevelt

  8. #8

    Default It's not really sales

    Sorry to reply to this so late Nikki.

    My past background has been in insurance sales for the past 15 years and have been a freight broker for the past two. It's a world of difference and I love it. There really is no "sales" involved. The people you are looking to speak with ie: logistic managers, traffic managers, etc., get this call 30-40 times a day from brokers. If you reach one that's not under contract w/ a 3PL then they will tell you either A - they send out their available loads via email distribution or B - you call this # at this time for a list of loads. There really is not a whole lot of setting yourself apart other than personality. People buy people, not their product, their savings, etc. Again, they get this same call 3-40 times a day, they've heard it all. I'm not interested in neccisarrily saving them money, all the companies are around the same rate and if you are using market carriers that you aren't contracted with then YOU WILL BE MORE EXPENSIVE. I'm interested in them remembering me, my follow up, my timleness and my ability to move their freight quickly, reliably, timely and safley. The best way to set yourself apart is to know something about the company rather than just their phone number that you googled or got of of Hoovers or the like. Know how many manufacturing or distribution centers they have, know where their corporate office is, know what it is they make, IE: are they a private label manufacturer for a product you use every day? If so then great! Let them know how much you love it! I'd say it's a numbers game, but the number games are in Vegas. The bulk of brokers will tell you just go down the list and dial (100+ calls a day easily). I'm more for smart prospecting. I don't call any company that doesn't average 1-2 M in business a year. I'm also quick to look for a website address (it's 2013 and it's vital for me to find out more about the company - but not all will if for example they are a high volume compounding company because they don't do retail). Many will tell you get past the gatekeeper (secretary for example) and get to the decision maker asap! You will not get to the decision maker asap. Get as much information from that secretary that you can. They answer the phones = they have a good pulse on what's going on. Many can tell you if they're already under contract w/ a 3PL or if they use brokers, how many shipments they have a week, their most frequent lanes, who to speak with and yes...that ever so important email of that decision maker (some can't give it to you under direction because, and I may have mentioned this, they get this phone call 30-40 times a day, that email is your best friend! You're dispatching will come in great! I wish I had that background. Obviously do most of your prospecting in the states drivers want to go. As far as a "script" goes this is along the lines of what I say when i reach the operator:

    Hi, my name is _____ with ABC Freight Brokering Co, an asset based company that runs the lower 48 states and Canada. Does your company ship domestic freight from this location? (you'll get a lot from this: no, call our distribution location: yes, you need to speak with: or no, all of our shipments are customer routed) If it's a "yes, you need to speak with..." get as much info on the person you can INCLUDING EMAIL because 95% of the time it's going to go to voice mail.

    AND ABOVE ALL, SOUND CONFIDENT & ENERGETIC! IF YOU SOUND LIKE MOST DISPATCHERS THEN THIS WILL NOT BE A FIT FOR YOU (just saying) Happy Hunting! Hope this helps, sorry for the run ons, grammer and spelling
    Last edited by pburrows; 09-23-2013 at 03:39 PM.

  9. #9

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    no. do not snail mail. email is the king of freight brokering. this isn't local insurance man sales. decision makers don't care about your effort. all they care about is: are you asset based, how many trucks, what type trailers, how much insurance you have, safety rating, lane rates. that's it. no warm and fuzzys because you dropped by the office and left your card. A lot of the decision makers arent even at their plant, it's in a corporate office 4 states away.

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    Thanks for the additional info pburrows. I don't think Nickie's been around for awhile and may never see the information, but I'm sure others will find it valuable.
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