Читать книгу Freight Brokerage Business - The Staff of Entrepreneur Media Inc. - Страница 17
ОглавлениеThe freight industry involves the buying and selling of an intangible service, which makes it a strong “relationship” business. Success as a freight broker requires that you do a tremendous amount of both face-to-face and telephone sales. In other words, your written and verbal communication skills need to be top-notch, and you need to have an outgoing and social personality.
Don’t let the word “selling” scare you. Most of the world’s top sales professionals will tell you they hate “selling.” What they mean is, they hate the vision of the slick, fast-talking character on the used car lot or the door-to-door peddler who wedges a foot in the door and won’t leave until you buy. But that’s not “selling” in the professional sense of the word.
When you sell as a freight broker, you convince shippers that you have the capability to help them with their shipping needs better than anyone else—and if you don’t believe that, then you need to be in another business. You are not going to browbeat them into using you, nor are you going to manipulate them into buying a service they don’t need. You’re going to provide the best professional service that meets their needs at a competitive rate, and communicating that is a major part of the sales process.
Your goal when it comes to sales is to identify the need of the customer for what you’re offering, and then quickly, concisely, and in the friendliest way possible, clearly demonstrate how working with your freight brokerage can save the customer time, money, and aggravation. Focus on how what you’re offering will directly benefit the prospective customer and solve one or more of their problems while filling one or more of their immediate and/or long-term needs. Pinpoint problems and offer proven and money-saving solutions.
Telephone, Online, or Face-to-Face Sales
You might hate the telemarketers who call your home at precisely the moment you are sitting down to dinner, but when it comes to selling your own service, a telephone call can be a very powerful tool.
RJW Logistics has a sales rep who generates $2 million a year in gross revenue just by calling people on the phone. The transportation industry used to be very much a “good old boy” system of casual, drop-in sales calls. It consisted primarily of telling a few jokes, leaving behind some promotional swag, and asking for a shipment by saying something like “Got anything going my way?”
Today’s transportation professionals don’t have time for unexpected visitors with no clear agenda. Collectively, they’re spending billions of dollars each year to move materials, and they need those goods to arrive on time, in good condition, at a reasonable and competitive price.
This is not to say that you shouldn’t be friendly and personable. In fact, your personality plays an important role in the growth of your business. But each sales contact should have a clear purpose that ultimately provides a benefit to your customer. Most customers appreciate a systematic, sophisticated approach that doesn’t waste their time.
In today’s intensely competitive environment, the majority of brokers mix telephone, online communication (emails), and face-to-face sales, using the phone to pre-qualify and set appointments, making a personal call, and then following up on the phone and by email. Once someone voluntarily provides you with their email address, this is often the ideal way to communicate with them after a business relationship has been established. Most people can access their email from their computer(s), smartphone, and/or tablet—at work, at home, and while on-the-go. A growing number of people prefer to communicate via email because it’s more efficient.
Of course, when using email, be clear, concise, and professional within your messages. Focus on correct spelling and avoid punctuation mistakes. Use complete sentences and always stay on point. Use business language and avoid including emojis or internet shorthand, like TTYL (talk to you later), BRB (be right back), or LOL (laugh out loud), within your messages.
The first step of the sales process is qualifying the prospect, which is sales training jargon for determining how much business the potential customer has and who makes the decision as to who is going to get it.
warning
Be careful that you don’t patronize or insult the support staff of your customers or prospective customers. Keep in mind that these people may not only influence the decision-making process, they also may eventually be promoted to decision-making positions—either with that company or another one. So treat them with respect, be concerned about their needs, and nurture a professional relationship with them.
This is not as hard as it seems. It really involves asking a few simple questions. If you networked your way into the company, you probably have a pretty good idea of the answers. If you’re cold calling, simply ask the receptionist or operator “Can you give me the name and title of the person in charge of choosing carriers for your outbound shipments?”
It is important to ask for the name and the title before you ask to be connected with that individual. Of course, sometimes operators will transfer your call, but when they don’t, you begin the conversation with the advantage of knowing whom you’re talking to and the ability to call that person by name.
Once you’re on the phone with that person, confirm that you are indeed talking to the decision-maker. The receptionist may have referred you to the shipping clerk, who fills out the freight bills, calls carriers, and handles some tracing functions—but who does not actually make the decisions. Don’t be shy about asking this question. Most companies these days operate “lean and mean,” and workers don’t have time to listen to a sales presentation they don’t have the authority to act on.
tip
Instead of playing voicemail tag, you may find it beneficial to ask for a prospect’s email address and then send that person a short, personalized, and well-written introductory email message. After an initial in-person sales meeting, you can use email to follow up.
Remember, you need to identify the real decision maker (and keep in mind that there may be more than one in many companies), but don’t ignore the decision influencers. As the name indicates, these are the people who are in a position to influence the decision-making process. They could be telephone operators, receptionists, administrative workers, shipping and receiving clerks—even high-ranking corporate officers.
Think about this: Say you and another broker are competing for a major piece of business from a particular company. The plant manager is making the decision, and his goal is to find someone who can work well with his shipping clerk so he can delegate the details and focus on other things.
You and the other broker are offering very similar rate and service packages, but the other broker took the time to talk with the shipping clerk, maybe even took him to lunch, and established a relationship you don’t have. With all else being nearly equal, if the plant manager asks the shipping clerk for input in the decision, who do you think he’s going to recommend?
This doesn’t mean you need to wine and dine every shipping clerk at every company you deal with or that you need to send all the receptionists’ flowers and candy every week. What it means is that you respect their roles in the process and you communicate with them to find out what they need and how you can best meet those needs.
Once you’ve confirmed that a business has freight you can handle and you know who makes the routing decisions, you need to find out what they need before you begin telling them what you can do. It’s a waste of their time and yours for you to do this any other way.
tip
Before your first sales calls, do some research on the companies so you know how to approach them. Find out what they do, what they ship, and who the decision-makers are. Are they senior executives looking to improve service and save money or a traffic manager who will see you as a threat? “If you go in the wrong way, you’re dead in the water,” says Indianapolis-based freight broker Chuck Andrews.
For example, why bother to spend time telling them about the wide variety of equipment you can provide, only to find out 20 minutes later that they only need standard trailers? Besides wasting time, that sends a clear message that you’re far more interested in making the sale than you are in your customer. Before making a sales call, get to know as much about a prospect and their needs as possible. You can often learn a lot by visiting a prospect’s website, for example.
So how do you find out what a prospective customer needs? Simple: Just ask or do some online research. Say something like “Before I tell you about our services, I’d like to ask you a few questions to find out exactly what you need. Can you tell me about your outbound freight?” Most of the time, you’ll get more information than you need. Have a notebook handy and take notes while your customer talks; don’t count on being able to accurately remember all the details of weights, commodities, and destinations. Most importantly, never say “no” to a customer. When they need something you can’t provide, offer them an alternative instead.
When a customer (or a prospect) asks you a question about your capabilities, try to determine what’s behind the question before you answer it. This lets you answer in the most positive and appropriate way possible.
Consider this scenario: You are in Charleston, South Carolina, making a presentation to the traffic manager at a midsize manufacturing firm. She asks “Do you work with any carriers that go to Des Moines, Iowa?” The short—and honest—answer is that you do not. So rather than lie, you simply say “No, I’m sorry.” And you’ve lost every ounce of sales momentum you’ve built to that point.
But suppose you respond to her question with a question of your own. You might say “Why do you ask?” or “Do you have shipments going to Des Moines?” If she says the reason for her question is that she ships a truckload a week to Des Moines, you can ask more questions about the move and her needs and offer to get back to her after you’ve had a chance to find a carrier with a more competitive rate and service package than she has now.
But if she says “No, we don’t ship out there, but one of our senior managers just left us to take a job with a company there, so I was just thinking about that city,” you can avoid a flat “no” answer and instead emphasize your flexibility and willingness to shop until you find what your customers want.
This is a technique you can apply to just about any situation and relationship. Suppose your spouse says “Are you hungry?” If you just say “yes,” you might find yourself presented with a gourmet home-cooked meal—or being dragged out the door to a restaurant you didn’t really want to go to. It’s always better to know what’s behind the question before you answer.
If you’ve ever taken a basic sales course, you’ve probably heard “sell the sizzle, not the steak.” What that means is you need to understand the difference between features and benefits—and focus on the benefits.
aha!
Turn maintaining current customer records into a sales opportunity for your business. Call every customer at least once a year, and say something like “We’re checking our records for accuracy and completeness.” Go through the information you have and then say, “Do you have any needs we haven’t discussed that we might be able to help you with?”
A feature is an aspect of the service you provide; the benefit is what the customer gains from that aspect. For example, the fact that you will call the shipper with delivery notification within two hours of the freight being unloaded is a feature. That the shipper has the peace of mind of knowing that the freight has been delivered on time and in good condition is a benefit. That you have access to thousands of carriers is a feature. That by using your firm, your customers are assured of getting the equipment they need when they need it is a benefit.
Before you ever call or visit a prospect for the first time, put together a presentation that includes needs identification and benefits selling, and practice it. Don’t worry that you’ll sound rehearsed; the reality is that the better you know your stuff, the more natural and confident you’ll appear.
Another long-time sales training phrase is “handling objections.” That sounds much more frightening than it really is. In most professional sales situations, an “objection” comes in the form of a question, and whether it’s a question or a statement, it is usually a request for more information.
For example, a prospective customer might say something like “How many carriers do you have agreements with?” or “I know you’re new; I’m not sure you have the experience I need.” Both of these statements might be seen as objections, but they really are chances for you to tell the prospect about the benefits he or she will gain by using you.
It’s important to keep in mind that while freight may not appear particularly glamorous, for most companies the efficient and timely movement of cargo is critical to their ongoing operations. Selecting a broker or carrier is not a decision most shippers make lightly or casually. You’ll find your customers very much involved in both the sales process and in the ongoing service. You’ve chosen a highly interactive business, and you can expect your customers to view you and your staff as the service.
One of the most difficult parts of a sales call for most people is the close—but it shouldn’t be. If you’ve been paying attention—if you identified your prospect’s needs and determined that you can satisfy them, if you’ve focused on benefits rather than features—then asking the prospect to make that final commitment should be a natural evolution of the sales call.
• Inward Bound
Beyond talking to the traffic manager or the shipping department, also build a relationship with the purchasing department. As part of the terms of their agreements, many buyers have the right to select the mode and carrier. In many companies, the traffic department gets involved in routing these shipments, but there are still plenty of businesses where purchasing and traffic work independently. If you can make a purchasing agent’s life easier by helping him find the most economical and efficient method of moving inbound freight, you’ll have a steady stream of business.
Here’s one approach that works well: Find out what internal procedure the customer would have to change to give you his or her business. This is a simple matter of asking: “If you were to decide to let us handle your next load to Phoenix, what would you have to do?” When the prospect answers the question, perhaps with something like “I’d have to tell the shipping clerk to call you,” ask if you can have the shipping clerk step in so you can answer any questions that person might have.
If the prospect resists, find out why. Say something like, “We’ve agreed that we have the services you need, that our rates are competitive, and we’re in a position to provide some extras you’re not getting now. Is there any reason why you shouldn’t call the shipping clerk in now to give us a chance to prove ourselves on the next shipment?”
Prospects rarely say no without some sort of an explanation—an objection—that you’ll have a chance to overcome. And even if you don’t get the business—and you won’t get it all—you’ll at least know why.
