5 Logistics Sales Pitch Tips to Secure More Shipments

What is a Logistics Sales Pitch?

A logistics sales pitch is a strategic communication aimed at conveying the value proposition of logistics services to potential customers. The primary goal of a sales pitch is to capture the interest of your leads and initiate a conversation that can lead to conversion.

By showcasing the benefits and advantages of your logistics services, you can effectively demonstrate how your company can help meet the needs and requirements of your clients. In a logistics sales pitch, you have to differentiate yourself from competitors and create a positive impression in the minds of potential customers.

Remember, your pitch is only the first step to converting them. What converts them is the conversation that follows.

Why You Should Have a Logistics Sales Pitch Strategy

Your pitching strategy should spark conversations with your potential clients. You cannot pique their interest if you’re delivering a monologue. Rather than pitching for sales, you need to encourage them to share their thoughts and insights.

Your logistics sales pitch strategy will create opportunities where you can better understand the challenges and goals of your leads. These opportunities are brought out through dialogues where you actively listen to their concerns. This way, you can tailor your sales approach.

A defined strategy will empower your sales team as they sharpen their communication skills through meaningful conversations. Since your sales team knows that strategic dialogues convert more, they can improve their approach based on the feedback they receive. This enhances the effectiveness of the logistics sales process.

Lastly, a robust sales pitch strategy is the foundation for differentiating your logistics brand in a crowded market.

Components of an Effective Sales Pitch

While we have emphasized that an effective logistics pitch encourages dialogue, it’s still important to give structure to your sales pitch. An effective logistics sales pitch is composed of the following components that collectively form a persuasive and compelling narrative:

• Introduction. Your introduction should spark your leads’ curiosity. Do this by tapping into their interests and pain points. This makes your introduction relevant to them.
• Unique Selling Proposition. Your unique selling proposition (USP) should emphasize how your solution addresses their challenges. This part should focus on the benefits rather than the features.
• Social Proof. This is where you validate your value proposition as a logistics service provider. Using testimonials or existing data, you reassure your potential customers that they are making the right decision by considering your services.
• Call-to-Action. A well-defined call-to-action guides potential clients on the next steps. In this part, you communicate the desired action you want your prospects to take.

1. Pitch to the Right People

It is vital that you are pitching to the right people. If you begin without knowing your target audience, you will waste time pitching to clients where there is no potential for a long-term relationship. It is crucial to find out who your target companies and clients are — and to shift the focus of your logistics company’s sales pitch in their direction.

To know who the right people are, you first need to qualify leads. A qualified lead is a potential client who fits your typical client demographic, has a pain point your services can address and has shown active interest in your company’s products, services, or content. When you speak only to qualified leads, you ensure that your logistics sales pitch resonates and that your time is used effectively.

Once you have qualified your leads, keeping up with multiple qualified leads can get hectic. Using a CRM (customer relationship management) software can help you manage your communications with all your leads and quickly identify where you are in the sales process. Additionally, using a 3PL-specific CRM provides logistics-specific features to help you better manage shippers.

2. Pitch the Right Message

Just as knowing your target audience and pitching to the right people will save you time and energy, pitching the right message will generate more sales.

Here are four things you need to do to refine the message of your logistics sales pitch:

a. Research Your Client

Take the time to research your client so that you know what they need. What are their shipping requirements, challenges, and goals? Use these details to customize your logistics sales pitch to their unique needs.

b. Address Pain Points

You need to study your clients and address their pain points first. Have they expressed a specific problem or need? Ask them what their biggest challenges currently are. Rather than offering a long list of the benefits of your services, zero in on the benefits that are most applicable to them.

c. Share Real-World Examples and Case Studies

This can help you build credibility and highlight how your services have helped similar clients. Stories and testimonials offer proof and help your leads imagine the changes that could come from implementing your services.

d. Include a Call to Action

This can be as simple as requesting a meeting, asking for a commitment, or setting a timeline for the next steps. The point is to leave the conversation with a concrete next step in place. Make it easy for your client to move forward in the sales process.

Using your message, you have to paint the picture for them. Be a good storyteller. Show them where they are right now and where your service can take them. You'll know you're pitching the right message when it resonates with your audience and elicits a positive response.

3. Track Your Conversations

As you target new leads, it is important to track your conversations. You are likely communicating with your leads through a variety of means—email, calls, voicemails, and meetings. Don’t let the details of your conversations blur together. Offer consistent communication and know where you left off by tracking your conversations.

With SCRM, you can track all your conversations in one place. You can also track the progress of each lead as they move through your sales pipeline. You can manage your sales touches and receive automatic reminders to keep your leads engaged. All of this will help you close your sale.

4. Measure Conversion Rates and Refine Your Logistics Sales Pitch

Monitoring your sales analytics and conversion rates will help determine whether your logistics sales pitch works.

One of the conversion rates you can track is the qualified lead-to-prospect conversion rate. This measures how many of your qualified leads have requested a quote from you. If you track this across your sales pipeline and sales team, you can see who is converting the most leads and by what means. This lets your team study your top salespeople and see what makes their logistics sales pitch work.

Similarly, you can track the prospect-to-new customer conversion rate. This measures how many prospects accept your quotes and become customers. Zeroing in on this conversion rate can help you identify who is closing the most deals and how they are achieving that final — yet crucial — step.

By examining these factors, you can determine what is and is not working for moving leads through your sales pipeline. Learn more sales pipeline KPIs in this blog.

5. Follow Up Consistently

The freight industry is highly relationship-driven. Building rapport with your leads throughout multiple conversations is crucial to your freight brokerage’s success. Connect with your client through calls, in-person meetings, virtual meetings, emails, and more. You must follow up consistently to turn leads into clients. In fact, “About 80 percent of new sales are made after the fifth contact, so persistence is critical in effective cold calling” and sales pitching in general (Tash Cole, Freight Broker with Care, 2018).

Conclusion

Crafting, delivering, and tracking an effective logistics sales pitch for your company will help you convert qualified leads to long-term clients. If you are looking to refine your sales pitch, verify if you are pitching the right message to the right people. Stay organized by tracking your conversations with clients and monitor the results of your efforts by measuring conversion rates. Finally, ensure you are following up consistently with potential clients so that you can lay the foundation for a long-term relationship.

A 3PL-specific CRM can help you effectively implement the logistics sales pitch tips mentioned above. You can request a free trial of a CRM built for 3PLs here.

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