TABLE OF CONTENTS
  • 1. Generate Quotes Faster
  • 2. Create Detailed & Professional Quotes
  • 3. Implement Data-Driven Quoting
  • 4. Automate Sales Processes
  • 5. Offer Personalized Services
  • Conclusion

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    Are you struggling to grow your logistics business and secure reliable long-term clients? It's a common challenge, but there are solutions. To ensure a steady stream of clients and expand to new markets, you need to implement an efficient sales strategy and follow proven logistics sales tips.

    Here's the thing: simply offering excellent service isn't enough in today's crowded 3PL market. To stand out and win clients, you need to demonstrate that your team is highly professional and possesses the technical expertise to handle their supply chains. That's where these five logistics sales tips come in - they'll give you the edge you need to secure more shipments and win more business.

    1. Generate Quotes Faster

    When a potential customer requests a quote, it’s highly likely chances are you’re not the only company they’re talking to. So, it's essential to create and send a quote as soon as possible to stay ahead of the competition. This helps you stand out and shows that you value their business and are committed to efficiency and communication.

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    To speed up the quoting process, consider implementing a freight quoting technology. It would help if you used a tool to create a quote with multiple services simultaneously (FTL, LTL, Intermodal, FCL, LCL, Air, Warehousing) to streamline the quote generation process. You can check this logistics CRM with a quoting tool.

    If you don’t have the budget to invest in technology, you have to develop a standard quoting process that you can work through every single time at least. Although each client will have unique warehousing and shipping requirements, working from the same template each time will help you standardize the process. Another tip is to follow up with a call or email directly from your logistics sales team to add a personal touch and close the deal.

    2. Create Detailed & Professional Quotes

    In addition to providing a quote quickly, a logistics sales tip to stand out from your competitors is to make your quotes detailed and professional. First impressions are everything; a professional quote will immediately set the tone for future interactions. By addressing critical questions about your services in your detailed quote, you’ll minimize back-and-forth with potential clients to close the deal faster.

    Your quotes should feature a full breakdown of lane details so customers understand what to expect from your services. For instance, your quoting tool should break down cargo details like commodity type, weight, packaging type, and more. You should also add route details, accessorial services, and charge details. Any special warehousing or inventory needs should also be addressed in the quote. In your quote, providing this information up front is an excellent logistics sales tip to help your organization stand out in a competitive field.

    Logistics Sales Tips - a professional, detailed quote

    3. Implement Data-Driven Quoting

    As a logistics service provider, standing out in the crowded 3PL sector is challenging, but you can achieve this using real-time market rates and historical data.

    Real-time market shipping rates change every day, and staying on top of these rapidly changing market conditions is essential to create the most winnable quotes. Using market data gives you the advantage of understanding these changes and creating quotes that reflect current market rates. Historical data is also a valuable resource that provides insight into your previous quotes and helps determine the best margins to secure loads.

    Your freight quoting software should have a built-in feature allowing users to browse market and historical data while creating quotes. With this quoting tool, you can generate quotes faster and increase your chances of winning deals.

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    4. Automate Sales Processes

    Multiple sales touches are necessary to close the deal with your logistics customers. However, managing your sales touches can be difficult if you have many potential clients in the pipeline. Often, salespeople will miss out on sending emails or calling your leads.

    Since you need an average of eight sales touches to convert a lead to a customer, you can use technology to automate your sales processes. We recommend using a logistics CRM for sales to help your team keep their leads conveniently organized in one platform. It uses automation to remind you when to send emails, call leads, or follow up on a lead. Hence, this tool will help you move them quickly through the sales pipeline by keeping the conversation flowing.

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    5. Offer Personalized Services

    Before you can personalize services for your clients, you have to learn about their business first. All companies, even the large ones, want a personal touch when it comes to their 3PL providers. To increase logistics sales, you must go above and beyond to cater to your client’s unique needs. This will help boost your customer conversions and create loyal clients that will stay with you for years.

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    To do this efficiently, you’ll need to leverage logistics technology and data to identify client-specific patterns. To retain more supply chain customers, you must provide more value. The more you can do for them, the more valuable your services will be. This information will allow you to offer personalized services, helping you expand your business, continuously secure business, and build brand loyalty.

    Conclusion

    Implementing these logistics sales tips into your sales process will significantly help your business scale. It will help secure more shipments and allow you to personalize your services better and create long-term relationships with clients.

    Ready to take your logistics sales to the next level? Click here to discover a CRM tool that can help you quote faster and secure more shipments.

    Thank you for reading our article. For more educational content, you can explore all our blogs here. You can follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook to get supply chain industry trends and efficiency tips. If you have other inquiries or suggestions, do not hesitate to contact us through this link.

    ABOUT AUTHOR

    Phil Magill Supply Chain Expert

    Phil is IFS’s co-founder, chairman, and industry expert, holding over 35 years of experience in the transportation industry. He is also the founder and CEO of Transportation Management Solutions, the largest privately held 3PL in South Florida. Prior to TMS and IFS, Phil held significant roles in C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Freight Transportation Specialist (acquired by C.H. Robinson), and Emery Worldwide.