5 tips to improve the sales of your freight forwarder

Succeeding as a freight forwarder, like any other business, involves the alignment of processes, technology, and the most important one: people.

Working as a freight forwarder involves a sensitivity in understanding the diversity of the partners in the business, and how to lead this relationship in order to establish a great partnership and create value with the client. 

Even though the sales process in a freight forwarder has changed a lot in the past years, relating with people while doing the process hasn’t. For that reason, the way you communicate with your partners can be your biggest strength.

Tips to improve the sales of your freight forwarder

1. Improve partnership relationships:

Keep in mind that after you’ve made a business exchange you should keep in touch with the partner, to maintain the relationship. Many benefits can come from a healthy partnership, such as:

• Increase business exchange;
• better support in critical situations;
• a deeper understanding of the requirements;
• less price variation.

2. Invest in Customer Experience: 

Improving and optimizing relationships between you and your partner before, during, and after a business exchange is a part of the Customer Experience. By guaranteeing a good experience for your partner your forwarder will be benefited by:

• reducing clients dropouts; 
• getting recommended to other forwarders; 
• increasing your sales. 

The more satisfied your partner is with your forwarder the more he will rely on you. The customer experience has to be aligned with the whole company, especially marketing, sales, financial, and support.  

3. Establishing marketing strategies:

Marketing and sales should walk side by side in any company, that is why in a freight forwarder that shouldn’t be different. Don’t worry, marketing strategies can start by sending your partners an email every week to check if there is anything you can do to help, and evolves to:

• social media posts; 
• email marketing;
• blog posts;
• webinars;
• paid media;
• gifts to clients;
• and much more. 

A good marketing strategy will give your team the support they need to close sales faster and even more effectively. To know more about marketing strategies for forwarders click here. 

4. Keep your team aligned and motivated:

Even though your sales team is the one responsible for closing the partnerships, it’s important to keep your whole team engaged. Let everyone in your company know what are the main goals to be achieved, what is the plan to get there, and what each department needs to do to reach the objectives. Especially because in a freight forwarder the sales process doesn’t start with the sales department. 

In global logistics, not always the client you are speaking to is the decision-maker, that’s why your team must get all the information they can to construct a complete sales lead in order to develop this possible new partner. 

5. Build long term relationships:

You might think selling more is about getting a bigger range of partners. Although, a bigger part of your new business opportunities could come from your current forwarder partners.

That’s why it is so important to put your efforts into building a solid long-term relationship with your partners. Let them know you are available in case they need extra assistance, and they will keep counting on you, and could even recommend you to other clients. 

All of these tips to improve the sales of your freight forwarder will help you, but the most important thing to do is to think about the partner side, think about what he wants and needs, and especially, how can you make his life easier. 

If you want to know more about the sales process and how to improve it watch our webinar with Cornelis Paul De Man, Senior Vice President at Turkish Cargo.