The Logistics of Logistics

[00:21] Opening / Introduction [00:41] Tell us about your company. I run a marketing firm called Email for Experts. We help consulting and professional service firms create clients using email marketing. I graduated from the University of Maryland in 2010. I worked in engineering for about six years before moving into marketing. [03:43] Tell us about the distinction of what I'm doing in email marketing versus what you're doing. I still do a good amount of what you're doing, which is the more traditional sense of email marketing. This involves having a list of contacts and publishing a newsletter, or a sales offer that you periodically send out. The other type of email marketing that we're doing is instead of already having permission to email a group of individuals, we are prospecting and emailing people cold. [05:59] How does somebody go about building their credibility using email marketing? A lot of times when people think about using any marketing channel to bring in new prospects, they're thinking about the best pitch to make. The problem is that everybody is pitching. You need to build an email marketing approach that is more inline with how you would meet somebody at a conference. If you behave like a friendly human rather than thinking about how you can blast your message out to thousands of people, you can gain a competitive advantage. [08:59] How does email marketing fill my pipeline? The difficulty with prospecting in general is not only finding a list of people who seem like they are decision makers in your industry, but also making sure they are the most relevant for the service that you provide. One of the best tools that I use is called Prospect.io along with LinkedIn Sales Navigator. The nice thing about pretty much any software you're using for marketing these days is there's usually a way to connect it to your CRM. It's pretty straightforward. Regardless of which tool you use, they all have the ability to accelerate the process of finding targeted prospects. [14:20] I know there's people who are listening who are saying they hate getting email marketing. I hate that too. I have the same types of messages in my spam folder. Email is great because it's where most people in the business world spend most of their day. The downside is that so many people know that and sometimes use it for nefarious purposes. The important thing is to reach out in a way that facilitates conversation instead of just a hard pitch. [17:53] Potentially, if you don't start off on the right foot, you can quickly become that guy in the spam folder that we all hate. It's amazing what a little bit of targeting in your approach and a little bit of forethought can do. Focus on the things that your target is typically thinking about. This will make your prospect feel like you already know something about them. [20:29] You've picked a niche. If you were sending an email out to everybody, you'd have to make your message broader, which makes it less valuable. If you can identify something that differentiates you and your business, that's something that translates directly into your marketing approach. [23:27] Talk about the ROI in email marketing. For what we're talking about, the numbers are a little bit different. We're not selling a $100 product, but rather five or six figure contracts. There are a lot of different touch points that go into the process, so it's difficult to pin down the ROI of an email outreach. It's more like a piece of the overall puzzle. [25:52] By building rapport, you're building something that is easy to sell from as opposed to starting the process cold. You're taking that initial window that you have to start a sales conversation and extending it greatly. As long as they are in contact with you, you always have an opportunity to be there when they move forward with a buying decision. [29:08] This way of email marketing is so targeted that I think it's better than traditional email marketing. You can work on building traffic to your website or the size of your email list until the end of time, but you'll never get close to the numbers of some people. What you can do is start this outreach process. You don't need to have a giant list to see results. Links: Tom Miller on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-j-miller/ Email for Experts: https://emailforexperts.com/ Receive Daily Email about Email: https://emailforexperts.com/daily-email/ Prospect: https://prospect.io/ (plug-in for email prospecting) LinkedIn Sales Navigator: https://business.linkedin.com/sales-solutions/sales-navigator

[00:21] Opening / Introduction [00:57] Tell us a little bit about what you're up to. I spend all of my time in supply chain and logistics software, focusing on the lower-middle market. [01:54] What will the 3PL industry look like in 2025? There is a slow, creeping evolution of technology as CRM systems get better and better. These will make brokers more efficient and help them focus more on customer service, specialization, etc. This is largely a relationship business, and not all of it can be automated. In 2025, there will be more consolidation and technology will play a larger role. [04:43] What types of companies do you think will be at the top? Domestically, I think CH Robinson, JB Hunt, UPS, and FedEx are doing a decent job. A non-traditional 3PL is Amazon, who is both a customer and a competitor to some of the other domestic 3PLs. Internationally, DHL and some others are good partners with people that I talk to domestically. Hustling is mandatory for everyone in this space, but the twist is working smart versus working hard. [07:48] Do you see any of those tech names like Uber and Convoy being at the top of the heap in 2025? It's never been easier to develop software and technology than it is right now because there are so many tools and platforms. The new entrants understand technology far better than the incumbents do. They have the potential to create a call option on success, but that doesn't mean they're all going to be successful. More domain expertise needs to be inside of these start-ups to completely understand the dynamics. The best founders that I've seen in the space humbly embrace what they don't know and have good partners come in to strengthen their greatest weakness. [12:30] Tell us about some of the trends you think are going to impact the industry over the next five years. Historically, a lot of the industry hasn't embraced technology. There is a fair amount of inefficiency. It's hard to predict the evolution of technologies that will be impactful on the space. There's a lot of discussion around blockchain. I'm not sold that there's a use case for it. Automation is being tested in the US. Consolidation will be one of the ways the upper half of the 3PL industry will better compete. Of course, there is the migration from retail to ecommerce. [17:29] Ordering from sites like Amazon makes people think "why am I not getting this level of service from my 3PL?" The interface is much nicer, too. I've seen the best user interface people focusing on mobile. The mobile interfaces will get increasingly better. Web interfaces are getting better too. The tools used to find out where people are clicking on a website or on an app have gotten a lot better. [19:57] One trend I've seen over the past ten years is that the shippers didn't necessarily have to pick a 3PL based on technology and investment. Now, they don't want to buy their own TMS and integrate it into their ERP. They want to find a 3PL because they will know how to manage all of this already. It was a lot harder to integrate five or ten years ago. Still, the ability for a 3PL to provide a fuller solution is a benefit to them in servicing their customers. [21:41] What drives consolidation? Why should it happen? Global customers are looking for more visibility and more coverage. They're looking for trailers to be dropped at warehouses at pre-determined times. The concept of providing a more wholesome overall service is at the heart of what's driving consolidation and what I expect to continue. [23:12] You mentioned the global economy we live in. People are looking for global solutions. There's the supply chain and the demand chain. On the demand chain, the market is heading towards anticipating where the demand is going to be. The concept of massive warehouses is breaking down. Smaller warehouses with micro inventory are getting more popular. [25:18] What emerging technologies will shape the future of supply chain and logistics? Machine learning, for sure. A use case I've seen is training machines to look at invoices and picking off different pieces of information. Having the data in the first place is important, and that doesn't happen overnight. Video and voice are growing, such as cameras on trucks and Bluetooth headsets. I hope that the ability to integrate different data systems gets better. [30:05] Who do you think will be successful among the digital freight brokers? The freight brokers that are most successful are the ones that have lots of shipper relationships. Many of the digital freight brokers I see don't have any relationship with shippers, and that makes it really hard. Amazon and JB Hunt have a lot of shipper density. NEXT Trucking is an emerging player with a lot of cap to freight. Just because you create a logistics app doesn't mean anyone is going to use it. [37:19] I saw an article recently about how Amazon is buying up old malls. It's all about having inventory closer to the people who will purchase it. With demand planning, you can put the inventory in these places and reduce the overall length of haul. [40:34] Why, in the last decade, are there suddenly so many investors interested in the logistics industry? Putting money to work in businesses that are relatively inefficient and have the potential to improve over time are a good place for capital to go. We're seeing people take advantage of a space that hasn't had much innovation. [44:19] Occasionally, I've talked to people representing logistics industry investors who have very little knowledge about the space. Sometimes, it's because people have to look at many investments to make one. People will invest because they received advice from someone they trust, and they'll learn about the industry over time. [47:06] What would you recommend the owners and employees of smaller companies do to prepare for 2025? If you've got the ability, get someone who is responsible for market intelligence. Getting the most relevant info about what is happening with competitors, innovation, and investments is gold. Create a mechanism to understand what is happening in the world around your company. You need to get someone who knows what information is important for your company.

The Only 3 Ways to Improve Your Sales with Steve Elwell Steve Elwell and Joe Lynch discuss the only 3 ways to improve your sales. [00:22] A few weeks ago, I had Steve on the podcast to discuss the buying process. In that interview, Steve said something like "there are only 3 ways to improve sales" which I found very intriguing. In today's podcast, Steve and I will discuss those 3 ways to improve sales. [01:16] Steve, I got lots of great feedback on the buying process podcast, but now I want to discuss a new topic, The Only 3 Ways to Improve Your Sales. Before we begin that discussion, please review the buying process with us again as a starting point. The buyers (our prospects) have a process for determining if they want to buy our product or service – that is the buying process. The buyers control the buying process, as salespeople, we can only attempt to influence the buying process. The sales process should always be aligned to the buying process Since we don't control the buying process, salespeople can only do their best to understand how their customers buy. [02:33] What is the first way we can improve our sales? Increase the number of opportunities you have available to you using the following tools and strategies: Online presence Websites Content like blog posts, videos, and podcasts Search engine optimization Social media LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Youtube Advertising Magazines Brand and messaging Customer-focused Increased credibility / reputation Focus on one market segment Develop critical mass in a market (retail, distribution, e-commerce, etc.) Specialization Hire more salespeople More lead generation with existing customers and new prospects Networking, lead generation, relationship building (offline) Promotion Conferences Industry events Feet on the streets [09:59] What is the second way we can improve our sales? Reduce the amount of time that it takes to get to a decision. Have a sense of urgency for everything within our control. Do not extend the time required by making the customer wait for information from you. "Keep the ball in the customer's court." Standardized processes. Systems that improve efficiency. [13:00] What is the third way we can improve our sales? Improve the rate of success at which you can close by Better salesmanship. The relative strength of the offer. Product or service. Perceived value. Alignment to the buying process. [16:03] To summarize, the three ways to improve sales are 1.) Increase the number of opportunities you have available to you. 2.) Shorten the amount of time that it takes to get to a decision. 3.) Improve the rate of success at which you can close Yes, that's it, however, there are a few things that are critically important to improving sales that we didn't touch on: Sales filter. A set of criteria or questions that qualifies new opportunities Upgrading your people. Hiring better people Training your people Managing your people better A good sales manager can positively impact all three areas that we discussed today. Learn More About the Only 3 Ways to Improve Your Sales Steve Elwell The Logistics of Logistics Podcast If you enjoy the podcast, please leave a positive review, subscribe, and share it with your friends and colleagues. The Logistics of Logistics Podcast: Google, Apple, Castbox, Spotify, Stitcher, PlayerFM, Tunein, Podbean, Owltail, Libsyn, Overcast

[00:20] Opening / Introduction I (AJ Khanijow) am the founder and CEO of Fulfyld, an e-commerce fulfillment company that specializes in B2C shipments and home delivery. Fulfyld is based in Huntsville, Alabama. [01:00] Tell us about your background. Where did you grow up? Where did you go to school and what did you study? I grew up in Huntsville, Alabama. I earned an industrial engineering degree from Auburn University. The industrial engineering program was great because it gave me a good background in both engineering and business. [01:30] What was your first job? My first job was in the business intelligence space for a consulting company. Shortly after, I became a quality engineer for an automotive company. Automotive supply chains are big and complex. While working in automotive, I was exposed to supply chain best practices and a variety of different 3rd party logistics providers. [02:15] When and why did you start your company? I started Fulfyld about five years ago in 2014 Early on, the company was a manufacturer of packaging for the United States military. We got into the fulfillment space almost by accident when a client of ours sold some products online and didn't know how to get them shipped to their customers. Today, the company's focus is on e-commerce fulfillment and shipping directly to the consumer (home delivery). [03:25] Take us through the process of selecting an e-commerce fulfillment partner. First e-commerce companies should conduct a thorough internal assessment of their company to determine what they want from an e-commerce fulfillment partner. Companies should understand all the moving parts internally and what exactly your partner is going to be doing vs what will be managed in-house. Next, determine suitable locations for e-commerce fulfillment. Fulfillment locations should be close to carrier transportation hubs, ports, customers, and suppliers. Decide if you would like to fulfill externally or internally. Figure out how your ERP and e-commerce platform will integrate with your e-commerce fulfillment partner. [05:00] What comes after the internal assessment when selecting an e-commerce fulfillment partner? Cultural Fit: How does your business fit within the culture of your fulfillment partner? I always look to see if I can hang out with potential partners, that way you knows if it will be a good fit. [6:30] Range of Services: Ensure they offer all the services necessary for your supply chain to succeed. If your partner makes a critical mistake, it could be detrimental to your business. [7:30] Third-Party Logistics: Will they be able to accommodate all of your SKUs? [9:15] Technology Integration: Many traditional 3PLs specialize in TL and LTL shipping so their systems may not be suitable for managing small parcel shipments. Booking a dozen TL shipments is very different from processing thousands of small parcel shipments. To manage that volume of customer orders, you must have the right systems (technology) for the job. [11:00] Location: Your partner needs to be in close proximity to the carrier terminals. For instance, Huntsville is great for us because it is close to three of the biggest hubs (terminals) for small parcel carriers: Louisville, Memphis, and Atlanta. Make sure you are in a state that is low cost and good for business. The labor rate in L.A. is almost double what it is in Alabama. [13:20] Dedicated Customer Service: The ability to pick up the phone and talk to someone who is dedicated to your account is something I highly recommend. Essentially, your e-commerce fulfillment partner is running your supply chain so communication is critical. Problems must be identified and solved quickly, which means you can't be directed to a call center - you need an account manager who knows your business. [15:50] E-commerce Experience: Having experience in the e-commerce business is a requirement. E-commerce companies are usually young companies, so they need to select an e-commerce fulfillment partner who is experienced in e-commerce fulfillment, small parcel and B2C shipping. There are large, established 3PLs who have great capabilities but know very little about e-commerce fulfillment. [18:25] Operational Excellence: To be successful, your fulfillment partner must have great operations. Ask questions about how they manage orders. Do they have defined processes? Does their technology and order management system allow you to view things in real time? Do they have relationships with the small parcel carriers? [20:20] Reputation and References: Ask your prospective partner for references and talk to some of their current customers. Check out their LinkedIn company page and look at LinkedIn profiles for some of their employees. LinkedIn can tell you quite a bit about the size and capability of a company. [22:10] Contract: Review their contract and determine if it is fair. Is the contract biased and filled with unnecessary legal jargon? Are you being charged ridiculous fees? If you are picking a strategic partner, the contact shouldn't be transactional. Make sure the contract is transparent and your interests are aligned. [24:20] Engage the Cross-functional Team: Perhaps the most important thing you can do when selecting an e-commerce fulfillment partner is to engage the cross-functional team (accounting, sales, engineering, operations, etc..) in the process. An e-commerce fulfillment partner is an extension of your company and it touches virtually every function, so get input from each functional area. Your e-commerce fulfillment partner is the beating heart of the business because they are ones who convert an order into a delivery and hopefully a satisfied customer. [25:50] What's new at Fulfyld? We are launching a new program this month, where we will pay our customers back $10-$30 for any order that is not shipped the same day. If we receive the order by 2:00 pm, we will ship it out that day. We have successfully piloted the program with a few of our customers and now we are launching for all our customers. We know e-commerce fulfillment and this program allows us to demonstrate both our operational expertise and our commitment to our customers. Learn more: Fulfyld website: https://www.fulfyld.com Fulfyld LinkedIn company profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fulfyld/ Ajesh (AJ) Khanijow's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/akhanijow/ Contact Fulfyld: https://www.fulfyld.com/contact/contact-1

[00:20] Opening / Introduction [02:50] What is the one thing your clients get that they did not expect? Understanding how your customer thinks. Knowing the varying temperaments will assist in understanding the differences between how people think. It's easy to remember, and the tips are immediately helpful. All customers think differently; however, temperament is being able to take a calibrated guess on how they will feel. [05:20] How many different temperaments do you get to teach us about today? There are four; just like the directions on a compass. The Greeks came up with temperament; the modern-day version has its roots in the Myers-Briggs personality assessment. From the 16 personalities, you can group them into four temperament categories. [07:30] Tell us about the four types of temperaments. Traditionalist/Guardian: they make up forty percent of the population. Risk-averse and tend to like much structure. Experiencer/Artisans: they make up thirty percent of the population. They are looking for something efficient and straightforward. Theorist/Conceptualizer: they make up fifteen percent of the population. Silicon Valley mindset, often thinking of technological innovation. Idealist: they make up fifteen percent of the population. They are interested in personal development and may get jobs in human resources. [11:45] Take us through each one of these groups and how to identify them. [12:50] 1. Traditionalist: Someone like Warren Buffett, they tend to be very detailed and step-by-step. They look at the facts and past performances and are very time conscious. For instance, if a traditionalist says they have fifteen minutes to talk with you, that does not mean twenty minutes. Others may think of them as rigid because they are so time conscious. Generally, traditionalists are not about small talk; they want you to get to the point. Corporate America is absolutely a traditionalist structure; getting from one job to another is based on past performance. [16:40] 2. Experiencer: They are calibrated toward making things simple and efficient with a tangible payoff. For example, Richard Branson, the English business magnate behind the Virgin Group is an experiencer. Some adjectives to describe this group are fun and playful; Richard Branson seems like a fun person to work for. They are much more relaxed than the traditionalist, less time efficient, and more playful. Perhaps they go out for a couple of beers or go golfing to talk business. [20:50] 3. Theorist: These people tend to be long-term and strategic in their thinking. They are often looking at cutting-edge things; not something that has worked before, but something that will be the thing five years from now. For example, Flexport is a company with a theorist mindset. They are giving solutions that will take time to implement now, but long-term will work. Elon Musk is another example of a theorist. There is a lean toward wanting to debate, they will argue with many of your ideas in a meeting, but later could decide they want to implement those ideas. [25:40] 4. Idealist: Individuals are often in sales and tend to be authentic, collaborative, and are constantly learning. They are also relationship oriented and truly believe in the products they are selling. [28:30] Give us four quotes, and we will decide which temperament said it. "Complexity is your enemy." -Experiencer (Richard Branson) "If the future doesn't include being out there among the stars and being a multi-planet species, it's incredibly depressing." -Theorist (Elon Musk) "So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was." -Idealist (J.K. Rowling) "I don't look to jump over 7-foot bars: I look around for 1-foot bars that I can step over." -Traditionalist (Warren Buffett) [32:15] How to recognize and best engage each temperament as it relates to our customers. Traditionalist: Time efficient and low-risk. Engage this customer by making sure you have facts about past performance. Experiencer: Playful but straightforward and efficient. Engage this customer by keeping it brief, but prove that you know the details. Theorist: Long-term thinkers and strategic. Keep it high-level and talk about the big picture, add as few details as possible; they want to connect the dots themselves. Idealist: They want to be collaborative and make sure everyone is on the same page. Engage this customer by speaking about future goals, the big picture, and try being more personable. Learn more: Ann's Twitter profile: https://twitter.com/AnnholmNet Ann's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annholmnet/ Contact Ann: https://www.annholm.net/contact-me/

[00:21] Opening / Introduction [01:27] Tell us about your background. I grew up in Buffalo and studied political science at a school just outside of Rochester. I ended up selling small parcel to companies in Minnesota and Wisconsin for a few years before transitioning into selling transportation management solutions to companies in the Pacific Northwest. [02:25] Before getting into the five problems you have identified that e-commerce companies face with post-purchase experience, take us through some of the basics of e-commerce. As an e-commerce shopper, you're doing one of two things: buying directly from a brand's URL or buying from a major marketplace. [04:13] What does the post-purchase experience look like? When people think of e-commerce, they often just think of everything that happens before the sale. An important driver of getting people to buy from your website a second time is the post-purchase experience, including shipping, tracking, returns, customer service, etc. [05:33] When you wrote this article, who were you writing it for? I wrote for people who work in e-commerce, operations, or logistics departments at mid-market companies that want to sell directly from their website. [07:04] Take us through the five problems with post-purchase experience. [07:30] 1. There is no single, integrated solution that addresses consumer expectations in 2019 for web sales. Marketplaces have created very high expectations from customers. When a mid-market company is trying to design their site around these expectations, they find that no single provider can do everything that a marketplace does. [09:24] 2. Transportation companies are not a replacement for e-commerce partners. While delivery companies are really good at delivering parcels, I found that when they are designing or proposing their services to e-commerce companies, they're a little bit stringent. Transportation companies have designed their networks over decades, not around the needs of shoppers in 2019. [10:56] 3. Lost revenue and fewer site visits that are caused by customers tracking their orders on a carrier website. As a shopper, when I receive a confirmation email and a tracking number, I click the link and get directed to a carrier's website. It's a missed opportunity because I could be upsold on other items if I was directed to the website of the company I purchased from. You're paying the carrier to take customers away from your website. There are companies out there than can provide integrated solutions to track the parcel on the original website. [14:56] 4. E-commerce companies overpay for small parcel delivery. Time and time again, companies are defaulting to the biggest players in the market that are priced at a premium level. The main reason I found was that people in e-commerce and marketing have no idea that alternatives even exist. I try to emphasize that they do exist and, more importantly, they don't have the rate increases that some of the larger players in the market have. [16:57] 5. Companies are losing out on repeat purchases due to an antiquated returns process. Returns can make or break a business, especially for brands that are trying to gain recognition in the market. When someone wants to make a return, they're already not happy, and making the returns process difficult will make them even less likely to buy again. Refunds can sometimes take a long time as well, which is completely unacceptable. [20:28] Marketplaces are trusted, but that trust still has to be earned at some of these branded sites. When you're shopping on somebody's website, you're probably already doing something that is out of the ordinary for you. If your purchase and post-purchase experience isn't smooth, you won't purchase again. [23:00] Tell us a little about what you're up to these days. I'm currently a Sales Director with Pitney Bowes, so feel free to contact me. [23:48] E-commerce is a different animal and takes a different solution set. Companies spend 98% of their time on the pre-purchase experience, but then forget about their customers after. By writing this article, I wanted to shed some light on the post-purchase experience. Learn more: Jonathan's article: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/5-common-problems-e-commerce-companies-face-experience-jonathan-kish-1c Jonathan's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-kish-2112a8a3 Jonathan's email address: jonathankish13@gmail.com

download the audio file [00:21] Opening / Introduction [01:09] Tell us about your background. I grew up in Southern Michigan about 1 hour from Detroit, Michigan. I graduated from Albion College (MI) with a degree in economics. Then, I got an MBA from Wayne State. [01:40] What was your first adult job? When I got my MBA, I hoped to land a top job, instead I found myself selling printing services door-to-door, which was a great way to learn about sales. Next, I went to work for an industrial manufacturing / distribution company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Eventually, I owned and operated a retained executive search company that focused on automotive and industrial clients. After joining a friend's company to grow the business, I ran 5 businesses as CEO, COO and GM. Today, I own a consulting business where I help companies grow their businesses. [03:20] Why is the buying process different from the sales process and why is it so important for salespeople to understand? The buyer controls the buying process and as sellers, our job is to understand and influence it. The sales process is created in response to the buying the process. [04:56] Talk about the differences between strategic sales and transactional sales. A purchase is strategic based depending on it's importance to the buyer. Transactional sales are less important and typically have perceived risk. If senior management or a large cross-functional involved in the decision making, then the sales is most likely strategic. If you want to understand whether a buying process is strategic or transactional, watch the buyer's behavior (who is involved, questions ask, how in-depth, etc.) [09:14] What kinds of risks are these people trying to protect themselves against? There's financial risk, such as paying too much. There's performance risk, such as a late or damaged shipment. The buyers are trying to satisfy themselves that the risks are minimal and under control. [10:33] Do you usually try to map out what the buying process looks like? I like to map out the buying process if possible. Generally, the same kind of sale will be made time and time again. Therefore, mapping is useful. Mapping the buying process deepens understanding, improves internal collaboration and ideally improves sales performance. [11:43] Every once in a while, you'll go somewhere and the owner says they need X amount of sales by the end of the year. Then you dig into the buying process and discover the sales goal is not achievable because the buying process is too long. That's a huge issue. It's indicative of an executive or a company that hasn't taken the steps to understanding the buying process. When leadership doesn't understand the buying process, it leads to management mistakes and bad decisions. [13:46] When you're working with companies do you try to nail down how long the buying process takes? Yes, and not just in a sales growth environment. I also do it in an environment where the company needs some help. These companies will typically have existing customers, and when these customers place an order, it's much quicker than when a new customer does so. When you go for a new customer, many questions that only need to be asked and answered once are presented. [16:08] Is there a way for us to make the buying process go faster? We as sellers add time to the process by responding slowly, responding with incomplete answers, etc. Prospective customers will judge how they will be treated as a customer based on how they are treated in the buying process. Three things that can be done as a sales manager are: Increase the number of opportunities you have available to you. Shorten the amount of time that it takes to get to a decision. Improve the rate of success at which you can close. [20:50] The buying process begins online now, but so often, salespeople think that the sales process begins when they pick up the phone. It's a disconnect and a particularly nasty problem. If you're not in a mindset of thinking about where the process really started, you'll miss it completely. The dwell time of an online resource is far greater than a phone call or an email. It's always there. If I call someone, I'm unknown, and that's the greatest risk of all. If you put out content online where people can engage with you, they begin to know you and that's a huge advantage. [27:08] If you can answer prospective customers' question before even engaging, you've got a head start. The process that they use to get those answers, and how they use those answers in their decision to do business with you, is the buying process. Learn more: Steve Elwell's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/selwell

download the audio file [00:21] Opening / Introduction [00:42] Introduce yourself and your company. I am the Founder and CEO of Customodal, based in Marshfield, WI, [01:59] Tell us about your background. Where did you grow up? Go to school? What was your major in college? I grew up mostly in Madison, Wisconsin. I enrolled in the forestry program at the University of Wisconsin, but two years in I had an epiphany that I wanted to pursue business. I graduated with a major in finance, investment, and banking from the University of Wisconsin. [02:44] What was your first job in logistics? My first logistics job was at an airport. I was hired as an accountant for an on-demand air charter operator that moved executives and high priority freight I stayed at the air charter for ten years, eventually moving up the ranks to the job of general manager. [03:14] When did you start your own company, and who were your first customers? April 2, 2000 is when the company began. We were primarily in the expedite business, targeting manufacturers of all sizes who were running just-in-time inventory systems that made an intermediary component in someone else's just-in-time system. When I started my company, we were 100% asset-based and all of our drivers were company employees. [04:25] There's an approach to freight savings that you use at Customodal, and I was hoping you could describe that to the audience. Our approach is deep engagement with our customers. Most transportation providers help their customers save money by reducing freight costs – negotiating better rates, finding cheaper carriers, volume, different modes, etc. We do all these things too, but that is just the starting point for us. We like to dig deeper and find the savings that comes from process change. We find the savings that come from fixing the disconnects and bottlenecks. When you align all the interests and groups within the company, you can find and capture hidden savings that are not found by traditional freight brokers. [05:31] You've transitioned away from having assets, so tell us about your current model. Starting in 2000, we went from owning four trucks with one terminal to owning nearly one hundred trucks operating out of multiple terminals in the Midwest in just a few years. Along the way, we opened a small brokerage which had a different pitch (value proposition) to it than the trucking company. With my background and experience, I began asking clients more questions about their wants and needs. into asking what our customers' needs were and searching for solutions. I discovered that the "agnostic" approach I was interested in was difficult to pursue because of our asset utilization goals. It's too easy when you have a brokerage and an asset side to automatically fill your own trucks. That wasn't what I had envisioned for our business. [07:49] You mentioned that in the holistic approach, you're engaging with the whole organization. Please explain who is involved in the process. We deal with the sales, operations and production, purchasing, finance and accounting, supply chain, and C-level. [09:08] How did you come about this approach? From my experience in air freight, trucking, brokerage, etc., I had the opportunity to learn a lot about the industry and also how the shipping function impacted other stakeholders within a company. My perspective helped me understand that the shipping function as much more than just shipping. The holistic view of shipping compelled us to engage with every stakeholder touched by the logistics function. [11:44] Let's talk specifically about the different groups you work with. What are the typical value-adds that you discover? Operations : One of the biggest areas of opportunity we have discovered on operations and production people is the lack of communication. There's typically a big disconnect between production and shipping. Supply chain management : With supply chain managers, we have a much higher-level conversation. These managers are all about trade-offs between time and money. Purchasing : For purchasing agents, visibility comes up a lot. Finance : Finance people tend to be about information. We run into a lot of customized information requests. Sales : Salespeople are leveraging their credibility on behalf of their companies all the time. They get criticized when things are line, so we focus on alignment of expectations. [18:20] How do you convince these different groups to work with you and your team? It's easiest if we have a sponsor at the C-level of the company. Their support can get everybody on board and get us over the initial hump. Once we start the conversations, the value of the effort is easy for people to see. [20:47] What's new at Customodal? In January, we launched OPTIX, small parcel management service. Our OPTIX service is a system that enables small parcel shippers to negotiate better contract rates and audit invoices for service failures. OPTIX is an application that analyzes parcel shipment in the background. Every shipment is audited against 39 points, which identifies when the carrier has not delivered the specified service. Parcel shippers often have hundreds, if not thousands of small parcel shipments and manual auditing is not feasible. We have found that 4.2% of all small parcel shipping invoices are incorrect, which means many shippers are paying too much. Another advantage to OPTIX is the data collected and analyzed can be used in carrier negotiations. Learn more: Customodal website: http://customodal.com/ Mike Eberl's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-eberl-721b3216/

Gaining Favorable Attention with Adam Robinson Adam Robinson and Joe Lynch discuss what gaining favorable attention with prospective customers. [00:20] Opening / Introduction [00:36] Tell us a little about your background. I went to the University of Texas and wanted to be a Latin teacher, but then found out how much that paid and decided to get into business and marketing. My first job after graduation was Director of Sales and Marketing with a startup. That company sold and I went on to work in the newspaper industry, selling their online ads. Today, I'm the Marketing Manager with Cerasis. [04:27] When and why did you join Cerasis? A headhunter that represented Cerasis approached me with an offer. I wasn't really looking for a new job, but it was a blank slate and seemed like I could do things my own way. From an SEO standpoint, I saw a lot of potential. [06:40] In the old days, we were trained to sell on the phone and to say something intriguing in the first twenty seconds. People like you have moved this from a phone call to the digital world. You need to make sure you look at the long-term and what a customer is trying to do. There are many opportunities for someone in logistics to have problems, therefore, you can create content that speaks to answering those problems. [09:55] Name some of your favorite ways to gain favorable attention from a prospect. Our initial goal at Cerasis was to put a blog post out that was search engine optimized and answers problems we could solve once per day. We then thought about the full problems of a supply chain and started developing more blog posts. You need to start doing this stuff from day one, but it's not the only thing you should do. We started with a lot of advertising to build our brand awareness, but at the exact same time, we started putting out content. [15:31] Tell us a little bit about your web presence and how the search engines view you. I get media kits from publications trying to sell us advertising and we often have substantially more traffic than them. I pride myself at Cerasis in our advertising budget being really minimal. You don't need to have millions of dollars to break through. [19:12] Tell us about how many leads you're able to get your sales guys. As a salesperson myself, I know there's a lot of leads that waste my time. Because of this, we have many pre-qualifying questions in our lead form. It's important for me to hand out leads that are of the utmost quality. This consisted of about two-thousand leads in 2018. [24:47] You guys seem to have really aligned your marketing, sales, and operations teams to work together. It's not necessarily easy, but if you have a vision and a strategy, it happens. I built our content by first interviewing every single employee in the company – not just management. "Everybody loves to buy, but nobody likes to be sold to." We're out there on the front lines hearing the actual conversations from our customers which we can pass on to our development team. We're able to present solutions that we didn't just come up with in a lab, but that are actually solving real world shipper issues. [30:42] With this alignment, you've integrated marketing into its rightful place. It's super important, but a lot of people don't do it. We haven't been scared to put ourselves out there. Everybody's going to have an opinion. We all get better by doing, as long as there's a vision. It's never going to be perfect, and that's what makes it fun. [34:44] We've talked a lot about the sales process, so now let's talk about the buying process. How does that look? No matter what, the buying process is definitely going to start online. After a potential customer sees our content and likes us, they will be much more receptive when we call them compared to a cold call from another company. If you're thinking about investing and you're not online, you're probably missing out on the ability to make your sales team as effective as possible. [38:21] What's been going on at Cerasis? One of the biggest things we've seen is manufacturers going right to consumers, so we're working on a great solution for this. We want to bring an Amazon-like experience. Learn More About Gaining Favorable Attention Cerasis Adam Robinson The Logistics of Logistics Podcast If you enjoy the podcast, please leave a positive review, subscribe, and share it with your friends and colleagues. The Logistics of Logistics Podcast: Google, Apple, Castbox, Spotify, Stitcher, PlayerFM, Tunein, Podbean, Owltail, Libsyn, Overcast

TMS Innovation and the Voice of the Customer with Cameron Robertson Cameron Robertson and Joe Lynch discuss TMS innovation and the voice of the customer. [00:20] Opening / Introduction. [00:37] Introduce yourself and your company. I am the Chief Technology Officer of 3PL Systems in Signal Hill, California. We specialize in the development of transportation management software. At the age of thirteen I built my own website and since then I've been hyper-focused on learning more about software development. I went to school for computer science in southern California. My first real job was here with 3PL Systems. After I took the job, I fell in love with the industry, the people, and the fact that the technology seemed young. I joined the company as a technical support representative and progressed from there. [02:40] Please explain the difference between API and EDI before we get into the tech talk. API serves as the interface between software programs. Image a human interacting with a computer. That's similar to how API works. An EDI is still the most popular form of exchanged information via technology in transportation. It allows the user to pass information based on an action. I see API replacing EDI in the next five to ten years. [04:20] What is a transportation management system and why should someone invest in one? A TMS is used by shippers, carriers, brokers, and asset-based companies to manage their business. The biggest benefit is that if efficiently allows you to manage all data such as shipments in a centralized location. [05:25] What are the five new trends that are coming to the TMS business? [05:38] 1. Systems becoming easier to use and configure. Developers are often needed to set up systems, but their time is scarce and expensive. Users should not be dependent on a developer for every last customization or integration. Brokers and 3PLs are much more sophisticated with their knowledge of tech now, so they're ready to do more. [08:14] 2. Artificial intelligence is coming. AI is ready to impact the industry because we now have computing power, lots of data, and connectivity. It can complete a lot of the mundane tasks such as following up with carriers or dispatching loads in the morning. Some companies are using it on a limited basis, and some of it is just hype. It's coming soon and it will be disruptive. [10:53] 3. The user experience becoming more intuitive. Some software providers give a big user manual, which is a red flag to me. I would get rid of that software as soon as possible. Inbound logistics users may need to train hundreds of shippers, so it's important for training and orientation to be quick and easy. If you're going to have a user manual, it should be built into the software instead of an external text document. [13:31] 4. User group meetings. This means hearing the voice of the customer or user of the software platform. They can provide feedback about the software itself and what they would like to see built, rather than the software company dictating to the customer what needs to be built. Developers need to understand their customers so well that they can deliver next gen solutions before the customers even know it's possible. [15:40] 5. Becoming even more connected. Today, TMS can pull data via APIs from all types of databases and websites. We're going to see a tremendous amount of API integration amongst all the software companies that interact with each other in the transportation industry. One of the things I see a lot lately is that the brokers no longer want to have to log into your TMS system. They want to be able to stay in their environment. Not sharing that information is not helping anyone. [18:59] Tell us about what's going on at 3PL Systems. Over the years, we have realized that we've built a pretty strong product. What we wanted to do for our customers is tear it all down and start over based on the feedback we have gained. We launched that product last year, and we're able to add new features very quickly. We're really excited about the future. Learn More About TMS Innovation and the Voice of the Customer Cameron Robertson 3PL Systems The Logistics of Logistics Podcast If you enjoy the podcast, please leave a positive review, subscribe, and share it with your friends and colleagues. The Logistics of Logistics Podcast: Google, Apple, Castbox, Spotify, Stitcher, PlayerFM, Tunein, Podbean, Owltail, Libsyn, Overcast