Welcome to Check Call, our corner of the internet for all things 3PL, freight broker and supply chain. Check Call the podcast comes out every Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. EST. Catch up on previous episodes here. If this was forwarded to you, sign up for Check Call the newsletter here.
Inside this edition: Prospecting gets creative; size matters in final mile delivery; and C.H. Robinson makes executive changes.
It’s a new year, which means it’s time for a new sales goal. Which means it’s time to get back on that prospecting grind. Not that prospecting is a grind you can ever really stop, but at the beginning of the year when the pipeline might be a little lean, more time might be spent on prospecting and working on initial contact with a potential new customer. Now that there’s a recessionary market, and shippers are a little less desperate to get freight moved, there are options worth exploring.
Enter the internet. Business to business selling isn’t quite the same as dealing with the consumer. B2B buyers spend a whopping 5%-6% of their time actually talking to a sales rep. Need to make those minutes count. While prospective customers might not spend a lot of face time with the rep, they know what’s going on. Ninety-four percent of buyers head to the internet to do research before jumping into a partnership. That includes your website, social media presences, reviews, you name it. A strong online presence can be a valuable part of the sales team.
Get creative. Everyone is going to be sliding into the same LinkedIn direct messages, the same info@company.com. Those who get a little creative could reap the benefits down the line. For example, only 11% of salespeople ask for referrals, yet 73% of executives prefer to work with salespeople referred by someone they know. Not to mention prospective customers that are a referral close at 50%-70%, compared to cold calling. Use your existing customers to your advantage. They will know others in the industry that are struggling and what specific problems they are facing. It’s an immediate leg up — doubly so if it’s the same freight profile as an existing customer.
In the year of relationships, don’t be scared to talk to your customers.
Size matters in transportation. The next biggest thing in managed transportation is big and bulky e-commerce items. Armstrong & Associates Inc. and the National Home Delivery Association found the $9.3 billion market will experience 11.8% annual growth from 2022-25. The market remains highly fragmented but still relatively untouched. Big and bulky freight is not something carriers love to deal with. Those that will work with it do it at a high price that doesn’t always result in cost savings for a shipper.
The 3PL advantage. 3PLs are already something of a professional in final-mile deliveries. In addition, carriers are looking for ways to improve per-shipment revenue. Less-than-truckload carriers can make less than $90 per shipment. But with the addition of “white glove” services, meaning home delivery into one room of the house, suddenly that $90 turns into $250 for one delivery. Consumers will continue to shop for convenience, including furniture and other large bulky items.
Market check. The return from the holiday break brought the return of downward trends to FreightWaves SONAR’s Outbound Tender Rejection Index. The brief spike brought on by the holiday season was a sign that some were taking extended time off. That break is over, so it’s back to drivers on the road and tweener length-of-haul loads still being the least popular. That local load, though, cannot be beat. Heading into 2023, the loads under 250 reign supreme as long haul (loads over 801 miles) just barely come in second. Very short or very long loads are looking like the easiest to get covered heading into the new year.
Who’s not with whom? C.H. Robinson announced Tuesday that Bob Biesterfeld has stepped down as president, CEO and board member as of Dec. 31. The new kids on the block are Scott Anderson, chair of the board of directors and interim CEO, Jodee Kozlak, independent chair of the board, and Kermit Crawford, the chair of the governance committee. So it appears new year, new me is being taken literally over at C.H. Robinson.
“It has been a privilege to lead C.H. Robinson and this exceptional team,” Biesterfeld said. “I am proud of all that we have achieved together, and it has been a pleasure working with so many talented members of the team throughout the organization during my tenure as CEO. I am confident that C.H. Robinson’s industry-leading people and culture will continue to ensure that the company is well positioned for the future.”
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