Unlike days gone past, the sales process within the freight forwarding industry today reflects the fact that purchasing decisions are being made increasingly at the C-level executive or board room echelon, as opposed to the old traffic manager and shipping room floor paradigms. This means that today's sales and marketing efforts require a greater degree of corporate participation, cross-departmental IT integration and advanced sales tools to support this new business model.
The key to a successful sales process today is the establishment of freight-specific sales and marketing tools within a comprehensive customer relationship management application. The forwarding and logistics market is evolving into an increasingly competitive and tight margin industry that warrants a new level of professionalism well beyond that of what a single sales manager can deliver. Today, a robust, integrated CRM tool provides the best opportunity to execute the sales value proposition by communicating significant sales data to all pertinent personnel, including operations, finance and IT departments.
Source: Manufacturing & Logistics IT, http://www.logisticsit.com