Make the best of your free time as a Freight Agent and learn how to connect with customers while on social media.

Has this ever happened to you? You have 5 minutes free – who am I kidding? You are a Freight Agent; you don’t have 5 minutes free! Let’s say you’re on hold or waiting at the doctor’s office. You decide to pass the time and scroll your Facebook feed for a minute. Twenty minutes later, your name is called, or the other person picks up the phone and you didn’t realize that you had spent that entire time on social media! 

It happens to everyone and if it happens to you, it’s happening with your colleagues, your customers, and potential customers. So, using that time to see what your neighbor had for dinner last night may not be beneficial to your Freight Agent business, but using that time to connect with customers can be amazing for your business.

As your Freight Agent Support at Trinity, anytime we find something that could be beneficial to our network of Freight Agents, we do everything we can to help educate them in that area. And we know more people are connecting with customers through social media. So, at our recent Agent Sales Conference, we invited a social media expert to talk to our Trinity Freight Agents about building their social media presence and how to connect with customers.

TIPS ON HOW TO CONNECT WITH CUSTOMERS ON SOCIAL MEDIA FROM AN EXPERT

Chances are, if you’ve consumed any logistics content online, you’ve heard of or seen the name, Blythe Brumleve. Blythe is the owner of Digital Dispatch and the Everything is Logistics website. She has a podcast by the same name, Everything is Logistics, and has been a regular content contributor to many sites outside of her own, like Freightwaves.

Blythe joined our Agent Sales Conference for an engaging, informational, and actionable session on building your personal brand through social media.

If you’d like to connect with customers and colleagues through social media, check out some of the takeaways that I got from her session.

Start With One Platform

There are so many social media platforms available! And each one has different algorithms and audiences. When starting to build your personal brand, it’s best to choose one platform to focus on first to grow your knowledge so that you can engage consistently. Among logistics professionals, LinkedIn is most often the platform that has the best organic reach.

Establish Your Why

The reason behind WHY you want to post and engage through social media is as important as WHAT you post. It drives everything you do! Posting for the sake of gaining followers isn’t going to drive your business forward. But posting to create value for your current and potential customers is a great way to drive your business forward!

Make a Great First Impression

Your profile is your first impression to the viewer. Take time to include a professional-looking headshot and banner photo. Also, let your customers know who you are and what you do through your tagline and information space! When they see a great post and follow it through to your profile, you want to establish yourself as someone they want to get to know.

Consistency is KEY

Like sales prospecting, being consistent with your social media outreach and follow-up is essential.  Build some time into your workday or week to focus on your LinkedIn page. Post consistently and engage with those that like or comment on your post. Also, make sure to follow others in your field to engage with them by commenting and asking questions. Just because you aren’t face-to-face doesn’t mean that it must be one-sided!

Provide Value to Your Connections

 People want to connect with people they trust. So, show your customers and colleagues that they can count on you for the information they need. Show up consistently with informative and relevant information to establish yourself as a subject matter expert! 

Be a Student Yourself 

This is one of the biggest lessons that I can give for so many areas of your life! But it applies to social media as well. Make sure to follow people and pages that will help you stay fresh and current with information in your field as well as information on how to stay current on social media and marketing trends. Following someone like Blythe Brumleve is a great place to start! She has an amazing podcast, and social posts, and is a great supporter of other content creators to help you build your list.

Keep Connecting with Customers Simple

It may seem complicated sometimes, but as Blythe highlighted during her session at our conference, the phrase “Keep It Simple Stupid” is the best motto to keep in mind. Keep it simple, consistent, and relevant. Don’t expect to go viral on day one, but if you maintain consistency and establish yourself as a subject matter expert in your field, you’ll see the value in connecting with customers through social media.

TRINITY LOGISTICS HELPS KEEP YOU ON TREND WITH HOW TO CONNECT WITH CUSTOMERS

At Trinity, we understand running your business is hard work, which is why we have an entire Support Team to help your Freight Agent business succeed. This includes assisting you with your personal brand building and marketing, as we consistently work to provide you with new marketing material and content to share on your social media.

Go ahead and choose to get in touch with a Trinity Freight Agent Representative today so you can start receiving world-class support and education to get ahead of your competition. Call 800-846-3400 x 1908 or click the button below to begin your conversation with Trinity.

Are you a Freight Agent that gets a stomach ache at just the thought of picking up the phone to make cold calls? Even with a great script at the ready, cold calling is a tough task to complete. However, with today’s technology, there are other systemized and predictable ways to prospect without making hundreds of cold calls. Don’t get me wrong, cold calling is still a part of developing new business, but it doesn’t have to be the only thing.

WARMING UP YOUR COLD CALLS

In the age of voicemail and caller ID, the success rate of cold calls is low, hovering around a two percent conversion rate, according to LinkedIn. So, before you pick up the phone to make call after call, you can help your chances of success by putting on your marketing hat. By using some form of creative marketing, you’ll find businesses who are looking for your solutions calling you for more information. I’m sure everyone would love to receive warm calls versus relying on cold calls for new business.

Many of our Freight Agents have found success by trading in cold calls for a combination of social media, emailing, and warm calling. 

TRADING COLD CALLS FOR SOCIAL MEDIA

According to LinkedIn, 75 percent of business-to-business (B2B) buyers use social media as part of their decision process. So, if you haven’t joined the professional social media network, LinkedIn, already, then now is the time. 

Make Sure You Look Professional

To get started warming up your calls, you need to have a LinkedIn profile that looks professional. Just as you’re finding probable prospects and looking at their profile pages, shipping managers don’t generally do business with someone they feel is not professional. Trust me; they will check out your profile. 

Creating a professional profile is a relatively easy thing to do. You can get ideas from other Freight Agent profiles on LinkedIn, but in the meantime, here are some quick tips for building a great profile so your prospects can get to know you.

1. Use a Professional Profile Photo

LinkedIn profiles with pictures are 14 times more likely to be viewed. Choose a photo showcasing you professionally, at your desk, in your office, or a simple friendly headshot. 

2. Craft a Headline That Shares Your Value

Have your headline answer these two questions so visitors know what you can offer them right from the start: Who do you help and how do you help them? For example, “I’ve helped X number of companies save X amount through outsourcing their logistics.”

3. Make Use of Your Cover Photo Too

Instead of keeping the generic blue gradient cover photo LinkedIn provides, consider adding your company’s logo, tagline, or even a family photo. The cover photo is your opportunity to give the viewer more insight into who you are as a person and freight agent. 

4. Include Your Contact Information

This may seem simple, but surprisingly, not everyone does this! It’s important that you include your email address, phone number, blog, or company website, so it’s easy for your prospects to gather more information and get in touch with you, setting you up for that warm call. 

5. Let People Learn More About You

Craft a summary to let your viewer learn more about you and your Freight Agent business. Get more specific about your work, projects you’ve completed, or results you’ve helped drive. Include keywords your buyers might be searching for to snag their attention and let them know you are a possible solution for them. And most importantly, include a clear call-to-action, communicating why and how your prospect should get in touch with you. 

6. Strategically Make Use of Your Time and Activity on LinkedIn

Your viewers can see your LinkedIn activity, like your most recent comments, likes, and shared content. This part of your profile can show your authenticity, so be sure to consider how you spend your time online. For example, are you offering advice or support to your connections? Congratulating them on a promotion? Sharing your knowledge with others in groups? All this can be seen on your profile so make sure you are showcasing how knowledgeable, friendly, and helpful you can be! 

On the LinkedIn Path to Warm Calls

Now that your profile LinkedIn is ready, here we go! Below is a basic outline for building a LinkedIn presence on a path to warm lead relationships and calls.

Making Connections

Utilizing LinkedIn messenger is essential when sending out your daily connection requests to shipping managers.

Shipping supervisors, logistics managers, and warehouse managers are the first people to start sending connection requests to and then continue with the many other titles for shippers that you want to search for.

Your first message should be simple and warm: 

“Hello, I’d like to connect with you.  Having a professional connection like you in my network will be a plus for me. Thanks, Your Name.”

If they respond back to your connection request, send them a message back & thank them for accepting the request. Remember, they’ve looked at your profile and approved you.

Making Use of Email

After you have thanked them, then the process of trying to find an email and or phone number begins.

Finding the shipping manager’s email or phone number is key to moving forward in the process. You can do this with a simple Chrome extension, like Get Prospect or UpLead, that connects to LinkedIn. If it doesn’t, this may slow you down.

Once you’ve obtained the email, ensure the first email you send is a simple introduction telling the shipping manager who you are and what you can do for their shipping needs.

You may find the benefit of incorporating a mass emailing system. They can save you time by sending several emails at once and give you insight into analytics, such as open and click rates. There are lots of applications to choose from. Some are free, like MailerLite or MailJet, and some require a small monthly fee, like Mailchimp. Any good mass email system should let you know if an email is invalid, blocked, or if the email has been opened. This is important because it will let you know they have read your email. 

It may take several emails for the shipping manager to like and trust you enough to get on a phone call with you. Remember, getting on a warm call versus a cold call generally gives you the upper hand because of the process the shipping manager has already been through in getting to know you. You have gained their trust at this point.

To Upgrade or Not to Upgrade?

While not necessary, some agents will choose to upgrade their LinkedIn services for prospecting. LinkedIn has other paid services you can investigate, such as LinkedIn Premium, and LinkedIn Sales Navigator. Both are fee-based services and can work very well.

Now that you know the basic process, you’re ready to start reaching out to shippers without the stress of making any cold calls. Work this process through. It could take a little time, but this method of prospecting has been tried and proven, and the payoff can be huge for your business. 

YOU DON’T HAVE TO PROSPECT FOR NEW CUSTOMERS ALONE

At Trinity, we understand running your business is hard work, so we have an entire Team to help you. This includes assisting with your marketing as we consistently work to provide you with new marketing material and content to share.  

Let us help you do what you do best, building relationships with your shipper customers and carriers while receiving world-class support to put you ahead of the competition.

Many of our Freight Agents see a 50 percent increase in their business over a two-year period from joining. Will you join them in their success? 

Are you prepared for your top customer to stop shipping with you?

We recently asked some of our top agents how they keep their businesses moving forward when times are tough. The biggest takeaway was simple but powerful; sales prospecting never ends.

THE SWEET SPOT

All too often we find ourselves in a “sweet spot.” You’ve built your business up with several steady customers and the daily loads come in like clockwork. You’ve worked hard, real hard to get what you have. Life is good and monthly cash flow is strong! It’s very easy to slow down or even stop sales prospecting for new business. I mean, come on, you’re too busy talking with the customers you currently have and booking their loads, right?

WHAT’S YOUR BACKUP PLAN?

Do you ever think about what would happen if your very best customer for whatever reason stopped moving freight with you? 

Are you prepared and do you have a backup plan?  

Many Freight Agents found the first several months of the Covid-19 pandemic a cold reminder of why they should always be sales prospecting for new business. Many very successful Freight Agents lost customers almost immediately due to the disruption in the market. Some Freight Agents’ businesses completely failed. 

Beyond the Covid pandemic, shortages of crucial materials or parts around the world happen from time to time. It can and does happen, many times, without or very little warning. 

Whether you’ve fallen victim to this or wish not to, there are things you can do today to be prepared. Remember, no business is immune to disruption.

NEVER STOP SALES PROSPECTING FOR NEW BUSINESS

Sales prospecting can be one of the most challenging parts of your business, so it’s easy to see why it can sometimes fall on the back burner once you’re comfortable. If you’ve found your sweet spot and slowed down, then start today working on generating new business through sales prospecting. You may say, “I don’t have time.” But, even if you dedicate just one hour a day to finding new business, you are going to come out ahead. 

Freight Agents must have the mindset to always be looking for new business. Without a pipeline of leads, you are not adding business from new customers. There are plenty of opportunities out there and many sales prospecting methods to drum up new business. Here are some tried and true methods that work. The Freight Agents I know that do this in their business are some of the most productive Freight Agents in the industry.

PREDICTING AND DUPLICATING YOUR BUSINESS

What if you could predict the outcome of your daily sales prospecting? Let’s use cold calling as an example. If you keep track of your numbers, you will get better. The key to making sales prospecting work well is knowing your numbers. Knowing your numbers creates predictability within your business. 

For example, can you prospect each day 1 pm – 2 pm and predict what is going to happen? Yes, you can if you track your numbers. But the key to a good business is the ability to duplicate an activity and get the same kind of response.

If you look at the diagram below, you’ll see a Freight Agent’s list of prospects that they have been calling on. In this example, you can see that the Freight Agent is calling on three prospective customers. They have made 35 dials and had 10 conversations with these customers. The result of these numbers has landed them one customer. This Freight Agent knows moving forward that it should take them that number of dials and conversations to land a new customer.

Tracking your numbers is very important because it will tell you the levels of your efficiency.  Set a daily or weekly schedule to spend some time sales prospecting and you will start to build momentum. Your confidence in this will grow, and you will improve, and start adding more customers. Try this for the next 30 days and see what happens. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the direction you are headed! 

ASK FOR REFERRALS

Referrals can be one of your easiest and most powerful sales prospecting techniques. Statistics show that 93 percent of consumers trust recommendations from colleagues, friends, and family. 

Spend some time reaching out to your past and current satisfied customers to ask for referrals, however, make sure you have a good relationship with them. It’s best to reach out to the ones you’ve helped just as much as they’re about to help you. 

A great tip for successfully gaining customer referrals is to get the timing down right. Choosing to reach out for a referral shortly after you’ve impactfully helped a customer with their logistics is ideal as they will be more likely to return the favor with any referrals they may have.

ALWAYS FOLLOW UP

Cold emails or calls that go unanswered or returned can quickly turn into a beneficial conversation if you follow up. Not following up is giving up and greatly decreases your chances of getting a reply. Perhaps when you initially reached out, your prospective customer was busy, forgot about your reach out, or simply didn’t need your services at the time. Following up not only reminds your prospective customer of your available services but broadens your awareness with them. 

In a recent study on sales prospecting, it was found that the most successful cadence based on email replies is six touches throughout three weeks. So unless your prospective customer has asked that you do not call or email them, continue reaching out and try to connect with them. 

ENGAGE IN SOCIAL MEDIA

Everyone uses social media and it’s a great way to find and gain new customers. Statistics show that those who tap in social media for their sales are 40 percent more likely to hit their revenue targets than those who don’t use it. 

There are many ways to use social media to your advantage. First off, you can showcase your expertise. Customers are looking for experts in logistics and supply chain solutions. They want to know who they work with can be a trusted resource for them. Showcase your knowledge by sharing and commenting on relevant industry articles, important freight market news, or any of your company’s high-quality content. Doing so can show potential customers that you know your stuff and can be a reliable source of support for their company. 

And make as many connections on your professional social media accounts as possible. The more connections you have, the more chances for new customers. 

Connect with the customers you close deals with or anyone you know in your industry. Connections with your current customers are a great way to find and gain referrals. Having a mutual connection with your prospects will automatically warm up your outreach and better yet, help spark a conversation with them from the start. 

KEEP YOUR BUSINESS SUCCESSFUL

Continued efforts for sales prospecting is a necessary evil for keeping a successful business. It’s the surest way to generate more business opportunities, close more deals, and keep your revenue incoming. 

If you’re bogged down by back-end tasks and need more time in your day to add in sales prospecting, consider joining Trinity’s Authorized Agent network. Trinity Logistics has over 30 years of experience aiding in the success of our freight agent businesses, with many new freight agents seeing a 50 percent increase over a two-year period from joining. 

Join our Authorized Agent network today and gain more time to generate more revenue. We’ll focus on everything else.