Sales people

[theman]

I can tell you that I have been through a few places over a long period of time, and have reached that level every time. If someone is moving a lot of LTL at higher margin, then they can get away with a lower number because the margin will be there. But I will add usually between $1M and $2M of incremental sales volume every year (occasionally more if I'm really lucky) and when you figure on some attrition, you end up with a number in the $5M range within 3-4 years time. I do it mostly over the phone and am face to face with customers on an as needed basis.

And you're right, I would say that at least until not long ago, most of the brokers out there have been businesses of $10M or less, heck maybe $5M or less. There is probably not much more than a dozen freight brokerage offices in the GTA or Ontario in general that are doing more revenue than that per year. But the consolidation in our industry is going to continue so it will be interesting to see for how long that model will stand.

 

[Freight Broker]

Well, you're doing much better that most, and congrats to you. Most of the sales guys I've stayed in touch with over the years level out at 600K a year... some go on to make millions, but they are the few and far between. I do 4 million a year in sales and attribute a lot of that to luck..right out of the gate I found good customers who ship a lot. I'm not a good salesmen and really don't enjoy sales at all. Reaching out to 30 people every day is something I force myself to do every day.

 

[theman]

Yep ... 600k a year isn't going to produce enough margin to justify a good salesperson's salary and income expectations. I don't make 30 cold calls a day, put try to touch around that many people in a day every day. If you're spending that much time making cold calls, you're not building relationships. I have no problem with the expectation of producing upwards of $500K margin per year as long as I'm getting a piece of it as I get there.

You're not doing badly ... just pointing out that with the right people, it can go that much further.

 

[Freight Broker]

Yes, getting the "right" person or people would be the key. For a small business like mine, a wrong hire could very quickly put it down.

 

[whatiship]

My suggestion would be that instead of a full time sales person you may be better off to hire a good inside customer service rep. Service the hell out of existing clients, communicate every move good or bad, and grow from within. You would be surprised at the amount of business you are not getting from your existing customers. Appointments for cold calling are harder to get than ever and sales people tend to "sell by price" once they finally get a person on the phone or a face to face meeting. A customer service representative is making "sales calls" all day long.

 

[theman]

A good inside customer service rep is really an inside sales rep. But most of what is called CSRs are just order takers. I do agree that a great deal many of transportation companies don't need full time salespeople because they are simply don't have the resources to support one until they ramp up. The same for a lot of brokers out there.

A salesperson (and I do this to) blends time by making new prospecting calls and account maintenance calls ... it doesn't matter so much whether these are FtoF, phone or email. As far as I'm concerned, I work at the customer's comfort level and that is the secret to building business.