Sales & Marketing Programs

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Over the years, Ahern & Associates, Ltd. has assisted many trucking and logistics companies in establishing an effective sales program. As part of that process, it's important to recognize that an effective sales program involves changing the way your current sales and marketing force offers your services, as well as their behavior.

When a salesperson utilizes a particular sales approach, and;
He/she plays the "numbers" game;
He/she only has one "selling" pattern.

That salesperson will only be able to sell to those people who buy based on the way he/she sells. All other customers who need your services but are uncomfortable with the way your sales person sells, will not buy from you. In essence, you are eliminating at least 2/3 of the prospects who are potentially users of your services because the selling patterns are out of rapport with the customer's buying patterns.

Particularly, when a company is experiencing financial problems, the sales staff simply sells price. The first thing, as an owner, you need to do is:

Establish a confidence level in your company
The sales staff has to recognize that people buy utilizing their own buying patterns, not necessarily a salesperson's pattern.

The trucking industry is still a relationship business, regardless of what some believe. Part of the process of establishing a successful sales program is to determine how your account executives or salesperson creates relationships and forms a bond of trust.

In the many years that Ahern & Associates has been developing sales and marketing programs, we have learned that a salesperson has 15 essential ingredients to become successful.

There is an old adage that states "you have nothing to sell if there is no one to buy";

Relationships come first.
Task comes second.

Ahern & Associates redirects and retrains your sales staff on how to approach the mass markets. We teach:

How to set objectives.
How to ask for the order.
We show sales people how to do their homework and manage their time and territory.
We train them on how to be effective listeners to potential customer needs.
We train them on how to speak to decision makers.

As part of our exclusive training process:

We establish high goals.
We train sales people on how to give concessions only for return and how to control situations.
We show them how to never close the door on opportunities and how to fulfill a customer's needs.

Psychologically, if your sales staff is not conditioned properly, they will not be able to achieve maximum results, because they believe that the issue in the marketplace is simply price driven.

Typically, in the transportation industry, the classic objection is money. That merely is a case of a prospect saying no in the most expedient manner.

Money is rarely the reason people don't purchase specific services.
Unless they are a very small company, most budgets have flexibility.

If pricing is the sole objective that your sales staff complains about, for not obtaining customer market share, that means they're failing. They are failing to utilize the proper approach to obtain the results that management desires. The same goes for sales managers if you have any. When operating a team, using what I call "buyer facilitation," sales managers must understand that there is a different sales cycle and different expectations as to how the sale should precede.

In closing, over the years, Ahern & Associates has discovered that, in many instances you need to change the salesperson’s behavioral patterns, so that specific responses are worked out in a "questioning process" and therefore a sale can be completed.

Diversified Transportation Management Consultants

Read the testimonials from some our satisfied clients, like Paschall Truck Lines.

Sales & Marketing Programs