At TMSA’s Annual Conference last month, I had the pleasure of hosting a discussion group of sales and marketing practitioners on the topic of “Leveraging Sales Feedback with Marketing to Drive Results.” At first, I was fearful that it might evolve into more of the same old ‘sales wants more leads from marketing’ type of discussion. However, I was delightfully surprised at the level of interest in collaboration and openness across both functions sitting around the table! I was also surprised that the same challenges were present across multiple participating companies.    

Food Logistics magazine, a TMSA Affiliate member and Media Friend, recently announced its annual Food Logistics’ 2019 Top Green Providers. According to Jolene Gulley, Group Publisher at AC Business Media (the publisher of Food Logistics): “This initiative showcases companies that have found new ways to promote sustainability throughout their operations and for their customers. This year’s list consists of 3PLs, technology companies, transportation providers, cold storage providers and many more that have upped their game to become leaders in the sustainable global food supply chain.”

Congratulations to these TMSA member companies for their accomplishments that have allowed them to be named to Food Logistics’ 2019 Top Green Providers.

There were big financial gains in 2018 for most motor carriers, driven by the strongest economy in decades. According to Daniel Bearth, Senior Features Writer at Transport Topics, mergers and acquisitions continued to rearrange the business landscape – with the most notable one recently being XPO Logistics and Daseke Inc. Transport Topics, a TMSA Affiliate member and Media Friend, recently announced its annual 2019 Top 100 For-Hire Companies, which is based upon financial standing of motor carriers.

The Transportation Marketing & Sales Association boasts approximately 25% of those making the 2019 list as members.  Congratulations to these TMSA member companies for their accomplishments that have allowed them to be named to Transport Topics’ 2019 Top 100 For-Hire Companies!

2 Roundtable Discussions. 15 Participants.

I had the opportunity to facilitate two roundtable discussions on lead generation and conversion strategies through digital, and while both roundtable discussions were with different groups, on different days, the key takeaways were very similar. Discussion participants varied in their levels of experience in digital marketing. Some participants were very seasoned and some were more novice. Our conversations focused on the basic tenets of developing a lead generation and conversion strategy. Here is what we discovered.

What’s the next job, folks? Internal newsletter? Customer portal on a website? Driver recruitment campaign? Whatever it is, make sure you know WHY. A solid WHY points everyone involved in the same direction toward a stronger organization. 

Likewise, a nebulous WHY has nebulous results. Here are some nebulous WHYs:

Sales strategy and operations are becoming more sophisticated among companies in the transportation and logistics industry. At least that’s the findings from the 2019 TMSA Marketing & Sales Metrics Study.

This year marks TMSA’s fourth annual sales and marketing metrics study. The Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA), and Transport Topics magazine promoted participation in this study. At the 2019 TMSA Logistics Marketing & Sales Conference last week, TMSA’s CEO Brian Everett made the observation that many companies are looking more holistically at their sales strategy and operations.

Customer Experience (CX) was the theme of the 2019 TMSA Logistics Marketing & Sales Conference at Amelia Island, Florida. As marketers and sales professionals within transportation and logistics, creating a delightful experience for our shippers is often the first “Customer” we think of when we look to improve. One peer-to-peer conversation during a working lunch roundtable session with leaders from carriers, brokers, technology firms, transportation media and shippers confirmed that holding shippers accountable to providing a first-rate experience for truck drivers is an equally compelling priority.

So what do my customers want? The savviest executives in the transportation and logistics industry are now asking this question, as evidenced at the annual TMSA Logistics Marketing & Sales Conference last week at the Omni Amelia Island Plantation Resort near Jacksonville, Florida.

“Companies in this space understand that they are in the customer experience business, and they understand that how an organization delivers for customers is beginning to be as important as what it delivers,” said keynote Robert Rose, Chief Troublemaker of The Content Advisory, a strategy, advisory and education group for The Content Marketing Institute.

By Brian Everett, CEO, Transportation Marketing & Sales Association

There’s no question that the transportation and logistics industry is in a current state of rapid change, thanks to a large degree to to the evolution of technology. Shipment tracking and tracing, GPS, blockchain, and electronic messaging with customers, providers and drivers are just a few examples that are greatly impacting transportation operations.

By Conrad Winter, a campaign and content copywriter for the transportation and logistics industry. He is a TMSA member and will be exhibiting at the upcoming TMSA Logistics Marketing & Sales Conference, which has a theme focused on the Customer Experience (CX). For more information, visit conradwinter.com.

No one wants to do business with a computer, or have a relationship with a robot. It’s creepy. 

By Laura Patterson, president of VisionEdge Marketing, a recognized pioneer in the Marketing Performance Management (MPM) space. She is a past presenter and thought leader at the TMSA Logistics Marketing & Sales Conference and specializes in marketing accountability, marketing analytics, and marketing operations.

Quite a few years ago we had an intense debate over my insistence on capitalizing the word “Marketing.” You’re probably laughing right now thinking what a waste of energy and effort. Maybe you’re thinking what’s in the water in Texas? In looking back however, this turned out to be an extremely important conversation for us. I hope it will spark a similar conversation around your table. Let me share a bit more about our discussion.

By Brian Everett, ABC, Chief Executive Officer of TMSA and Senior Partner with MindShare Strategies, Inc., an association management company specializing in the management and marketing of associations in the transportation and logistics industry.

By Jason Ickert of Energy Transportation Group where he is involved in integrating logistics solutions across the organization and their commercial partners. Ickert is also Co-Chair of the TMSA Membership Committee and serves on the TMSA Board of Directors.

By Robert Rose, Chief Strategy Officer of The Content Advisory, the Consulting & Education Group of Content Marketing Institute. For more than 20 years, Rose has been helping marketers to tell their story more effectively and build passionate audiences and powerful customer experiences. Rose will be the opening and closing keynote speaker for the 2019 TMSA Logistics Marketing & Sales Conference. 

By Holly LaBoda, Partner and Founder at Luminaries Consulting, LLC, an Affiliate member of TMSA. She has 10+ years experience in strategy facilitation, talent management, sales development, change management, leadership development and custom learning content with leading companies such as C.H. Robinson and Emirates Group.

Picture it: An executive team is reviewing their quarterly results when the CEO asks, “why are we not hitting our revenue targets?” and all eyes turn to the sales leader. If results are struggling, some sales leaders will naturally jump to a few places. Perhaps the issue is their team not having the right talent or skills to achieve their goals. Maybe it’s a tool or resource gap, they need a CRM to better manage sales activity. These things may be needed, but a successful and sustainable sales function can’t be built by solving singular issues. Whether your sales function is thousands strong or a few key players, there are four key elements required to create lasting success.

By Joe Pulizzi, Content Marketing Expert, Keynote Speaker and former Consultant to TMSA, and Entrepreneur. Founder of the Content Marketing Institute and the Orange Effect Foundation.

By Nathan Sanfaçon of thinkPARALLAX. Nathan’s natural interest in sustainability and CSR gravitated him to thinkPARALLAX, where he helps to evolve the agency’s brand and works with clients on high-level strategy. He is passionate about empowering organizations to discover and celebrate their impact, in turn creating meaningful change and catalyzing long-term success.

An organization’s culture is arguably its greatest asset. Culture attracts and retains top talent, rallies employees to find innovative solutions to problems, protects the company from outside threats, and is the key driver for pushing the organization forward. So it is no surprise that instilling, nurturing, and continually strengthening a healthy and thriving culture sits at the top of the list for organizational leaders. At thinkPARALLAX, we work with our clients to strengthen their culture through extensive employee engagement, training, and professional development. The engagement tactics and communication strategies that we offer are derived from a core philosophy dissecting what a strong culture looks like, and how to go about strengthening it. We break down that philosophy here:

By Caliper, a human capital analytics company leveraging decades of data and validated assessment results to predict and select high-quality candidates. Caliper is a TMSA Affiliate member.

Great leaders often have several traits in common. We tend to see characteristics like strong communication, a positive attitude and a sense of integrity on the short list. But, where does self-awareness come into play? This attribute is often overlooked in leaders, but here at Caliper, we argue that this characteristic can make or break a work environment.

By Robert Rose, Chief Strategy Officer of The Content Advisory, the Consulting & Education Group of Content Marketing Institute. For more than 20 years, Rose has been helping marketers to tell their story more effectively and build passionate audiences and powerful customer experiences. Rose will be the opening and closing keynote speaker for the 2019 TMSA Logistics Marketing & Sales Conference. 

By Hilary Jane Grosskopf, author of Awake Leadership: A System for Leading with Clarity and Creativity and Awake Ethic: A System for Aligning Your Action with Your Core Intentions. She is a leadership guide, strategist and writer and founder of Awake Leadership Solutions.