Truckers and Travelers

Hello, Fellow, Drivers!

The trucking business requires a plan of persistence.  I want to write to you about four strategies that will help you achieve success.  Persistence is a key element of any trucking business success.  One study conducted on customer service revealed that poor follow-up with your client base was the No. 1 reason why clients changed trucking companies.  When it comes to being persistent, marketing expert Jeffrey Lant discusses a concept called the “Rule of Seven”.  The rule explains that a trucking business needs to followup with a client at least seven times within an 18-month period to make a significant impression.  You must be the marketing and sales rep for your company all rolled into one person.  Chet Holmes, author of “The Ultimate Sales Machine, writes, “It generally requires 8.4 rejections to get a meeting” and “that only about 4 to 5 percent of salespeople keep trying after four rejections.”  Staying diligent with your followup efforts must be dauntless.  Finding the perfect balance between being persistence and being a pest requires finesse.  So how do you put the power of persistence to work for you?  The following four steps will help you determine the right amount and type of follow-up you must perform to get and retain more trucking business.

STEP 1.  Identify a niche market: First you must identify the niche market.  This blog page is a niche market, for instance.  This is important because the similarities among the people in your niche will make following up with them easier.  When you work with “just anyone,” you’ll have to spend much more time learning about different client needs and personality types in order to make your follow-up meaningful and effective.

I’ve found that people within a niche generally share similar personality profiles.  Understanding the four basic personality types will help you determine what kind of follow-up will work best with your niche:

Doersare short on patience and need to get tot the bottom line quickly.  They’re often business owners and want quick and direct follow-up.

Expressives often are salespeople who love to talk.  Their ideal follow-up will naturally include conversations.

Analytics are engineer types, people who like receiving data and frequent information from their advisors.

Amiables avoid conflict and just want to be your friends.  Essentially, they will hire you if they like you. 

When selecting a niche market, you should choose a niche that tends to attract people who are likely to be compatible with your own personality type.  If you’re a Doer, for example, you might not want to fill your client base with too many Amiables.

I’ll discuss steps 2, Creating a questionnaire process in part 2.    In part 3, I’ll discuss automating your follow-up and being persistent without yourself.  Be safe out there!