Why can't you close that deal?

We are beyond the halfway point of our Sales Incentive Program and it seems that the closing of these solution sells has come to a screeching halt. As I continue to talk to reps and SP’s, it sounds like they often get about 80% of the way and then the opportunity seems to fall off the wagon. This is the point that we need to start asking ourselves some questions.

I would like to introduce some tips from our sales training guru Rhonda Moon. She’s got a couple suggestions to help you get a little closer to getting that signature.

1. Make sure that the person you are talking to is the decision maker for this purchase. Many times we are talking to the individuals where we have an existing relationship, like a traffic manager. If they aren’t the ultimate decision maker on a strategic purchase like a technology solution, our contact strategy must change. You have to make sure you are working with the ultimate decision maker.

2. Have you defined and quantified the SEKO solutions for the customer? Strategic selling has little to do with selling a product or service because customers do not buy products or services. Customers buy what your products and services create, known as benefits or solutions.

3. Have you thought about the follow-up steps after the close? Displaying your plan to measure and monitor post-sale performance is a powerful assumptive close that demonstrates your ability as a consultant versus a seller. It will also reduce the client’s fear of change.

4. When closing your sale, consider offering alternatives. People like to have choices. You can use this to your advantage by saying, "Which of these choices would you like — A or B?" With this close, you are likely to make a sale of one kind or another. Even if you are selling a single solution, you can still offer choices.

5. One final technique is the authorization close. When you have finished your solutions sales presentation, ask if the customer has any additional questions. If he has none, make a check mark on the initial SOW, where the client needs to sign. Pass the document over to him and say something like, "If you will just authorize this, we can get started right away." The word "authorize" is less threatening than the word sign, so customers are more likely to sign when asked.

If you are prepared, closing a sale can be a natural part of your conversation with customers. Work to refine it so that it grows easily out of your discussion. Forge a relationship with your clients. Believe in what you are selling, and implement some of these techniques. Then watch your sales grow!

Thank you, Rhonda for that valuable insight. You should be considering these points very seriously when you are moving towards closing that deal. If you ever need assistance feel free to reach out to myself or Rhonda. We are happy to help you.

Thanks and good luck,

Tom Madzy

Why is branding important anyway?

It’s obvious we need to try to promote solution sales, and the value prop gives us a good explanation of how they all fit together, but why did I waste three blogs on making sure you understand this exact specific message?

It all boils down to messaging, and the strength behind that message is only as powerful as its consistency throughout. Why is a consistent message important? I've asked Tiffany Holm, our corporate brand specialist to guest blog and explain to us why branding is important.

“SEKO’s brand is what people think about us, and it's shaped by every single interaction we have with our market, especially when it comes to our value proposition and message. It's so important to ensure that every message with our company is consistent, so we present a clear sense of what we're all about. This entire concept has been motivated by a study from the 1950’s on cognitive dissonance by Leon Festinger. His studies show that consistency holds a certain power to persuade human behavior as a motivator. So business communicators have utilized this research and used consistency to drive awareness and generate sales.

Further, a study done by Jeff Swystun, Director of Global Communications, DDB Worldwide isolated the five best practices of great brands:

1. Continual delivery of brand promise

2. Possession of superior products, services and technologies

3. Clear ownership of a distinct position

4. Commitment to “internal” branding for employee engagement

5. Culture of improvement and innovation

Basically, the more consistent we are throughout, the more familiar people will become with us. And guess what, they now become more comfortable with you and they begin to like you, and trust you a lot quicker.

Your message has to be the same everywhere. It's about transparency. You need to be talking from the same point of view anywhere you are, and that’s what we need to strive for together.”

Thanks Tiffany. This is why staying connected brand wise truly brings strength to our SEKO message. Consider that when we are creating presentations and customer messages.

We look forward to having other guest bloggers write for us in the near future. If you would like to be a guest blogger, or would like to hear from one of your peers, let us know!

Thanks,and good luck.

Tom Madzy

Value Proposition: Part III

The next level specifically addresses the most common questions heard on every sales call; "what do I get, how much does it cost, and what is it going to do for me?"

This is the COST value behind the SEKO value proposition. How do we help our customers improve their bottom line?

Encourage your customer to explore and consider all of SEKO's soutions to move their processes up levels in the chain performance. Supply chain performance is broken down into six levels. As companies work their way up to the sixth level, their supply chain process will run much smoother and their total supply chain cost will minimize.

Six Levels of Supply Chain Performance

6. Velocity

5. Synthesis

4. Collaboration

3. Visibility

2. Link excellence

1. Business as usual

Partnering with SEKO takes customers up the ladder of supply chain efficiencies through their welth of experience and knowledge and their technology platforms. SEKO's internal IT department has a group solely dedicated toward developing new enhancements that allow for customization. SEKO consistently provides quick turn around on IT enhancements that mitigate customer internal investments.

SEKO takes pride in being categorized as a 3rd Party Logistics provider with the capability of developing a solution to fit the precise needs of our customers while most importantly saving them money. Through the intelligence of our IT solutions SEKO has the ability to tie in all of the intricacies of a supply chain and channel the decision making process and visibility into one host system, creating a model that provides:

• Software performance improvement
• Outsourced transportation management
• Improved measurement capabilities and results
• Process improvements
• Carrier negotiations
• Shipment consolidation
• Supply chain optimization

All facets positively impact the customers' bottom line. The stronger the partnership with SEKO, the more we optimize their efficiencies, and the more it increases their profitability.

Graphic slides have been created for each value proposition level and they can all be found in the Global Overview PowerPoint presentation located in the documents tab in SEKOVision. Please contact Tiffany Holm if you need assistance.

Thanks,

Tom

SEKO Value Proposition: Part II

This blog is describing the secondary level overview of the SEKO value proposition. This is taking our offerings to a more granular approach elaborating on the three degrees of expertise that we focus on here at SEKO; outsourced expertise, exceptional service, and customized technology.

“SEKO is first and foremost a transportation company. We have the expertise and experienced professionals to help you make the right transportation decisions, every time. Everything we do and processes we have built comes from a transportation expertise.

Outsourced Expertise

This expertise makes us the right fit for an outsourced solution. And we’re nimble. The network structure of our business allows our team to service your business needs in the most efficient way. And our services can be customized to your business needs. Let SEKO be your transportation team, we’re really good at it.

Exceptional Service

When you outsource to SEKO, you will receive all the benefits of a service-oriented entrepreneurial company. Our logistics experts go out of their way to ensure you receive the best possible service from our network of approved carrier partners. Whether you use SEKO to move your freight or another carrier, the SEKO team will help you make the best decision possible.

Customizable Technology

SEKO is a transportation company first and foremost, and to augment our executable capabilities we have developed a robust supply chain technology. We’ll talk about it in detail in just a minute, but I’d like to touch on the main components briefly.

The technology is capable of managing the entire supply chain, from sourcing your raw materials around the globe, to managing inbound PO’s, maintaining warehouse inventory, to multi-modal tracking globally and even integrating with your website for easy e-commerce solutions.

All this is augmented by a robust reporting suite giving you access to all your supplier, transportation, and warehouse data in one easy to use web-based dashboard.“

Graphic slides have been created for each value proposition level and they can all be found in the Global Overview PowerPoint presentation located in the documents tab in SEKOVision. Please contact Tiffany Holm if you need assistance.

Thanks,

Tom

SEKO Value Proposition: Part I

The most important aspect of making a conscious sales effort is understanding your company, product and message. The new SEKO value proposition was created to smoothly guide you and your customers through what SEKO has to offer. I would like to break down this message at each level for you to ensure that your understanding of our new proposition is clear and easy to understand.

The SEKO Value Proposition includes three main points. Over the next three blogs I will discuss each level individually. You may use these as scripts when presenting our solutions to a customer.

The first is a high level view of who we are as a company:

“SEKO is a leading Global Provider of Supply Chain Solutions. The SEKO model is based on an entrepreneurial culture, our network of locations provides a breath and scope of services globally. The transportation professionals that make up the SEKO network are dedicated to understanding your business and servicing your transportation needs globally, with local expertise.

In addition to the SEKO global footprint, SEKO has built a proprietary technology system that integrates the entire supply chain and enables total visibility. This technology allows our customers to see all transportation data, whether the freight goes through the SEKO network or not. This Software as a Service application is the next generation of supply chain technologies. And because we’ve built it, we can customize it to fit your specific business needs.

This model, combined with the best in class technology, puts SEKO on the cutting edge of transportation management services.”

Graphic slides have been created for each value proposition level and they can all be found in the Global Overview PowerPoint presentation located in the documents tab in SEKOVision. Please contact Tiffany Holm if you need assistance.

Thanks,

Tom

The REAL Opportunity Behind Excel Spreadsheets

This week we would like to introduce another guest blogger. Tom McIntyre is the corporate Senior Director of Business to Consumer Sales. Tom is a seasoned sales professional who's experience has made him an expert when it comes to seeking out opportunities.

As we continue to sell solutions across the system, it is not uncommon to hear of companies using Excel spreadsheets to manage their business. When you hear that a potential client is using Excel spreadsheets to manage their supply chain, immediately recall: Excel Spreadsheets = Solution Opportunities.

Using an Excel spreadsheet leads to user error, inaccurate data, lost employee productivity time, and manual processes. None of these are best practices for managing a business, let alone a complex supply chain. And remember, all supply chains are complex.

SEKO’s technology suite offers dynamically focused web-based supply chain solutions.

• The robust reporting suite within MySEKO includes real time tracking, tracing, metric reporting, etc.

• The Supplier Management tool controls PO’s across the globe.

• SEKO’s TMS allows control over all carriers from one platform.

• WMS allows for inventory visibility and control, in one location or many.

By using spreadsheets, customers are demonstrating to us they don’t have efficient systems or processes to manage their supply chain. The only way a business can affect meaningful change is to have dynamic visibility into on-demand, measureable and meaningful data. SEKO and our tools will provide the ability to work from a proactive stance versus the reactive platform spreadsheets provide.

Lastly, data means nothing without analysis and a closed loop continuous process of improvement. Once on-demand and measureable data is effectively captured, achieving savings and productivity results is the next step towards the most efficient supply chain process. More on how we achieve a closed loop process of improvement later… for now, go out and sell solutions!

That's great advice from Mr. McIntyre that everyone should be considering when talking to customers and prospects.

We look forward to having other guest bloggers write for us in the near future. If you would like to be a guest blogger, or would like to hear from one of your peers, let us know!

Thanks,

Tom Madzy

Key Performance Indicators

A KPI = Key Performance Indicator. These are important benchmarks business like SEKO and our customers use to help their organization define and measure progress towards strategic goals. SEKO operations has four KPIs that are measured monthly.

• Date Entered in POD – The time between shipment arrival and data entry

• POD to Finalize – The time between the entry of the POD and when the order is finalized

• On-Time Deliveries – Percentage of deliveries met on-time

• On time DTCs – Percentage of on-time deliveries that were shipped direct to consignee

SEKO sets KPIs to achieve our service goals and reports on them regularly to maintain the execution excellence that we commit to our customers. Customer focus is one of our core values and keeping track of our performance indicators ensures that we are keeping that a priority.

Like SEKO, all companies have strategic goals and key performance indicators to show progress. SEKO’s reporting suite, within the MySEKO application, is populated with key performance indicators determined during implementation for our solutions customers. This reporting tool acts as a dashboard, much like the dashboard in SEKOVision, to allow our customers instant access to transportation, PO, and warehouse data.

Our reporting suite can be customized to show any data that is input into any SEKO software – some very basic reports are:

• Inbound activity per location and cumulative

• Outbound activity per location and cumulative

• Current transportation costs, company-wide

• Tracking milestones

• On-Time deliveries

• Supplier delivery milestones

• Pick and Pack lists

• Receipts

Along with what is listed above, the reports can be built to show any activities the customer is looking for. Performance is always important, and informing your prospect that tracking their performance is easy with our solutions can be very valuable.

Good Luck,

Tom

What's Your Story

What is the SEKO story? When talking with your customers, what do you say when they ask you, “So, who is SEKO?” What is our value proposition?

The value proposition for selling traditional freight services is one that you know very well. “We can ship this smarter and for less than the competition because of our relationships and history with our carrier partners.” But what is the new solution-based value proposition? Let’s start sharing with our customers and prospects who SEKO has become, our experience and our expertise in creating supply chain solutions.

SEKO’s new value proposition can be focused into these three significant messages that you should be sharing with your customers.

Outsourced Expertise

Outsourcing your supply chain management keeps your business running at peak performance. The transportation professionals of SEKO are committed to developing efficiencies to optimize your supply chain. By simplifying processes, finding the right access to carriers and capacity, and improving your ability to monitor and track shipment activity, the SEKO supply chain engineers create lean and efficient transportation solutions.

Exceptional Service

SEKO is first and foremost a transportation company. This means the problem-solvers SEKO invests in are transportation professionals dedicated to continuously developing new and innovative solutions to help clients succeed in their core businesses. The combined experience of seasoned corporate professionals and proven, successful industry entrepreneurs gives SEKO clients a trusted and effective team.

Customizable Technology

SEKO understands freight and shipping needs. Building on 30 years of experience, our experts have made a significant investment in fully customizable technology solutions. SEKO’s technology suite includes a number of integrated portals designed to help achieve supply chain excellence. Manage growing and increasing complexities, and increase visibility with a suite of easy-to-use, real-time, Web-based management systems. With access to business metrics and robust visibility, the SEKO team is dedicated to freight spend optimization.

So what does this all mean? It means three things;

1. Your customer’s core business is not freight. Outsourcing transportation processes to SEKO is the best way to find savings and supply chain efficiencies.

2. SEKO is a transportation company first, with a history of excellent customer service.

3. We have unmatched technology built by transportation professionals.

If you can simply communicate this message, then your customer will understand how you’re going to make their job easier.

Thanks and good luck!

Tom

What Happens in Vegas...

This week we welcome our first guest blogger, Neal Haymore in Las Vegas. Neal has been tearing up the strip selling SEKO Supply Chain Solutions so we’ve asked him to share with us his secrets to success.

So you caught the bug at the sales conference and have been to the deep dive training… now what? How do you take a customer that says “That’s a good idea,” and change the sentiment to, “I can’t afford not to have it!”

Since the sales conference in March, Las Vegas has seven new solutions that are being implemented. We have a few more we are hopeful to close shortly. When Tom asked me how we go from “hopeful” to “sold” I said I would be happy to share what has worked in Las Vegas.

You want to know the secret? Sure you do! You wouldn’t read past the first paragraph if you didn’t. So here it is… there is no secret! Not one solutions sell is ever the same as the next. Each business has different and specific driving factors that lead to a signed SOW. The common need I’ve seen is a solution to fix a problem or create efficiencies.
Below are three steps that have been key factors in closing the sale.

1. Be sure you are talking to the right person. The right person controls the dollars. If you don’t have that relationship, then you are wasting your time.

2. Understand your customer’s industry. If you don’t know what is happening in their industry, it will quickly become apparent in front of a C-level person if you have not done your homework.

3. As Tom Madzy says, “Ask what the problems are, then sit back and take notes. Everyone loves to tell you about their problems. Just ask Dr Phil.” Once you have found a true need, find a true solution. Then keep reminding people of the pain they have, and your solution. Show them how soon they will see a return on their investment.

Sure software is expensive, but what does a 40 hour a week employee cost? What does it cost a company to have their logistics being run in- effectively? $40,000; $50,000; $100,000? I’m sure you can think of plenty more and you should. Suddenly an up-front fee of $5k doesn’t sound so bad.

Where to start? You. Believe in your products. Start by learning the software and understanding your customer’s pain. I have been in sales calls and heard “My last company spent 750k for software that couldn’t do that.”

I’ve even had CFO’s thank me for thinking they might need our software. (I don’t know about you, but the only thanks I got from selling transactional freight was when I dropped off a box of donuts.) Think of yourself as a logistics and information technology consultant, not just an account manager.

Start with existing customers who know and trust you. On every new sales call I go on, I think, “What can I solve for them?” But not everyone that should buy, will buy. Remember, when preparedness meets opportunity you will have a signed deal and a partnership with customer. Not just a transaction.

Thanks to Neal for the his suggestions. Keep up the great work! What happens in Vegas should be happening for everyone!

We look forward to having other guest bloggers write for us in the near future. If you would like to be a guest blogger, or would like to hear from one of your peers, let us know!

Thanks,

Tom

Selling a Solution to New vs. Existing Customers

I’ve been on the road meeting many of your existing customers and prospects, one thing I’ve noticed is the difference in the sales process. The benefits of having a relationship with someone may create a “pigeon hole” effect and it can be tough to get out of the, “but you’re my freight forwarder,” attitude. Though getting in the door of a new customer as a 3PL can be just as difficult. So some thoughts on these challenges below.

Selling a Solution to New vs. Existing Customers
When it comes to selling solutions and crafting your sales pitch, there is a clear difference between selling to an existing customer vs. a brand new customer. Truth be told, you are going to need to adjust your sales pitch dramatically depending on who you are working with. In both instances you are selling something new but it may not be to someone new. So how do you find the most promising new prospects?

Existing Clients
It makes sense that it should be much easier to sell to existing clients. When searching for the best prospects through your library of existing clients, who will be the best cross sell candidates?
1. Potentially larger clients. Identify your top growth customers; the ones that are doing steady business with you right now, but have the potential to double your revenue with the introduction of other solutions.
2. Your most loyal customers. These are the people that you already have a great relationship with. They won’t hesitate to sit down with you over lunch and talk about the other aspects of how they’re doing business, and are often open to hearing about opportunities. With these folks, you will bring solutions and pain points up more casually and utilize those relationships for networking purposes.
3. Networking introductions should be comfortable and friendly. You can’t expect to penetrate different departments through only your contact, so get to know as many people within that company as possible.

New Clients
1. When searching for new clients, search within industries that you feel most comfortable. This way you have existing knowledge of the industry and plenty of familiar names and references showing you understand their business.
2. Network within your niche. Stay on top of new developments in your industry and theirs. Set personal goals for the number of companies you want to have meetings with in a period of time and reward yourself when you meet your goals. Staying focused and keeping your goals realistic and within reach will ultimately lead to the best kind of customer; the new kind.
3. Study the company, stocks, competition, industry and your existing clients before entering a meeting. (See previous blog post on where to find this data) Build a networking relationship and approach the right contacts with the topics that they are interested in.

In Both Cases
Learn their business, cultivate the relationship, and position yourself as a solutions provider. Once a true business relationship has been built, you should have a working understanding of each other’s operations, general policies, practices and procedures. Building trust is important to keeping great customers and creating success stories.


Thanks and good luck,
Tom Madzy

The importance of understanding your competition.

Who is our competition?
It is not uncommon to feel “in the dark” when it comes to understanding our competition in the 3PL marketplace. The change in our selling approach from freight to solutions has created a major change in our competition. Studying your competitors is one of the most important processes of approaching an opportunity. You can’t compete effectively with a new customer if you don’t know what’s going on in the market – specifically what your competition is doing.

Ten things to learn about your competition:
1. Are they public or private? If they’re public, how are they doing, are they ahead of or behind the market?
2. How big are they? Compared to SEKO? Is this good or bad for your customer?
3. What is their value proposition?
4. Who are their current customers?
5. Who are their key executives? Can you find out about their background?
6. What do they say are their strengths? How do these compare to SEKO’s?
7. Do they have significant market share? In specific markets, or generally?
8. Do they have specific technologies or key differentiators that make them stand out?
9. What does SEKO do that this particular company does not?
10. Who else at SEKO has sold against this company and what do they know? (Hint: call Tiffany or Kara at corporate and find out if they are included in our competitive analysis)

Throughout the learning process, constantly ask yourself such questions as: How can I minimize this competitor's strengths? How can I maximize this competitor's weaknesses? What could this competitor do to hurt me in the marketplace? Finally, If I was this competitor, what would I do? The answers to these questions will serve as the basis for your competitive tactics and marketing strategy.

How can we help?
Because many of us are less familiar with 3Ps than freight forwarders, the corporate office is creating an in-depth competitive analysis. A competitive analysis provides details about our competitors' products and strategies.

If you have an opportunity and would like some help in researching your competition, feel free to contact the corporate marketing team. They will work to help you to understand your competitors and also build on our competitive analysis.

Places to research your competition:
Armstrong & Associates: http://www.3plogistics.com/
Eye for Transport: http://www.eyefortransport.com/
Supply Chain Brain (formerly Global Logistics and Supply Chain Strategies): www.supplychainbrain.com
ARC – Adrian Gonzalez: http://www.arcweb.com/Industries/Logistics/default.aspx
AMR (Now part of Gartner) – Jeff Taylor: http://www.amrresearch.com/

Thanks,
Tom Madzy

What the heck is SaaS?

There are some buzz words in the 3PL/IT Solutions industry that our competition and customers are using: SaaS (Software-as-a-Service), BPO (Business Process Outsourcing), ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), EDI (Electronic Data Interface), SCM (Supply Chain Management), MRP (material requirements planning). As a player in the 3PL space, we should be aware of these buzz words and what they mean to our clients. We’ll focus on one of these acronyms at a time, so they’re digestible.

Let’s focus on SaaS briefly.

We all know HP and Dell – companies that have historically sold hardware and installable software. Hardware has inherent issues that include having to update and manage instillations and components. When the software on a machine has problems or the machine breaks, the resources to fix these issues can be a costly and time-consuming process.

Let’s look at another example – companies like Webinar/Go to Meeting and Gmail/Google docs. These services are web-based software, or Software as a Service. You logon to a portal where your data is stored, managed and work executed in a virtual space.

SEKO has developed our suite of IT solutions to be Web-based SaaS applications. Our clients can access data from any place at any time, from anywhere. Hard copy software requires licenses and install time, the SEKO solutions are immediately accessible and usable from any PC or wireless device.

The benefits of using an SaaS application includes:
Scalability
Without having to buy larger versions of software, an on-demand outsourced solution will grow with the business changes.

Predictability in cost
The SEKO SaaS model helps clients understand the actual costs. Not just of the solution, but their transportation as a whole. Our solutions give clients access to real data, online.

Faster implementation time
Hosted by the SEKO IT team instead of by the client’s internal IT staff, implementations go from months to install an on-premise software solution, to weeks with an SaaS solution.

Updates are quick and inexpensive
The SEKO IT team is continually working to improve, update, and scale our suite of solutions. These updates are made automatically, without clients having to buy upgrade packages and pay for expensive IT resources.

Gives small and mid-size businesses access to sophisticated technology
The small to medium size businesses we know and work with generally don’t have the resources to invest in best-in-class technologies. The SEKO solution gives these businesses access to the same sophisticated application built to handle the business needs of a Fortune 100 company.

Invest capital in core competency and outsource IT functions
Our IT solution customers can invest capital in their core functions instead of IT.

MySEKO is an example of an SaaS application that is developed to the specifications of each customer. We all know that MySEKO is accessible through a web based portal where users are granted access through a simple login and password. Within the MySEKO application, clients can also access supplier management, TMS, WMS, and storefront tools. These software solutions streamline the tracking process, reduce supply chain inefficiencies, drive down costs, and allow for advanced analysis on data captured within the application to customize KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators). We offer this accessibility to our customers with the click of a mouse.

Selling SaaS
When you are selling SaaS, you are selling a long term relationship with your customer. You are not just selling a product. It is important to put emphasis on this commitment showing the dedication to ensuring that the solutions we provide are maintained and updated. The benefits of SaaS are easy to understand for a customer. Most updates are automatic and the cost is minimal compared to purchasing software. All data is stored safely off site allowing for access and usage on any computer at any time. And for you, it is a win/win. Once the sale has been made, your customer is “locked” into a SEKO services with generated revenue attached.

Thank you,
Tom Madzy

Top 10 Questions to be Asking Your Customers

What do you do when you are on a sales call and your topic changes direction unexpectedly? We have all been on calls and your entire pitch is pulled off track. It’s common to hear customer complaints about issues you weren’t aware of or prepared for.

When your freight meeting goes in a different direction don’t back away from the conversation, engage in it. These are surefire signs a customer needs help with their supply chain. In most situations SEKO has a solution. The following 10 questions will help you uncover unknown opportunities when meeting with any customer.

In the Deep Dive class we go into detail on how to create a bundled solution for your customers based on business needs we uncover through a series of questions. Amanda Bohl, Joy Vest, Charlie Enright, Carrie Leszka, and I can help you put together a solution for any customer. Finding your customer’s needs involves asking the right probing questions, and listening carefully to their answers.

Your ultimate goal should be to build a clear, complete, mutual understanding of the customer’s needs. You may remember Rhonda talking about the difference between open and closed probes. In order to dig deep and allow the customer to lead the conversation, ask questions that require an explanation, instead of a yes or no.

1. How are all your carriers managed?
With this question you are looking for the level of transportation management control. Are they using a manual process? Are they using a shipping system? How satisfied are they with the existing management system? Guide this conversation into discussions about how one portal to see all their shipments, like MySEKO, can help with carrier management.

2. Do your shipping locations follow a routing guide?
This question allows the customer to think about their processes align with established guide rules. Does each location make independent decisions? Do they follow the routing guide? This will determine if you should pursue discussing TMS.

3. How comfortable is your team with choosing the most efficient mode of transportation for each shipment?
Based on how they answer this question, or how much they seem to understand about it, you can discuss what TMS can do to alleviate some of this uncertainty.

4. How does your team receive tracking information?
The customer’s comfort level or ease of their tracking and tracing abilities is a great way to bring up our MySEKO application.

5. How much control do you have over inventory?
This is a good way to change the conversation to the topic of warehouse management.

6. How does your warehouse determine the difference between fast or slow moving products?
Asking open ended questions gives your customer the chance to elaborate on how their warehousing is done. This will allow the opportunity to address other issues they may be having regarding warehousing, giving you the chance to set up a WMS pitch, along with basic freight.

7. How difficult is it for you to introduce new products into your supply chain?
A great question to uncover a need for Supplier Management.

8. Do you currently sell your product online?
SEKO Storefront is an application that is a great product for customers if they are already using SEKO for their warehousing or shipping. A storefront application enables web sales and can be new to a company, allowing them to easily increase on-line sales. This could even be a gateway in providing several other services for your customer.

9. Is there anything you would like to have more visibility into?
This is a question that sounds like it should be asked first but actually is best to ask at the end of a meeting. Once your customer has an idea of where there may be other needs, they are more likely to think off the top of their head and reveal pain points, setting you up for several other conversations.

10. How do you measure your suppliers?
This question may lead into a Supplier Management conversation. In SEKO’s Supplier Management technology, users can pull customized performance reports per supplier.

The questions above should spark discussion on other topics to help you to determine what other solutions may fit. Even if you are unfamiliar with a new solution, it will allow your customer to verbalize business needs. You can then absorb what the real issues are and bring this to the IT team for analysis. It will be important for you to determine through probing questions whether or not your customer is in control of their supply chain or if their supply chain is in control of them.

If you engage in these questions with your customer, we are here to help you interpret their responses and help to bundle the perfect customized solution for them.

Thank you,Tom Madzy