Leveraging Expertise: Benefits of Deep Knowledge in Complex Sales

Third-party logistics is a complex sales environment, one in which sales professionals must know how to sell a 3PL provider’s logistics expertise. 3PL sales involves a long-term relationship in which a lot of information is exchanged and a lot of questions must be asked and answered with expert-level knowledge and insight. How can your 3PL sales team leverage your company’s comprehensive logistics knowledge as a strategic selling point?

The role of expertise in complex sales environments

The more extensive the contract, the more expertise a sales representative needs to successfully close a deal. Navigating the 3PL market requires a depth and range of logistics-related knowledge, including:

• Global market conditions
• Shipping and warehouse capabilities
• Tracking and fulfillment technology
• Strategy complexity
• Company-specific challenges

3PL sales reps are an access point to custom logistics services that increase efficiency and reduce costs for inventory management, order fulfillment, warehousing, and shipping. Navigating all this knowledge is a critical skill for 3PL sales teams.

Four advantages of 3PL expertise

So, how can you use your expertise as a 3PL provider as a unique selling point for your services? There are four major advantages of comprehensive logistics knowledge for 3PL sales teams to emphasize:

1. 3PL expertise improves customer satisfaction. With 61% of shoppers now expecting package delivery within three hours, quicker shipping times are a high priority. For brands who can’t manage customer expectations, delivery logistics, and speedy shipping times in-house, 3PL logistics providers are one avenue for remaining competitive. But not every 3PL provider is created equal — and if you know you can improve customer satisfaction through improved logistics, your expertise in this area is a strong selling point.
   
   
2. 3PL expertise enhances supply chain efficiency. Companies are increasingly looking for 3PL providers for “end-to-end visibility and a resilient supply chain network.” Expertise in 3PL allows you to optimize supply chain management, warehouse operations, and shipping to deliver a seamless process and help clients achieve their goals. Expert providers also offer companies the advantage of a 3PL partner network and the latest technical resources. With this comes the industry expertise to ensure clients are protected against the ebb and flow of supply chain disruption.
   
   
3. 3PL expertise supports business growth. Logistics is a complex field, but when such complexity is navigated efficiently and accurately, it creates growth and increases revenue for client companies. For 3PL providers with logistics expertise, the revenue-generating capacity of a seamless logistics strategy is a major selling point for companies looking to grow their bottom line at scale. As a business grows, the complexity of its logistics processes increases — and a 3PL provider that helps navigate those changing needs is an invaluable partner.
   
   
4. 3PL expertise reduces internal workloads. Finally, partnering with a 3PL provider reduces the workload of internal teams by offloading logistics tasks to a trustworthy partner. With more internal resources free for revenue-generating activities, such as marketing, sales, and product development, companies can grow even while managing the ups and downs of an uncertain economy.

Motivating an expert sales team

Your sales team may be selling your 3PL expertise, but each sales rep also brings their own experience and expertise to every prospect meeting. And each sales representative is motivated by the incentives and rewards that match their sales strengths and strategies.

Motivating an expert sales team can be a challenge, and it can make tracking and organizing commissions complicated and inefficient. But a comprehensive commission management solution can provide the incentive your sales team needs to stay motivated and productive.

Just as 3PL providers offer business owners the infrastructure, services, and supply chain management tools necessary to manage and grow their companies, commission management solutions allow 3PL sales leaders to optimize workflows and motivate more sales. A cloud-based commission management platform helps 3PL providers leverage more of their collective expertise, enhance trust and alignment with sales reps, access clear and consistent sales data, and perform advanced modeling and forecasting.

You make logistics easy for others — make the logistics of commission management easy on your team.