Sales & Marketing recap: Growth plan key to building client relationships

‘Training your account management team on how you want things done to build that trust with clients is critical’

Chris Jolly, founder of CJolly Freight Consulting, discusses ways to create a growth plan after onboarding a new client with Shannon Breen, co-CEO and founder of FreightVana.

This recap is from the FreightWaves Sales & Marketing Summit on Wednesday.

FIRESIDE CHAT TOPIC: How to grow accounts after onboarding them.

DETAILS: Chris Jolly and Shannon Breen discuss strategies to develop long-term relationships with clients after onboarding them.

SPEAKERS: Breen is the co-CEO and founder of FreightVana, and Jolly is the founder of CJolly Freight Consulting.

BIO: Breen has more than 10 years of logistics experience, starting out at Knight-Swift Transportation before founding FreightVana, a 3PL, nearly a year ago. 

KEY QUOTES FROM BREEN:

“Asking your clients what their strategies, goals and initiatives are is a good way to start listening by asking questions you don’t know the answers to.”

“I see a lot of people’s growth plans break down if they are very top heavy, meaning they’re only trying to meet the director of transportation. Where the real magic happens for anybody that’s grown an account is to know the people that are touching the freight on a daily basis.” 

“When I was on the account management side, I would return any communication within 10 minutes. Some people allow those emails to lag all day, and you’ve got someone on the other side that has this pressing issue, and now you’ve waited three hours or four hours to even respond. It doesn’t mean you have to have a solution in 10 minutes, but you highlight that, ‘Hey, I’ve seen your email. I’m working on it and following up.’ This allows you to set a time and cadence. You only need that small touch point.”

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Clarissa Hawes

Clarissa has covered all aspects of the trucking industry for 18 years. She is an award-winning journalist known for her investigative and business reporting. Before joining FreightWaves, she wrote for Land Line Magazine and Trucks.com. If you have a news tip or story idea, send her an email to chawes@firecrown.com or @cage_writer on X, formerly Twitter.