Overcoming Sales Objections in Freight Brokerage | Final Mile 65

Freight 360

October 15, 2024

Nate Cross & Ben Kowalski answer your freight brokering questions and discuss:

  • Freight broker phone systems
  • Freight broker software
  • Freight broker cold calling objections

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Show Transcript

See full episode transcriptTranscript is autogenerated by AI

Speaker 1: 0:19

All right, welcome back. This is the final mile. We've got some listener questions we're going to answer today, but please make sure to check out all of our other content at Freight360.net, including the Freight Broker Basics course, if you're looking for an educational option, and please check out the sponsors in the description box or show notes. That will help support this channel.

Speaker 1: 0:40

All right, our first question what phone system is the best? I was told not to use VoIP. I found that comment really interesting. Someone told him or her I don't know if it's a guy or girl not to use a VoIP line. I feel like those are the most common phone systems. So VoIP is voice over IP. It's kind of like your internet phones.

Speaker 1: 1:02

I'm a huge fan of VoIP. That's what I have on my desk right now. I mean, I use my cell phone a lot too, but I have a VoIP line. I think what's great is you just People that travel a lot. You can just plug it in wherever you are and you're good to go, and you can typically have an app on your phone that allow you to operate as if it's your business line. My biggest feedback on phone system would be to have one and to be able to have one that's flexible, meaning you can forward it. It's got multiple lines. You can use it from your cell phone if you need to. Don't just use a cell phone to operate. That's my take on phone. I mean I've heard what's the one people talk good about. You got any phone system yeah is it ring central?

Speaker 2: 1:56

yeah, ring central is probably one of the more common ones. I spent like three weeks, maybe even a month, setting up our phone lines for fours of this year. So here's some of the things that I've run into that I think are worth sharing with everybody else. The first is I agree with you Like, whatever one you choose, I think you should have a desk phone. I think you should also have a headset that you can attach to it so that you can type and talk while you are on the phone, Like for sure. I think you should have the ability to forward that line to your cell phone or download an app so that, if you are away from your desk, you can make sure you can get calls if you need to. Like, those, I think are like must-haves.

Speaker 2: 2:38

The other things that I've learned, Okay, so one, just looking at the websites and talking to the sales rep for any of these VoIP phone providers is not going to give you necessarily the correct answers. I also learned this and I'll talk through a couple instances. One I we use HubSpot and I HubSpot also has a phone line that comes with a sales seat. However, it's just an outbound phone line, so somebody calls in it can route it to your phone but it doesn't work for a freight brokerage why? Because if you're calling shippers and they call that number back, nobody else can answer that phone. But you Meaning like you need a system where multiple people can answer it, hold calls and forward them right, Especially if you're in an office. And most of the new phone systems, specifically the ones with the auto dialers, only focus on outbound. They have no ability to route calls coming inbound and like they'll tell you that when you talk to them and they're like, oh no, we're just focused on outbound. So like it'll make a hundred phone calls to all the numbers you list and we'll just let you pick it up when someone answers is another type that is out there. Like auto dialers, None of them that I have found have the ability to inbound route a call. So if you've got a carrier and I grab the phone or I'm on the phone with a customer and I need you or Steven to answer the phone, it won't ring to you next, Like it won't waterfall. So the other thing I think that's important is to be able to waterfall a phone line when people call in, because if you have a team, not everybody's going to be able to answer every call. Maybe you're on the phone with a customer and someone needs to talk to that carrier to help with an issue. So the desk phones tend to have the best routing abilities for the inbound calls, which I think is also important.

Speaker 2: 4:22

Here's the other thing I ran into. The other thing I ran into is that, like the integrations with the VoIP system even though many of them will like advertise or their sales reps will tell you they're integratable, they are not fully integratable, Like I went through five of them trying to integrate with there's a conversation feature in HubSpot where basically all the calls are recorded, which I think is also a good thing to have for logistics call recording. So if there is an issue or there's a dispute over details that were given over the phone, you can pull that call record and be like no like. Here it was. This is what was discussed. This is the equipment we asked for. This is what's on the Raycon.

Speaker 2: 5:02

So not all of the VoIP systems have the call recording integrations with a CRM, Like HubSpot has that with AI.

Speaker 2: 5:11

So it'll literally take your call recordings and transcribe them into the call notes in HubSpot and give you a summary.

Speaker 2: 5:17

So instead of me having to take all of the notes, literally every call.

Speaker 2: 5:21

I have the notes going directly in there and what I found was RingCentral didn't have the ability to route, I think, either inbound calls or it didn't have the integration piece with HubSpot.

Speaker 2: 5:31

And then HubSpot gave me a list of like 25 or 30. It might even have been a hundred. It was a huge list of everyone they said was integratable. But when I called those companies to try to get that service, most of them said they could. But when I bought one and found out it didn't, then I learned I had to call the support department not just the sales department of each of the VoIP companies and then ask them specific details of the integration for HubSpot to see if they could do it. And out of that list that was literally dozens I found two that actually had that integration that actually functioned, and all of the rest of the stuff was basically marketing BS. None of it actually functioned and was able to do all of the things we talked about. We use Nextiva now and even with Nextiva I literally had to write the integration piece with a third-party piece of software, upload it to HubSpot, because it didn't exist there either.

Speaker 1: 6:28

So it was a lot. I would have thought Ben Kowalski was so passionate about phone systems.

Speaker 2: 6:34

No, it was just frustration because I thought to your point, like I could just pick one on the list and it would just work and then when we tried to use it, like none of the things worked and I was like, wait a minute.

Speaker 1: 6:43

I will say the. The one thing that you hit on that I I really agree with is the recording for training purposes. It's great, like yes, cause you can't always do a live, you can't always do like live coaching or training on a on a cold calling session with somebody. A lot of times you'll have to like go back through and hey, like you know, here's the objections I had and you can re-listen to the call. Um, so, yeah, all right.

Speaker 1: 7:10

Our next question uh, what software is a must for a startup, for a broker? So, like what? Basically, what's must have software to get started? Um, I'm going to preface this by saying you don't need to pay necessarily for these. A lot of these that we're going to mention have free versions versus paid for. Once you've decided you're going to go all in on brokerage and you're going to invest some money, you can upgrade CRM TMS. I'm going to give my two. They're in no particular order, but CRM TMS I'm going to give like my two, and then they're like in no particular order, but CRM, your customer relationship management system. That's where you're going to store all your leads, track your activity.

Speaker 1: 7:51

Like you just mentioned, hubspot, it's a CRM platform must have and like HubSpot whether it's HubSpot, salesforce I mean, there's a bunch of them out there they pretty much all have a free version. That's very basic and then you can purchase different tiers of whatever you want to access to. So even today, I use HubSpot. I have a paid version of it that I use to track email conversations with different people, phone calls, meeting history, upcoming tasks, things like that and it's really good when you're prospecting to know what was discussed on your last call. What was the outcome of your last attempted call, was it, you know? Did you get voicemail? Did you leave a voicemail? Did you talk to receptionist? Did you talk to the actual person that was busy and they said to call back.

Speaker 1: 8:41

Like just the way that you track your activity in a CRM, I think is huge. And then TMS I won't get too big into it, but like you got to move freight and be able to track its operational status and where it's at, and the TMS is going to be a massive piece there. Like we've talked about, rose Rocket is a great one that we've done some content with them and they're a preferred TMS of us and they have a freemium version where you can basically try it out for free and then you can get a paid version once you decide you want to do that. But what am I missing here? Crm, tms, um, there's plenty other. We go on on and on about technology, but like must-haves to get started, that's where I'm.

Speaker 2: 9:27

I'm yeah, those two tms, I mean and sometimes your tms will have a crm in it too, and you can keep that in mind right yeah, the t, the TMS and the CRM, I think, and I think those are like the must haves, I mean outside of email, like you definitely need to be able to email and have some computer to be able to email back and forth, I mean. But beyond that I would say, oh no, let me add to that. I would say carrier vetting software is a must now with the prevalence of fraud.

Speaker 1: 9:59

So carrier software. The reason I didn't say carrier vetting software is because you don't know if you're going to need to vet a carrier until you've actually successfully been able to land a customer Correct. Yes, that's definitely a must have once you get up and running.

Speaker 2: 10:19

Hey, speaking of, I wanted to add this because this is something I've learned recently and I can't believe I didn't see this. But, like even in carrier 411, like you can, there's a section for FMCSA changes so you can see when or if there was ever a change to the email address or the phone number. Well, most of the fraud is perpetuated through a the email address or the phone number. Well, most of the fraud is perpetuated through a changed email address or changed phone number. So, to be honest, like that is a great way to be able to use any of the carrier vetting tools to determine if there's fraud. That I think is often overlooked. Like that's one of the most important places I think you should be looking these days is were there any changes to the email addresses and the phone numbers and were they recent and what did they look like and why?

Speaker 1: 11:03

yeah, highway flags, that stuff too. If it's been, I think they look back 60 days to see if there's been a change. Yeah, um, all right. Next one I like this question. I'm cold calling shippers and they're saying no, no, we're good, don't call, remove us from your list, or that they have their own trucks, please help me, please. I picked this one because he seems so desperate and I wanted to help him out. Please help me please. It's just common objections.

Speaker 1: 11:31

I think if you have the mentality and I'm going to kind of go back to our discussion from the podcast that we did previous to this, as you talked about the repetition and the number of calls that you make I think there's a healthy balance between becoming a master at overcoming objections and becoming a master at being resilient to getting the objections and moving on to the next call. I have worked with salespeople who have gotten argumentative in their discussions with a prospective customer because they make it a point to try to address and overcome every objection and they just become like combative and it's not always like if someone is very adamant about like take me off your list, move on to the next call, right. But if you get a healthy objection like oh, you know, um, we don't work with brokers right now, we're just working with asset-based carriers. That welcomes a conversation. But if someone says don't call me, take me off your list, yeah, yeah, I'm going to probably move on.

Speaker 1: 12:36

But one of the ones he said was we have our own trucks. That's a healthy objection. That's going to welcome a conversation. How do you use those trucks? What do you do if you don't have an available truck? What do you do if your available truck isn't the best option? So what I would say is you know, understand the common objections right, customer-routed, we have our own trucks, we're not using brokers, or we're not adding brokers right now. Understand those ones and how you can turn them into conversations and then understand the objections that are basically like all right, I'm not going to waste my time with this guy, I'm going to move on to the next one, and just, it's part of the process. That's my take on it. What would you say? I agree with everything you said.

Speaker 2: 13:18

The thing that I want to add to that is, like I, like I've always liked this analogy is some people approach objections like fencing, like sword fighting, right, like you know, with the swords you see in the Olympics and they wear a thing and it's like you're literally trying to stab the other guy or whatever, I have no idea. But sword fighting right, like, oh, that objection. Let me knock that down and prove you right. And the thing in that analogy is that, like, when you approach that, like, even if you win an argument right, like, does it bring you closer or farther away from that person?

Speaker 1: 13:51

Even if you win, you lose. That's the way I've always said it.

Speaker 2: 13:54

when you get argumentative, you still lose, right, Like. And the reality is is like I think you should approach it more of like a dance, meaning like you don't want to create friction and you don't want to create, like you said, being combative. You want to be able to dance with it, right. So, like, if you're telling me, oh hey, you know, we don't need any help right now, We've got our own trucks, the thing that I respond with is like, oh, that's fantastic. Why? Because they don't expect it and I'm not telling them. I disagree with them. It's like, oh, hey, that's great. And then I use it's called a third party story and then I'm going to respond with, hey, you know, a lot of the other companies I work with have their own trucks as well. That makes a lot of sense. Hey, let me ask you a quick question Do you guys ever move more freight throughout the year than you have trucks for, Like, during your busy season?

Speaker 2: 14:48

Are you reaching out for additional capacity or do you primarily able to move all of your loads on your trucks all year round?

Speaker 2: 14:52

Because, if you think about it, why does that make sense as a question? Well, if most shipping is seasonally, meaning like one portion of the year, they tend to do more volume than they do rest of the year and let's just say it's for like even four months of the year. Well, if you move 15 loads a day for four months of the year and the other eight months a year you only move five loads a day. You wouldn't buy 14 trucks to just sit and have eight of them idle for eight months out of the year if you only use them for a quarter. What they usually do is buy enough trucks that meet the minimum loads they move all year and when their volume peaks then they reach out for additional capacity, whether it's a broker or third party carrier. So like it turns that objection into a conversation that allows me to learn a little bit and determine if there is some value in us working together at some point in the future, whenever that may arise.

Speaker 1: 15:42

Yeah, that's a really good point. So yeah, that's our take. I think objections are just part of part of any sales job. Understand the ones that are worth having a conversation about, and when you get the FUs, I wouldn't try to handle that objection. I would take the FU and move on. So, good discussion, great questions. Keep sending them our way and we'll do our best to keep answering them for you guys on the show here. So that'll put a wrap on this one, ben. Any final thoughts?

Speaker 2: 16:15

Whether you believe you can or believe you can't you're right, and until next time, go bills.

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