The competition is tough in every industry and freight forwarding is no exception. Whether you are an emerging company or have years of business behind you, striving for innovation is crucial. What was attractive for a client then may not be attractive now. After all, have you ever wondered why some customers you had have not become recurring ones?
When we are talking about innovation, there is nothing better for a freight forwarder than to register for an online quoting portal. Freightalia allows you to have your own automatic quoting and rate management system. It works like this – you choose the desired pricing package and get your own quoting portal. From there, you can handle complete client communication, including responding to customers’ quote requests instantly and customizing e-mails.
Implementing an automatic quoting system can be a huge leap forward for every freight forwarder. Instead of making customers wait for hours to get their freight/transport cost information, they can now receive a quote instantly. This also gives you a perfectly valid reason to contact your former clients and inform them about this big change.
Aside from attracting new clients, an important part of your sales strategy should be to re-engage former customers. Those can be people or companies who only used your services once, as well as those that were regulars but you lost them somewhere down the road. The new software you are using is reason enough for them to consider using your services again. After all, one of the most distinguishing features a freight forwarder can offer is instant quoting.
Here are some tips to Re-Engage with a Former Client
In most cases, it took a lot of effort to attract a new client to do business with your company. You do not want to let that effort go to waste just because you haven’t kept the contact alive. You can type something like “Checking in” in the subject field and try to re-establish the relationship by emphasizing how it has been a while since you last connected.
Continue the e-mail by stating how you enjoyed working with them and just wanted to check up on them. You can try to personalize the message by including a question about their work or job position. In the following section, mention that you have implemented a vital new business feature and briefly explain how the automatic quoting system works.
Finally, end the e-mail by saying how you are hoping to work again on future projects. As an extra tip, you can visit their LinkedIn or other social media profiles and see what are the current projects they work on. Who knows, perhaps you can find the perfect opportunity to slide yourself into their current goals.
When it comes to re-engaging clients, regular communication and reminders are important. You need to stay active, but professional on social media, and sending them an e-mail every few months can also be helpful. Go ahead and try this strategy now – we know from experience that clients love automatic quoting systems and we firmly believe that you can re-engage at least some customers into working with you again!
