A career in motor carrier sales and marketing is a rewarding one. It is made to order for the person who likes to work on his own and depend mainly on himself for his success.
Motor carrier sales consists of much more than merely "asking for the business." The freight transportation salesman will have to know almost as much about his customer's business operations as he does about his own company.
Despite the revolution brought about by computers, the trucking industry will still depend upon the men who can take all the information generated and with it go out and sell a customer on using his truck line.
Motor carrier salesmen are well paid. The need for them will increase.
Qualifications and How to Acquire Them
Although the motor carrier salesman should have at least a high-school education, the majority of those now entering the business have a college degree in business administration or marketing. However, the lack of a college degree does not necessarily preclude a high-school graduate from entering a sales job and then improving his education with credit or noncredit courses at local schools to add to his skills.
The motor carrier salesman should preferably have taken courses in economics of transportation, history of transportation, marketing and distribution, transportation regulation, and, of course, salesmanship.
The average beginning salesman will go through a necessary training period to learn about his company, its full line of services, and its capabilities as well as its limitations. He will also be required to learn various rules and regulations as established by the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) as a department of our Federal Department of Transportation concerning tariffs (rates), handling dangerous cargo, employment and qualifications of drivers, etc.
After a good understanding of those rules is mastered, the novice salesman will then work with an experienced salesman who will instruct the beginner in the role he has assumed. This provides an opportunity to learn what various customers require in types of services, the salesman thus working out with his "instructor" how to match the customer's needs with the company's services and procedures he learned about in his training period.
Soon the salesman will be assigned a territory. It may be one that is heavy with industrial centers. It may be a new and undeveloped area that will necessitate a concentrated effort to discover new customer possibilities.
As the salesman becomes accustomed to the job, he will find himself developing a great amount of self-management. He learns, too, that most of his time is spent on his own with little supervision, but his supervisors expect him to produce results.
If the salesman has never before been exposed, his job will be a whole new world to him. Accurate records of calls must be maintained and kept up-to-date. He will find those records invaluable as repeat calls to customers are made. He will learn that somewhere in the plant or building or factory he is calling on is one man (maybe two or three) who makes the decision on which trucking service to buy to meet their specific transportation needs. It could just as easily be one trucking firm as another, in many cases. Hopefully, after only one or two calls, the salesman will have determined who the decision-maker is and direct his sales calls to that person, not wasting time talking to the wrong person. Records kept by the salesman will also reveal information on shipping patterns of his customers. When they ship the most or the least is important to know. The historical data compiled by the salesman will be the most valuable reference and tool he could ever accumulate.
Variety on the Job
Although much of the above sounds like all work and no play- -it's not really that bad. After all, a man cannot succeed in any profession until he is properly trained to perform in that profession. Once the salesman gets out on his own making calls, a certain amount of social entertaining will be necessary. Occasionally he will be asked to attend a cocktail party, play a round of golf, attend certain conventions, join various trade associations or groups, and so forth. Such activities can be rewarding and profitable so long as they are not abused.
First Level of Rewards
Thus far we have been speaking of what it is like to be a general sales representative working for a company selling the movement of freight from one point to another. The role of sales representative is the foundation upon which is built the sales future in the trucking industry. Without those basic fundamentals and the continuation of effort to keep up-to-date with changes in regulations and efforts of the company he works for, the salesman will not advance to other levels of management.
A person starting to work as a sales representative can expect to earn $8500 to $13,000 his first year in the business, depending on the economy in the area in which he starts.
Two Ways to Go; Local or National Sales
Many companies have both local and national departments. After a reasonable break-in period a man may be asked to specialize in one of the two areas. A local account man will deal only with those accounts that are local to his center of work. Local accounts are usually those that do not have national distribution. Conversely, a national accounts man will deal primarily with those customers who distribute nationally.
Both categories give the salesman the opportunity to become a specialist in his field. If qualified, he could look forward to regional sales manager, district sales manager, manager of local or national accounts as likely promotions. For a local or national account salesman there are no specific additional responsibilities or requirements. Here the salesman is directing his abilities to a specific area of interest. Neither position carries more weight than the other nor will one position assure advancement at a faster rate.
Spending a couple of years as a sales representative can be compared to the years a student spends in grade school insofar as they are the formative years that help the student select areas of interest to him. Once the student leaves elementary school and begins his secondary level of education he selects subjects and courses of specific interest to him. His leisure time is spent doing things he enjoys.
Opportunities for Advancement
Likewise, the sales representative has spent a few years in elementary training. Opportunities for advancement begin to appear. It is at this point in a salesman's career that he might have to make one of the first most important decisions in his young life. His company or a competitive company is looking for a district sales manager. A young man, he has been working steadily for four years as a sales representative and shown a great deal of promise. He has met his sales quotas every year. He gets along with his customers extremely well. He is prompt with his reports to his boss, keeps himself well groomed, is not a complainer, has shown leadership ability, and generally has all the qualifications to be considered for the job. He learns of a vacancy 300 miles away in any town, U.S.A. Having never been to any town before, he immediately wonders if this is a good move.
Now is the time to weigh the facts. Will an opportunity like this present itself again and if so, when? Will the move offer other possibilities for advancement or would another promotion require another move or change in companies? Will the move to another city cause stress in your immediate family? In short, will the good points about the acceptance of this new position outweigh the bad? Very often a promotion will involve all of the above and many, many more decisions. Sometimes it is necessary to make what seem to be tremendous sacrifices to advance in your own company or in your profession.
After lengthy discussion with the family and much mental debate, the salesman accepts the position of district sales manager (DSM). Here is what will be required of him now.
Wider Responsibilities as District Sales Manager
Basically his activities will remain the same. He will be under the general supervision of the terminal manager but be responsible himself for planning, directing, and supervising the sales activities of the terminal area so as to achieve assigned quotas within established budgets.
As indicated, the district sales manager now has a broader range of responsibilities. He must continually review his sales area and his company's customers to see that they are satisfied with the service they are receiving. He will make any adjustments necessary and assign salesmen to specific territories as well as specific customers. He will frequently hold group and individual meetings with his sales representatives to review their progress and performance. Those meetings will also give the district sales manager an opportunity to train his men in the latest sales techniques. (Teaching aids can be purchased through the Sales and Marketing Council, American Trucking Associations, Inc., Washington, D.C.)
The DSM can also find himself acting as liaison between sales and operations; he will maintain a sound working relationship with this department in order to stay abreast of his company's service quality.
For varying reasons it may be essential that the DSM handle specific customers himself, and make periodic calls on all important customers with a responsible sales representative.
Since he has a sales force responsible to him, he will frequently review activity reports of his subordinates, their entertainment plans, expense reports, and lead registers. The DSM will also keep a close watch on interline accounts to see that his company is not dropping the ball at their end. The DSM will generally be responsible for what happens in his territory and for the men under him.
He should annually review classification of accounts, set up new sales files, update the company mailing list if any direct mail advertising is used. He should habitually review his sales territories to see what, if any, new industry has moved in and whether or not his competitor has increased activity in his area.
The DSM will prepare plans, projects, sales promotions, and sales budgets for the coming year. He will work closely with connecting lines and assist the traffic department in working out new interline arrangements beneficial to his company.
Like that of the sales representative, a district sales manager's life is not all dull. He, too, has opportunities to attend various social functions and useful meetings as required.
In his capacity as district sales manager he can expect to earn from $11,000 to $20,000 annually. He should have a college education or equivalent practical experience. Usually he will have five years' experience as a motor carrier sales representative. This man should have particular ability to organize and direct an effective sales program and ability to work closely with all levels of management both within and outside the company.
Next Step Up: Regional Sales Manager
From the district sales manager of a trucking firm the next step on the ladder of promotion is regional sales manager. His duties are basically the same as those of the DSM only with a larger territory and more sales representatives to account for. As the name implies, he is the manager of a region as opposed to a district. If you look over the responsibilities of the district manager and expand them you will have an idea of what is expected of the regional sales manager. Salary levels of the regional manager are slightly higher than those of the DSM, as can be imagined with the additional responsibilities.
Next: General Sales Manager
There is another promotion possibility from the DSM position. Some companies have a general sales manager--one man who is in charge of the entire sales force of his company. The position is available from the DSM slot or regional slot. It is an extremely important position, as the general sales manager is very close to the executive staff of the company. It is usually his guidance and recommendations that determine the path his company will follow on sales promotion, advertising, quotas, budgets, and market research.
He must keep up-to-date with the sales activities of his whole company, all districts and regions. He will frequently meet with his .district and regional managers, and often with the entire sales force. He must keep them aware of what's going on in the company. He must help train them with a continual flow of information on new sales techniques plus keeping his veteran salesmen polished on fundamental sales principles. He must have knowledge at his fingertips of what is happening in his company's territory. The general sales manager will know what his competition is doing at all times. Someone else may be carrying freight that his company could be carrying.
The general sales manager is a sales "rep," a national and local account man, a district and regional sales manager all in one. He will answer to management for the results of his sales force.
Depending upon the organizational structure of the company, the general sales manager could also be called the director of sales.
Some Companies Have a Vice-President of Sales
If a company has one of the two positions mentioned above, it may or may not have a vice-president of sales. On the other hand, the company may not have either of the above two positions, but instead have only a vice-president of sales. Next to becoming the president of the company, this position, in all likelihood, is the top of the mountain for the career freight salesman.
The vice-president of sales is on the executive staff of his company. He has many years of experience in the field of motor carrier sales. He is capable of outlining his entire sales program for the current year as well as forecasting plans for the future. He works closely with the president of his company in planning and projecting trends in the industry. He tries constantly to improve his sales income and his sales force.
It is essential that the vice-president of sales build a rapport with the other departments in his company so as to get maximum cooperation between those departments and sales.
He keeps a close watch over his sales force and expects regular reports to come in on their activities and progress. He, too, is a sales rep, special account man, regional and district manager all built into one. His understanding of marketing and marketing techniques will be an invaluable tool in increasing his company's revenue over the years. He will have an unending task running his company's sales department. Budgets, quotas, communications, training, computerization only scratch the surface of the various areas this man gets involved in.
He must be a good leader, a good organizer, efficient in every detail. This man is like a field general. He has been through graduate school and is still learning. His years of experience and knowledge of the industry plus his ability to be a leader all contribute to his advancement to the vice-presidency. Salaries are commensurate with his ability and success. It is not difficult to rise to this position. All it takes is perseverance, dedication, a little sweat, and application of principles to the job.
