You know logistics inside and out. You’re an expert at managing the flow of goods and services from point A to point B.
But being an expert in logistics doesn’t make you an expert at generating leads. In a highly competitive industry, it can be challenging to stand out and attract potential customers.
But fear not; there are several strategies you can implement to generate more leads and grow your logistics business.
In this guide, we’ll walk through specific, proven ways you can boost lead generation in your logistics company.
Lead generation in the logistics industry involves identifying and attracting potential customers who require logistics services, like freight shipping, warehousing, supply chain management, and distribution. The goal is to create a pipeline of qualified leads who may eventually convert into paying customers.
To generate leads for your logistics business, you need clarity about your target audience. Who are your ideal customers? Who do you serve? Are they large corporations or small businesses? What industries do they operate in? These questions will help you narrow down your target market and create a more effective lead-generation strategy.
Ask your marketing, sales, and finance teams for insights in the area. Where are the biggest deals happening? Who has the fastest sales cycle? Who is the most profitable? This information will provide valuable insights into your target market and help you focus your efforts on the right audience.
If you’re not sure who your target audience is, you have some work to do. You need to create your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).
Once you’ve identified your target market, you can go even narrower and segment that market into separate personas. This will allow you to tailor your messaging and approach for each persona, increasing the chances of conversion.
You’ll end up with multiple personas, such as a logistics manager, supply chain director, or warehouse operations specialist. Each of these individuals has different pain points and priorities, and your marketing efforts should reflect that.
You need to develop custom marketing materials, like email templates, sales scripts, and talk tracks for each one of the personas. This will increase the relevance of your messaging and show that you understand their specific needs and challenges.
In addition to knowing your target audience and market segments, you also should have a list of target accounts in the logistics industry and the key decision-makers who work for those companies. These key accounts have the potential to bring in significant revenue and should be a top priority for your lead-generation strategy.
There are sales intelligence tools that can help you identify these logistics leads. These tools can provide information on company size, industry, recent news and events, job titles of employees, and more. This data can help you narrow down your list of target accounts and identify the decision-makers within those companies.
Once you’ve identified your target audience and key accounts, you can tailor your lead-generation efforts specifically toward them.
In addition to defining your target market and ideal customer, you also need to define the logistics services that you offer. You can’t go after everyone who needs shipping services. Shippers want to know that you are an expert in a particular industry. They don’t want to work with someone who is brand new to a particular industry.
When defining your logistics services, consider the following factors:
You need to define what sets you apart from other logistics companies. What do you offer that other logistics providers don’t?
The next strategy for generating logistics leads is to create a formal sales strategy that will guide lead generation efforts. This strategy will ensure that every member of your team is following the same process and framework.
It can be helpful to break down your sales pipeline into discrete segments or steps:
You’re going to struggle with logistics lead generation if you don’t optimize your website for both SEO and conversions.
Optimizing your site for SEO involves things like using relevant keywords throughout your site, ensuring the pages load quickly, and having a strong backlink profile.
This will help potential clients find your website through search engines and increase your visibility. When people search for things like “logistics companies near me” you want your site to be at the top of the results.
If you’re not sure how to get started with SEO, I recommend you read the following resources:
In terms of conversions, it’s important to have a user-friendly layout and design, clear calls to action, and an intuitive navigation structure. It should be crystal clear to potential customers what you offer and how they can take advantage of that offer. Don’t make it hard for website visitors to find what they’re looking for. Every page should be accessible within just three clicks.
Your logistics business is a well-oiled machine, which in turn leads to satisfied customers. These clients can supercharge your marketing efforts. Because here’s the thing. Potential customers may not believe all the claims you make about your logistics business. However, they are much more inclined to believe what satisfied customers have to say about your business.
So, consider implementing a referral program for your business. This could be as simple as offering a discount or bonus for every new customer who is referred by an existing client. You could also ask satisfied customers to leave reviews on your website or social media pages. These positive reviews and testimonials will serve as valuable social proof for potential customers.
And don’t be afraid to directly ask your customers to refer new business to you. If you’ve done great work for them, it’s likely that they’ll gladly pass your name on to others needing help from a logistics company.
Cold calling is another effective logistics lead generation tactic. Remember those key accounts you identified? Reach out directly to them. If your offer is relevant to them and speaks directly to their struggles, you don’t need to be worried about wasting their time. In fact, cold calling can be a great way to introduce yourself and your company to potential clients.
When making cold calls, it’s important to have a clear pitch that highlights the benefits of working with your logistics company. Focus on how you can solve their pain points and make their business operations smoother and more efficient.
For example, you might say that your logistics company offers customized supply chain solutions tailored to each client’s specific needs. This can save them time and money while improving their overall operations. Just make sure that you’re quick and to the point with your sales pitch.
Social media can be a powerful lead generation strategy for logistics companies. No, you’re not going to be posting logistics memes to Facebook. Rather, you’re going to consistently be sharing valuable information with your audience. You’ll most likely be doing this on LinkedIn since this is where decision-makers in logistics spend the majority of their time.
For example, you might share things like:
By regularly providing valuable content, you can establish yourself as a thought leader in the logistics industry and build trust with potential clients. This can greatly increase your chances of generating leads through social media.
If you’re not into cold calling, inbound lead generation tactics are what you’re going to want to focus on. What does this look like practically? It looks like creating high-value, insightful content that attracts quality leads to you. In most cases, you’ll give away this content for free in exchange for the person’s contact information. You can then put this contact info directly into your sales pipeline and work towards closing them as new clients.
The type of content you create will vary depending on your industry, but it will probably include things like:
Your content should speak directly to the pain points and desires of your audience. It should help them solve their problems and achieve their goals.
You can’t manage what you don’t measure, and the same applies to lead generation in the logistics industry. There are a number of key metrics you should measure to help you understand whether your marketing efforts are effective.
First, there are lead quantity metrics. This includes things like:
Then there are lead quality metrics, including:
Pay careful attention to these metrics as you seek to generate leads. They will help you know exactly what’s working and what isn’t. When you have that information, you can double down on the things that are producing results.
Your logistics company will not grow by accident. It requires a concerted effort to generate high-quality leads. Think about marketing in terms of concentric circles. Start in the middle, with just one or two lead generation tactics. Focus on those tactics until you begin to see concrete results. Until you start to see more leads coming in.
Then move out to the next circle. Implement another one or two more strategies and stick with those until you see results.
You get the point. Wash, rinse, repeat.
Your success will start to compound and your logistics company will begin growing exponentially. Soon, the problem won’t be too few leads, it will be too many leads.
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