It has been 2 months since I have taken up the sales profile. It has been 2 months since I have updated a blog.
Coincidence? No, it is pure cause and effect.
Sales in shipping is interesting/ funny/ quirky and very hectic.. Here is a low down on the 4 Ps of shipping sales as I see it.
Product:
I sell space... And no I am not talking of real estate .Selling space on a 2000 Teu (1 twenty foot long container = 1twenty foot equivalent unit = 1 teu) vessel, in the form of aluminum/ steel containers is more like it. The containers could be 20 feet or 40 feet long, sometime they go the extra mile...or rather feet and are 45 feet long. They could be refrigerated or open at the top (no, not for rainwater harvesting).They could be collapsible or could be opened out into Flat racks.
Place:
Perhaps about 95 percent of the forwarding market in Chennai is located in the Parrys/ Broadway area of the town. This area is the business district of Madras for the old world industries. The lanes where these offices are located are incredibly narrow. Everything from monster trucks to Mercedes Benz cars, from cycle rickshaws to the omni present auto rickshaws ply on these lanes. Add to that a temple, a mosque, couple of schools and innumerable numbers of small and big shops and you have the most congested streets of Chennai. The way the buildings are packed close to one another would be an urban planner’s nightmare. In spite of all this, this is the heart of the shipping industry. Business running into crores of rupees is generated daily in these narrow streets. It is on these streets that a salesman like me spends the major part of the week, calling in on various forwarders and selling space.
Price:
It’s a cut throat market. Brand works only to an extent and rates keep falling daily. What was accepted as the ‘best rate’ a week back is now the ‘tariff rate’. There are innumerable sectors across the world and inland destinations where the cargo is bound for. Rates are as fickle as the English weather and so keeping tab of them across the varied spectrum is a tough ask. The forwarders are basically brokers and so getting hold of their loyalty is very tough. A few dollars less is all it takes for you to lose biz and you won’t even realize it.
Promotion:
Well, if I was selling soaps maybe my company would have roped in a few actresses to be the brand ambassadors. Heck even male actors sell soaps nowadays. Or if we were making drinkable pesticides we could have got the top heroes to feel incredibly proud drinking them and shout from the rooftops saying so. I also could have got in the cricketers, the TV actors, the models, got a full page ad in the Times of India and get 15 second ad spot during prime time. But the question is for selling container space what kind of promotion do I do?
Would the Big B be interested to come on screen and say … “Chennai to Felixstowe... 20 footer at just 775 dollars subj to all add-ons... valid till Feb 28 06 at a transit of 18 days Make use of this never before opportunity and do those bookings” ?? Or could I get Shahrukh to dance on a maersk vessel preferably on top of a reefer container and say... “The maximum number of reefer plugs... only on Maersk “?? Don’t think so...
So I restrict myself to full page ads on shipping times, read by only the shipping community. And for such a price sensitive market, ad or no ad does not make much of a difference.
With these lopsided Ps and an unrelenting Chennai heat to boot, am out on the streets. Its fun, it is interesting and it’s a world away from the confines of a cozy, lazy back office. And am lovin it.
