Thanks to a friend of mine (though his my customer, but I regard him as a friend), I came to understand more about the dilemma faced by majority of the shipping lines' sale person, including myself.
You see, whenever principal demands to fill the ship, yet we still need to keep the rates up. This is a major dilemma which haunting us (shipping line sales people) everyday when we meet our customers. Freight forwarders & direct shippers will tell us that rates towards a certain trade lanes are coming down, you need to offer better rates or else their cargo will goes elsewhere. I can't blame them for doing so, as the competition of the business is rising days after days. Unless, there is a justifiable reason that is convincing enough to ask for a premium rate. I think that includes faster transit time, better customers service, swift response, etc.
Is it that principals or managers didn't realise the contradicting issues here? Why shipping lines keep fighting for rate reduction? Can't we maintain the rate at certain level? Is there a solution to this?
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Saturday, December 23, 2006
New Website Launch!
Well, today is a slow & dull Saturday (I know is X'mas Eve Tomorrow!).
Finding not much for me to kill some times, so I was thinking why not just start something on the net. While browsing thru it, stumble upon what I long didn't be in touch: SiteSell.com
So, just play around with the tools in the site. Haha......didn't expect that I'll be able to launch a website the looks like THIS.
Feel free to check it out. Leave a comment if you like. Thanks.
Finding not much for me to kill some times, so I was thinking why not just start something on the net. While browsing thru it, stumble upon what I long didn't be in touch: SiteSell.com
So, just play around with the tools in the site. Haha......didn't expect that I'll be able to launch a website the looks like THIS.
Feel free to check it out. Leave a comment if you like. Thanks.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
What is USP? You may ask.....
I learned this in Money Mastery.
What it means is that the reason(s) your customers keep buying from you rather than your competitors. Probably is because of price, value-added features, credit term, facility you provide, flexibility of your terms, etc.
Why is identifying your USP so important to you? These are the possible benefits from it:
1. It create an instant impression in your customers' mind of what you do best.
2. Your customers will keep buying from you rather than your competitors.
3. Existing customers will recommend you to their circle of influence.
Your USP must be constantly being communicate to your customers (both existing or new). This will help you to position yourself better. E.g. Nike's "Just Do It" tagline. USP does not necessarily be a slogan or tagline, it can be a unique benefit of your services.
Whenever I ask people: "What services you provide?" Very often the same answer given: "I provide total logistics." Forgive me for being blunt, any Tom, Dick & Harry freight forwarder can do that.
Remember DHL's tagline campaign which stated "No one knows Asia Pacific like we do"? What they are trying to tell you & me is that if there is anything you want to deliver to or from Asia Pacific, you know who to call.
Well, certainly for this kinda campaign will cost you a bomb (even a heart-attack). However, the point is that DHL makes a very clear USP which tells people no one knows Asia Pacific better than they are. If your USP, for instance, is "we will monitor your cargo personally", tell them. (Definitely you have to practise what you preach!)
No one company is the best of all. If there is such company, many businesses will be history. So, got my point?
I learned this in Money Mastery.
What it means is that the reason(s) your customers keep buying from you rather than your competitors. Probably is because of price, value-added features, credit term, facility you provide, flexibility of your terms, etc.
Why is identifying your USP so important to you? These are the possible benefits from it:
1. It create an instant impression in your customers' mind of what you do best.
2. Your customers will keep buying from you rather than your competitors.
3. Existing customers will recommend you to their circle of influence.
Your USP must be constantly being communicate to your customers (both existing or new). This will help you to position yourself better. E.g. Nike's "Just Do It" tagline. USP does not necessarily be a slogan or tagline, it can be a unique benefit of your services.
Whenever I ask people: "What services you provide?" Very often the same answer given: "I provide total logistics." Forgive me for being blunt, any Tom, Dick & Harry freight forwarder can do that.
Remember DHL's tagline campaign which stated "No one knows Asia Pacific like we do"? What they are trying to tell you & me is that if there is anything you want to deliver to or from Asia Pacific, you know who to call.
Well, certainly for this kinda campaign will cost you a bomb (even a heart-attack). However, the point is that DHL makes a very clear USP which tells people no one knows Asia Pacific better than they are. If your USP, for instance, is "we will monitor your cargo personally", tell them. (Definitely you have to practise what you preach!)
No one company is the best of all. If there is such company, many businesses will be history. So, got my point?
End of 2006.........2007 coming
Well, 2006 is almost ending........
Done your resolution for the coming year? If you haven't, is about time that you take a look at it. If you have done that, wish you all the best.
What will be the market trend like? Will the freight goes up (which all principals hoping that will happen)?
Some market feedback that seafeight will either be the same or even worse. I think majority will hope for the seafreight remain unchanged. Or worse still, some even don't give a damn, as long you give me cheap rate. OMG, why I suddenly have a strong feeling that I'm in a cheap profession?
Done your resolution for the coming year? If you haven't, is about time that you take a look at it. If you have done that, wish you all the best.
What will be the market trend like? Will the freight goes up (which all principals hoping that will happen)?
Some market feedback that seafeight will either be the same or even worse. I think majority will hope for the seafreight remain unchanged. Or worse still, some even don't give a damn, as long you give me cheap rate. OMG, why I suddenly have a strong feeling that I'm in a cheap profession?
Thursday, October 26, 2006
The Giant Awaken........
The whole town seems to have "made in China" stuff everywhere. Does this tells something?
I don't know about you. For me, my daily household products are filled with label that says "made in China". Is it a good sign? I don't know.
Almost every week, I'll face difficulties filling up the vessel which u-turning back to the Far East. However, the vessels coming down to SEA is filling up till they have no space to accomodate the increasing volume of exports.
The booming economy of China is like a big baby just found out that there is so many interesting things happening around her. she'll reach out to almost anything that she come across.
Is it that Malaysia doesn't know how to carry herself well? Or there is potential which is not being taken seriously?
I don't know about you. For me, my daily household products are filled with label that says "made in China". Is it a good sign? I don't know.
Almost every week, I'll face difficulties filling up the vessel which u-turning back to the Far East. However, the vessels coming down to SEA is filling up till they have no space to accomodate the increasing volume of exports.
The booming economy of China is like a big baby just found out that there is so many interesting things happening around her. she'll reach out to almost anything that she come across.
Is it that Malaysia doesn't know how to carry herself well? Or there is potential which is not being taken seriously?
Sunday, October 15, 2006
I always wonder.......why that Malaysia, especially Port Klang, have such stiff competition on ocean freight's price war? Is it because too many local freight forwarders mushrooming at the local scene? Or perhaps globalisation sets in, many international/ regional shipping lines came into the pictures? Or Malaysia (Port Klang) is such a strategic location that major/ minor shipping lines wouldn't wanna miss out this great piece of cake?
As I'm working in this industry, in the sales arena to be specific, every working day is like a share trading day. Ocean freight rates can go up and down within a day's time. (Luckily that I still have a young heart, otherwise, you'll have to visit me in the hostipal very often)
Shipping Lines will always complain that the profit margin is like going in the down-side everyday. Freight forwarders will always comment that is hard to maintain the contribution of margin for every shipment (Some even saying that with zero profit they will still continue to move the cargo, just for the sake of keeping the customer).
It seems that the massive internal competition between lines & lines, freight forwarders & freight forwarders, lines & freight forwarders, etc, are killing each other very soon. The one that seems benefit the most would be the exporters or importers, as internal rivals keep driving the ocean freight down & down.
Well, don't get me wrong. Competition is vital to drive many areas of service/ product to a better level. Without that, you won't be seeing much improvement.
As I'm working in this industry, in the sales arena to be specific, every working day is like a share trading day. Ocean freight rates can go up and down within a day's time. (Luckily that I still have a young heart, otherwise, you'll have to visit me in the hostipal very often)
Shipping Lines will always complain that the profit margin is like going in the down-side everyday. Freight forwarders will always comment that is hard to maintain the contribution of margin for every shipment (Some even saying that with zero profit they will still continue to move the cargo, just for the sake of keeping the customer).
It seems that the massive internal competition between lines & lines, freight forwarders & freight forwarders, lines & freight forwarders, etc, are killing each other very soon. The one that seems benefit the most would be the exporters or importers, as internal rivals keep driving the ocean freight down & down.
Well, don't get me wrong. Competition is vital to drive many areas of service/ product to a better level. Without that, you won't be seeing much improvement.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)