You must have heard about the desire burning in the hearts of business leaders everywhere. In the dim light of poor management practices currently dominating the shipping industry (and many others), it is handy when some earnestly working, but not quite experienced pundits, hand you a flashlight designed to provide some extra light! In this case, the load on the bandwagon is SO out of gauge (shipping humor), that otherwise educable managers are hanging on by their fingernails!
Since the cry for “BOOK OF BUSINESS” (b.o.b.) went up across the land, it has cost us as an industry and a nation a lot more than may seem obvious. Because the concepts of “consultancy sales” and “relationship business process” have become recognized and accepted by most people in shipping for any length of time, the b.o.b. idea can be easily shown to be mythical both in promise and application.
The so-called wisdom of searching for individuals who claim to possess the elusive b.o.b. Is aimed at pressuring managers to squeeze performance out of their front lines. It could not possibly be focused on professional cultivation of steady, complementary valued, long term business relationships. The ideas are mutually exclusive – how could you have a portable set of customers that you cart around from service provider to service provider, when your function is to establish in depth relationships between businesses? The number of customers who might tolerate such costs – both time and money – must surely be fewer and fewer…
Yet we see ad nauseam the ads for professional sales people in logistics to apply only if they have a “book of business”, which they can quickly move from where they are, to a new organization that will offer you value, honesty and a long term relationship! Anyone sensing the irony yet?
How can you ask a customer to take the time, and spend the money to change service providers, when the basis for the change is clearly a self serving, temporary and (more than likely) costly change. If done correctly, and honestly, sales representatives should be looking for the best fit for the customers and their organization. Part of that process is the establishing of relationships between the customer and the service personnel for pricing, servicing on both sides of the ocean, troubleshooting and even management (if they see the value in participating,.).
Just think about the plain logic of the b.o.b. proposition! If you, as a hiring manager, can actually find a person who may credibly claim to have such a book, and they even have credible
justification for moving their customers – you hire them. They move their customers. You are a hero. Everyone’s corporately happy and corporate heroes multiply….
Oops. The b.o.b. owner doesn’t like the deal any more. Should have been a bigger hero, have a bigger share, a nicer car, whatever… The manager is now hostage to the b.o.b. owner. The corporate happiness is now hostage to the b.o.b. owner. Resentment builds and the b.o.b. takes a walk, dimming the lights of the corporate halls and lighting up someone else’s corporate life with whatever remains transferable!
Smarter managers, not hindered by the hobgoblin of corporate got-to-have-it-now mentality,
and enlightened by real management knowledge and servant leadership skills, might consider that a seriously skilled company representative would have a book of relationships. They may be much slower out if the gate because it takes time to qualify, define service structures and present legitimate options to intelligent customers. In the longer view, however, when the customers are connected by their relationships within the organization, and the discretionary values are genuine and relevant, you may have sustained profitable and mutually beneficial business taking place.
It happens!
R Fain
Bob@snapshippingservices.com
