![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.cssgroupsite.com\/lighthouse\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Rahat-Talreja.jpg\" "\\"Rahat-Talreja\\"")
I would segment our business into two parts:<\/br>A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Business creation team<\/p>\n
I would segment our business into two parts:
<\/br>A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Business creation team<\/p>\n
B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Business execution team
<\/br>Typically , A would constitute sales people (who these days sell nothing , just say\u00a0 yes or\u00a0 no, to customer\u2019s rate target since service is known and doesn\u2019t need to be sold) marketing people who would entice customers with brand value if it really meant anything – ask if the brand \u201c go airways is better than spice jet\u201d or if \u201c Emirates is better than Etihad\u201d and i really don\u2019t think we have a concrete answer.
<\/br>Its like asking \u201cdo you like ambuja cement or binani cement\u201c well i need good cement at a good price, period.
<\/br>So, in logistics \/ consolidation business – A has become a menial task which is needed for only 10% of the job , which is more of keeping in touch with clients and servicing crony customers needing kickbacks \/ favours \/ ego massages etc but not really related to business.
<\/br>The sales teams were historically the glamorous and heroic teams who were the only custodian to clients secrets and had street smart ways to get things done. But it all changed with the information age. Everything is on the click of a button, its a google-ised society and information keepers or sellers are no longer needed
<\/br>You need information – you don\u2019t need a sales man – you need to click a button on your computer and have much more data than you need
<\/br>Where in the world are any new businesses having \u201csales teams \u201c they aren\u2019t – because it has all changed due to free information flow.
<\/br>Need to buy a jaguar? go to the site, see everything
<\/br>Need to buy a plane ticket ? go to a site buy it
<\/br>Need vessel details? the site has it all Need to book a term deposit with the bank , go to the site and do it, after comparing rates
<\/br>Need insurance, do it online after comparing premium
<\/br>no longer do you need\u00a0 middlemen, salesmen, agents,\u00a0 representatives etc
<\/br>A decade back, yes, we needed one. But today ?
<\/br>We say we educated the customers , but we didn\u2019t, we just informed them, they are loaded with information but not necessarily educated or else they would never let us make a single dollar of profit.
<\/br>\u201cInformation\u201d is different from \u201ceducation\u201d
<\/br>The emergence of B is the story of the next decade.
<\/br>B, would typically comprise:
<\/br>Customer service teams – who actually start the work of communicating and formally quoting, sending routings, making line bookings, co-ordinating with clients, vendors and in house teams for maximum through put – they are typically \u201cconfidence building\u201d teams and if they are good, clients trust the organisation and gain confidence.
<\/br>Pricing teams – who can be part of customer service since they actually work on the buy rates which is really what we have in our hand since sell rates are common and known , ours has become a commodity business where sell side things are known and cannot be altered – no pricing power basically, I wish pricing teams actually were about sell side pricing power\u00a0 and not just the buying side. But they are important since they help create the \u201coh so important\u201d bottom-lines for balance sheets.
<\/br>documentation teams – who opens jobs, file manifests, issue delivery orders, bills of lading which are so very important, a wrong bill of lading could mean legal issues, a wrong delivery order could mean jail, a wrong manifest would mean amendment and money, a job opened wrong could mean a wrong MIS to management.
<\/br>Operation teams – who would transport, destuff, stuff, latch , chain, put on board – a wrong stuffing means money, a wrong latch means damages which is again money, a transport mistake means delay and again money.
<\/br>So if you actually analyse, all the B teams MEAN MONEY.
<\/br>They are much more important, need to be paid much higher, need to be trained much more, need to be retained at any cost, need to be motivated more than anybody.
<\/br>So an air ticket costs lets say \u201c5000\u201d on 3 airlines, just like it costs 10 dollars freight from port A to B wether on XYZ logistics or ABC forwarder or PQR consolidation services.
<\/br>So businesses which will manage their back end well, which will in turn save money, reduce mistakes which again saves money will be the ones to gain and sustain.
<\/br>And therefore I reiterate that
<\/br>B\u00a0\u00a0 Is the future<\/p>\n