When I was younger I really wanted to become stockbroker, trading stocks and bonds on the stock exchange and so on. This is something to do with that I am good with numbers, I sometimes have the problem of remembering numbers too long.
The thing I wanted to come to is that from my dream as a teenage kid as a stockbroker I kind of did the same but not with stocks and bonds. Rather with transport, I talk to clients who have transport needs and sometimes I gamble and give them a number that I think that I could get from the transport market. Sometimes this is ok and in some cases it has been not so ok.
This brings me to how I go about doing this, where I find my sources and since I am always trying to cut cost and avoid spending too much money on different services and often binding myself to fixed cost. That where the modern platform such as Linkedin, Skype and Twitter come in handy. The best things that those platforms are for free and you are not spending anything on extra software.
It is really good to combine all, using twitter as a quick message about possible loads or free trucks. Then going over to skype to finalize the deal. And of course Linkedin is great to look up your contacts and see what they have been doing and are what they say they are. Not so many use this technology that can make things so simple and easy. For example if you are logistics manager or the person responsible for transport within your company. This could be super simple to use and provide your company with additional savings. Even if your company has agreement with one or several transport companies there are always room for savings.
- Twitter: twitter out that you have load from A to B on this date
- Skype: get talking to the the bidder from twitter feed
- LinkedIn: look at the people or the company
Also another way is to use the LinkedIn update status in personal or company.
Have you figure out what TWSKLI stands for?
p.s: Twitter , Skype , Linkedin For you who want to learn more get in contact with me. >>> |
I was talking to my wife and telling her about how many appearances I get per week now on Linkedin and she told me that I have become a LinkedIn celebrity, funny.
Today I looked at my stat on LinkedIn and this picture came on:
What this shows is number of times I have appeared in searches per week on Linkedin and last week was my all time high with 1976 times appeared in search and that is a quite a lot from this picture in late 2011:
The breaking point came in late September 2011 when I went from 438 times to about 916 times in mid October 2011. If we take the starting point 438 and look at the current one 1976 times, we are talking about 351 % increases in searches and this happen in just about 3 months.
So how did I do this, it is not such a big secret and everyone can do it them self.
- Improve your profile: think of your key words 3 -5 words
- Join groups, up to 50. Be sure to turn of the email notification that you receive from them so you will not be swamped with emails.
- Start discussion in groups or comment on others
- Start your own group that you can control and be the manager
If you are worried that LinkedIn will take too much of your time, dont worry. Allocate a certain amount of time per day or some days within the week to use for LinkedIn.
So people might ask them self, what is the point with all this. Well I tell you with LinkedIn you can find suppliers for your business needs and you can find customers and the best of all the customers can find you.
I have used LinkedIn to find suppliers within logistics, but I have also found customers through LinkedIn and some customers have found me.
For you who want to know more, contact me at: david.leifsson@remeka.se
Twitter: @DeTransporter
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We have done this like this for a long time and it works and we are fine with it. This is truth today we do things over and over like we have done the past 10 or 15 years. The most common method of getting quotes for transport is by email. You send out email to all your contact and if you dont have enough contacts you just have to do with what you have. Tuff luck.
Well the times has changed, we have for some while gotten newer technology and methods on how to communicate and reach wider audience. Now it is possible to reach more contact even if we have never meet them or heard of them, how? We have such platform as Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter. There we have all the information we need, the trick is how to look for the information we need. This take some time to get use to and be good at.
So what is this new breed of transport buyer, well I will tell you it is those who utilize the social media platform such as Twitter, Linkedin and Facebook. I consider me being one of the new breed. Therefore I can tell you from my experience. When a customer or a potential customer of mine ask for price or quote for transport in places that I have not been operating I use Linkedin to find potential suppliers and find a way of getting in contact with them. Even if I have been using certain transport companies for transporting I often put the freight out on Twitter to see if I get some reaction. I have not used Facebook so much, but I believe that there are huge value of using Facebook for business if done correctly.
If you are in some groups on Linkedin such as Supply Chain Managment: we who love logistics you can post your transport request. However you have to formulate the discussion in such a way that transport companies can understand, just basic info.
The industry need to adapt to those changes, many are doing so and that is great. But the majority is left behind still using the same old meathod.
Do you belong to the NEW BREAD OF TRANSPORT BUYER
For you who want to learn more please give me a short email: david.leifsson@remeka.se
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