E-Commerce is changing the landscape of logistics – taking the relationship between corporations and their logistics provider into the digital age. This creates a business environment where machines seem to take on most of the interactions. But it is the “human” sales representatives who will continue to remain the key brand ambassadors, as illustrated by Rainer Schmid, Director Marketing & Sales DHL Freight. The logistics industry of the 21st century shows a massive focus on automated services, e-commerce, GPS-logistics, internet 4.0 and many more trends of our times. With these electronic tools the mutual effectiveness of collaboration between customers and partners is greatly enhanced for both sides. As an industry leading service provider it is clearly DHL’s ambition to increasingly develop and introduce superior innovative technologies to customers. At the same time we remain very aware that the logistics market is very different from selling books or shoes. Many of our valued customers are not only looking to buy a specific product, but a distinct and bespoke service arrangement which can consist of various individual logistics elements. In short, these clients are looking for a solution to a business challenge and it is there where human interaction is still the most effective form of mutual engagement. At DHL Freight our sales people are therefore not only well trained in conventional product sales, but specifically also in approaching clients consultatively. In order to create an effective logistics value proposition DHL sales representatives will first understand the critical business drivers of the customer and then compose the right logistics modules to a compelling value proposition. In short, our single and of course high-tech based DHL service elements are only cooking ingredients. The individual meal for the client is then composed by a consultative DHL team, consisting of human logistics sales experts. Please rest assured: even in times of an increasing dominance by e-commerce, DHL will continue to invest in providing you with outstanding sales representatives as key ambassadors of our brand experience! Therefore, we are very proud of the results given in the course of the customer satisfaction study of May 2016. Roughly 3.000 business customers in logistics appraised the quality of our sales representatives. We were credited with a very high performance rating, leading our competitors by ten percent. Thank you very much!
Rainer Schmid – CV Since he started his career 30 years ago, Rainer Schmid has been working in sales departments of multinational logistics companies. Before being appointed Head of Sales & Marketing with DHL Freight, he held various senior commercial positions within the Sales & Marketing division of EXEL (in both forwarding and contract logistics). Rainer Schmid hails from an entrepreneurial family and is a graduate of the Mannheim Business Academy for Logistics and Transportation. Full dedication and commitment to business assignments and customer focus is a given. Currently residing in the vicinity of Wiesbaden, he has gained international experience and perspective from twelve years spent in various appointments abroad, amongst others in Japan, USA and the Netherlands.
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[Rails and roads in Switzerland will probably not be able to cope with the growing freight traffic of the future – the solution might lie beneath the earth.
