After hiring NSRs here at Anderson Trucking Service (ATS), particularly with ATS Logistics, for decades, we’ve come up with a well-established structure designed to help new sales representatives succeed.
Keep reading to learn more about what you can expect in your first 90 days on the job, including what expectations the organization has for you during this timeframe.
Related: How Much Do Logistics Sales Representatives Make?
If you’re worried about starting a new career in sales — especially since there are pros and cons to working in the transportation and logistics industry — that’s completely understandable. However, there’s no need to worry. The NSR onboarding plan is designed to help you ease into the role with realistic expectations.
Your first week on the job will be mostly spent attending in-classroom orientation, where you’ll gain a high-level understanding of ATS, the transportation industry and tips on how you can become a successful salesperson.
Following orientation, here’s what you can expect from ATS — and what we expect of you — in your first 30, 60 and 90 days:
As you enter your first month of work, it’s important to get a better understanding of the company and the goals of the role. Whatever orientation doesn’t cover will be taken care of as you get acquainted with your manager and your team.
You’ll shadow a mentor sporadically for the rest of your first 30 days — someone who can be a resource when you have questions, along with your manager. The main focus of your first month, however, will be to build a pipeline of prospects and start making calls.
This will become easier as you learn the systems and processes used throughout the organization. You’ll also get to know the relationship between the core companies that make up ATS — including ATS Logistics, ATS Specialized, ATS, Inc. (Vans) and ATS International.
And, if you’re not already aware, there are numerous types of equipment used to move freight from point A to point B — not just dry van trailers pulled behind a standard tractor. (Seriously, don’t worry if you don’t know that — we’ll teach you 🙂.)
Beyond that, you’ll learn how to price freight moves and what types of customers ATS is a good fit for — including how to find them using tools like ZoomInfo and prospecting lists.
You’ll also set up a bi-weekly cadence of one-on-one meetings with your manager, which is a great opportunity to have a candid two-way conversation about your progress on a regular basis. This will help you learn and grow in your role, long after your first 90 days are complete.
You won’t be expected to meet any specific metrics in your first 30 days. Instead, we expect you to come in with an open mind and to be eager to learn. That doesn’t mean we expect you to remember everything that’s thrown at you immediately.
In fact, we hope you ask questions and expect feedback. You should never be afraid to ask anyone questions. Seriously, anyone. That’s something we pride ourselves on here at ATS.
We also want to see you getting more comfortable around your team, including your manager. That one-on-one time with your manager is especially important in the early stages of your career with ATS.
From a hard skills standpoint, we’d like to see you end your first 30 days with a better understanding of how to build a pipeline and how to overcome objections. Again, that doesn’t mean you have to be a “professional objection-overcomer” after 30 days, but rather someone who can find a way past some of the more common objections — including the ability to get past a company’s “gatekeeper” and talk to a decision-maker.
Depending on how your first 30 days go, there can be a lot of overlap between 30 and 60 days. After all, everyone learns at a different pace and that’s perfectly fine.
If you haven’t already, you should expect to progress your way toward having 250 leads to work. One or two of those leads will ideally turn into a customer by the time your 60th day on the job approaches.
This should become easier as you’re taught different ways to market yourself and ATS. That can include how you present yourself on social media — particularly LinkedIn — and how you utilize those platforms to source leads. ATS also has an in-house marketing team that can help you create various sales tools to help in your prospecting.
Email will also become your friend, not only as a day-to-day communication tool, but it can also act as a solid marketing tool. We’ll help you learn the dos and don’ts of emailing so you can get off on the right foot.
By the time day 60 has arrived, we expect you’ll have a much more comprehensive understanding of how freight gets from point A to point B. That will allow you to provide accurate quotes on your own — with assistance as needed.
You’ll continue to get more acquainted with the pricing process, with the goal that you’ll be able to provide quotes for legal loads and enter load information properly on your own by day 60.
In your second month, we’ll introduce you to some specific goals we expect you to achieve, including revenue goals. Those revenue goals won’t be hit without a customer or two, like we mentioned earlier, so we expect you’ll be able to do that too. That said, you’ll be given all the tools and support you need to successfully bring them in, so don’t think you’ll be hung out to dry.
Related: The Pros and Cons of a Commission-Incentivized Sales Career in Transportation
As you approach day 90, you can expect to become more self-sufficient. You’ll be working your way toward pricing a legal load without any assistance. You’ll also start utilizing a tool that helps you price over-dimensional freight.
Your comfort level with selling across various parts of the organization should increase. That means you might sell a dry van load that requires some warehousing capabilities. Or maybe you utilize an ATS-owned asset in ATS Specialized or ATS, Inc. instead of brokering the load to a third party.
It’s also important you understand how the freight market works and what factors influence how you price freight. This will increase your ability to book freight on your own.
You’ll also learn how to manage accounts on your own and when to incorporate support departments.
At this point, your manager will begin discussing your goals beyond your first 90 days, including your annual performance and career path goals. Another point of pride at ATS is the opportunities provided to those that put the work in. In fact, many members of our leadership team began their careers in entry-level roles at ATS.
Oh, and you’ll get your first commission check on day 75! That check will include any training bonuses you’ve earned and the commission you’ve earned from booking freight.
As you continue to get more comfortable in your role — and, in turn, feel more integrated with your team — your goals will reflect that.
The leads you’ve been generating should turn into roughly 75 quality prospects by day 90. That means they’re an ideal fit for ATS and could realistically turn into a customer. And, at the very least, three to six of those 75 prospects should actually become a customer.
If those customers are moving legal freight, we expect you to handle the pricing process without any assistance.
The business you generate should start becoming more regular too, not just a one-off load every now and then. A huge key to success is establishing ongoing relationships with customers that keep the demand — and a check for you — coming.
Just because your training period has ended, you won’t be left to fend for yourself. You’ll always be learning — and receiving the support you need to do so. Your one-on-one meetings with your manager should continue for the duration of your career at ATS.
You’ll also be able to take part in all kinds of employee engagement activities, like sales contests, volunteer opportunities and more. The programs that exist today continue to evolve, so you can expect to take part in new and exciting things as your tenure grows with ATS.
The first 90 days in any job can be daunting, let alone a sales career that requires you to establish a new book of business from scratch. That said, we want the start of your sales career with ATS Logistics to be as seamless as possible. That’s why we’ve created a 90-day onboarding plan to help ease you into the job.
In the very beginning, you can expect some classroom training, followed by hands-on training that involves shadowing a mentor. As you continue to get more comfortable, you’ll be expected to create a lead list, which should turn into a solid prospect list and eventually a handful of customers.
Beyond your first 90 days, you’ll continue to receive support from your teammates, your manager and more. You’ll also discuss your career goals and career path options so you can work towards whatever your desires are. On a related note, here are some tips for making it through your first year in logistics sales.
If you’ve been considering a career in sales and weren’t sure what to expect, this article should put your mind at ease. If you’re now convinced a sales career is what you’re looking for, we’d love to get in touch.
As you’re now aware, we’ll help you ease into your new role and make the transition into sales as easy as possible. If you’re ready, apply now!