What I Learned at the TMSA Conference

By Jeff Davis, Sales & Marketing Alignment Expert at jd2 Consulting Group and Opening Keynote at the 2018 TMSA Logistics Marketing & Sales Conference. With rich experiences in both Sales and Marketing, Davis takes an extremely unique approach to business development that focuses on aligning both functions to create a sense of "Togetherness" and a focus on revenue generation.

Every time I attend a new conference or get the privilege of speaking to a new group of people, I like to take some time to reflect on what I learned during that interaction. Embarking on this journey to better understand how to strategically align Sales and Marketing has put me in a unique position where I enjoy getting to learn from professionals and cross pollenate those insights, ideas and concepts to help us all increase our business acumen. 

One of those such chances was being selected by Brian Everett and the board of TMSA (Transportation Marketing and Sales Association) to be the opening keynote of their annual conference. I opened my session by helping everyone focus on what powerful partnerships have been able to accomplish in the past in order to set the stage as we all interacted with each other during the conference. My intent was to help us think about building partnerships across the aisle to help us drive better business outcomes. 

Beyond sharing my perspective on Sales and Marketing Alignment, I learned a ton about the trucking, logistics, and supply chain industry - what an interesting industry that affects all of our lives. If if weren't for them, Amazon Prime 2-day shipping wouldn't work. 

Below are some of the highlights from my time at the conference:

• Be sure the marketing teams chooses a marketing automation tool that connects with the CRM to ensure that marketing efforts contribute directly to sales and business goals. (via Jill Schmieg)
• Sales and Marketing need to align their efforts to business outcomes and set performance targets. (via Laura Patterson)
• In order to get the attention of the CEO we must speak his/her language which means connecting our efforts to the growth of the organization. 
• Influencer marketing can be a useful tool to accomplish your growth goals. Truckers themselves can become a significant partner in helping solve the lack of drivers on the road. 
• According to Forrester, only 13% of customers believe salespeople demonstrate an understanding of their business challenges. (via Eric Maddox)
• Freightwaves has become a leading digital freight news outlet with 2x engagement than its competitors. (via Craig Fuller)
• Due to regulations, companies must sometimes establish working relationships with direct competitors in order to ensure customers are serviced adequately.
• Some of the top challenges facing the logistic industry include: fuel cost, business improvement processes, improved customer service, driver shortage and retention, technology disruption.