Cornerstone Systems is seeking a Sales Executive for our newest Branch Office in Charleston, SC.
Recognized for our exceptional customer experience, Cornerstone Systems is a leading nationwide provider of solutions for transportation and logistics. We offer intermodal, railcar & railcar consolidation, truck brokerage, container drayage, LTL, on-site logistics, warehousing & transloading services, supply chain solutions and more. Cornerstone’s proven professionals vow to offer Rock Solid Transportation Solutions. Our nationally recognized award winning company has strategically located offices all across the U.S. and service coverage that spans all of North America. Count on Cornerstone – The Clear Choice – for Rock Solid Results. An Employee Owned Company. U.S. EPA SmartWay Transport Partner. Better Business Bureau A Rating. 2021 USA Top Workplace. For more information, visit www.cornerstone-systems.com.
The ideal candidate for this position will have 2 years of sales experience working for a 3PL or asset-based logistics provider. This person should be highly motivated, organized, and attentive to detail. The Sales Executive will be directly responsible for driving new business by utilizing varying sales techniques. The qualified candidate will be entrepreneurial and should work well both inside and outside of the traditional office structure. The below is intended to describe the general content of and requirements for the performance of this job and is not to be construed as an exhaustive statement of essential functions, responsibilities or requirements.
Primary Duties and Responsibilities
- Prospect and develop strong professional relationships by identifying key decision makers at multiple levels within the customer’s organization and determining the best communication approach (phone calls, e-mails, social media, and/or face to face visits).
- Identify new selling opportunities within the target industries. Maximize and manage the volume, revenue, and margin in order to deliver profitable sales results.
- Maintain a full pipeline of opportunities and target achievable accounts while updating our customer relationship management tool on activities, leads, and follow ups.
- Understand the customer’s shipping needs, find pain points, identify service/cost improvement opportunities, negotiate rates, and ultimately provide solutions that add value to the customer’s supply chain.
- Manage customer expectations while ensuring customer commitments are met by collaborating with internal teams (operations, pricing, risk, finance) and executing certain operational tasks as needed.
- Build strong relationships with customers by staying in constant communication to ensure day to day and long-term needs are met while providing an excellent customer service experience.
- Identify opportunities to further penetrate accounts by selling a large service portfolio (multiple modes of transportation) as well as a variety of pricing models (ie transactional, contractual).
- Stay up to date on industry trends and industry best practices to provide market-competitive solutions that add value for the customer while increasing branch revenue and profit.
- Participate in the planning and strategy for the long-term growth and success of the branch as well as the entire brokerage department.
- Promote and display Cornerstone’s Core Values: Integrity, Honesty, Respect, Loyalty, Never Satisfied.
- Regular and reliable attendance expected.
- Other work-related duties as assigned by supervisor/manager.
Minimum Knowledge, Abilities, and Skills Required
- Bachelor’s degree in business, transportation, logistics or related field; or a combination of post high school and equal experience may be substituted for education.
- 3 years sales or customer service experience within the transportation and logistics industry, preferably in freight brokerage or with an asset-light 3PL organization.
- Possess an entrepreneurial attitude, competitive spirit, and a passion for building customer relationships.
- Ability to work in a team environment, while also delivering independent results.
- Excellent communication skills (both written and verbal) including the ability to negotiate, persuade, and influence others in an ethical manner.
- Skilled in preparing clear and concise reports, correspondence, and other written materials that will support the sales cycle.
- Highly developed organizational and time management skills; capable of managing and prioritizing work tasks and current customer needs while also remaining focused on new business generation.
- Open and able to travel as the workload requires.
- Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite (Outlook, Excel) and familiar with Customer Relationship Management technologies and other prospecting tools.