Member Interview: Professional Export Services Inc, USA
WFN members are highly competent and professional, with a wealth of knowledge and industry experience to share.
With that in mind, we interviewed some of our members to ask for their views on the industry today, the benefits of networking, and their comments on the Pandemic. In July, we spoke to Blake Bina, Vice President of Sales at Professional Export Services in the USA:
How did you start out in Freight Forwarding?
"I have a degree in International Relations with minors in European Studies and Swedish language (that’s why Bjorn and I hang out at WFN meetings and “snackar skit”). I had visions of being a foreign attaché, living in Sweden, or elsewhere. Once I saw how long it takes to work one’s way through the Federal / State Department, and the pay scale, I knew it wasn’t going to work out. I contacted my local state trade office, and asked to be a volunteer, as I had just graduated from college (1993), and didn’t have any international experience.
I worked as a volunteer for 8 months, during which time I helped the MN Trade Office put on programs for companies that had new employees working in their international departments, or companies that were just getting started in international business. The program was called Export Tools & Techniques. The seminar was held on 3 consecutive Wednesdays, and you had professionals come in and speak; from lawyers making sure you had proper legal paperwork, marketing & advertising, to forwarders who came in and spoke as to how they fit into the equation. I thought, “Hey, I can do this. I can ‘forward’”… So back then - and this may be hard for some of our millennial readers to comprehend - you still had newspapers, and you still had job postings in newspapers. I answered an ad for sales, for a local Minneapolis forwarder and, lo and behold, here I am 26 years later."
Your thoughts on the logistics industry today and how things have changed due to the Pandemic?
"Having been in the industry through our US West Port strike, and the changes that 9/11 brought to the world and to forwarding, the Pandemic has been more of a nuisance than anything else. I don’t see governments stepping in with new regulations based on the Pandemic, like we did with airfreight, security, C-TPAT, that was born of 9/11. We as forwarders play well in chaos, and the Pandemic has done nothing but caused chaos with the carriers and in the industry. As long as you can navigate that space, and keep your clients informed and try and give them options, then we (small, medium, large forwarders) are all playing with the same deck of cards."
What are the main challenges facing independent forwarders?
"Having worked for small independents, and a large USA/Asia forwarder, the challenges for any company are the same. How do you differentiate yourself from your competition? How do you bring value to your client, to keep them coming back to you? Early on in my career, I just focused on the client in front of me, and price. Over time, my approach has changed drastically. Yes, you the shipper in MN are my client. However, I want to understand what are the pain points of their client in Germany, and then the pain points of the client’s client. For the past 20 years, I’ve taken a more consultative approach to how and who we service. If I can eliminate the pain of my client’s client, and the pain of the client, then price doesn’t matter. People want to avoid pain. So, remove the pain, and you’ve got a very loyal client. For us, being a smaller forwarder, we need to understand who our target clients/industries are, and play to our strengths; I have no problems telling people that we aren’t a good fit, and referring them on to others (e.g. within our network), as we can’t, won’t, DO NOT want to be everything to everybody."
How relevant is networking in today’s forwarding industry?
"It’s as relevant as it was 25 years ago, and will continue to be in the future. It’s how we as a group can compete and, quite frankly, out-compete the likes of the larger multinationals. Having seen it from both sides, if you’re working with K & N and your client has an issue in Singapore, with K & N, well tough hop, you are locked into that network. As independents, we can offer the client’s client (see above) the option to eliminate pain, and switch/choose another provider, and thus that comes back to the client, and here again, we’ve eliminated their pain. To paraphrase Gordon Gekko - here again, millennials, check out the movie Wall Street - “The point is, ladies and gentlemen, that pain, for the lack of a word, is good. Pain is right. Pain works. Pain clarifies, cuts through and captures the essence of the spirit of the client.” Figure out how to manage, and eliminate pain = $$."
How do you see the future for independent forwarders?
"With my eyes. I see with my eyes (comedy is my life) 😊 I am very optimistic for our industry and our role. The carriers keep consolidating, but don’t add more staff, so you have fewer reps, fewer customer service people to try and service not only us, but also the shippers. This leads to shipper frustration, and it’s why they keep coming back to us."
Visit www.proexport.net to learn more.
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