Forced Leads Lead-on

MrFedEx

Engorged Member
Told 'em I'd be happy to turn in leads the day the sales staff puts on a uniform, gets in a delivery vehicle and helps us deliver this crap.

Our salesperson comes in driving a new BMW, wearing a very expensive suit, and then expects us to provide him leads so he can make even more money. Almost all of us give them bogus leads. Besides, they'll do everything possible to convert your lead to Ground because the profit margins are higher.

Screw them.
 

Cactus

Just telling it like it is
Our salesperson comes in driving a new BMW, wearing a very expensive suit, and then expects us to provide him leads so he can make even more money. Almost all of us give them bogus leads. Besides, they'll do everything possible to convert your lead to Ground because the profit margins are higher.

Screw them.
The sales staff is one step away from being TV evangelists.
 

FedexCares

Well-Known Member
They have really been pushing leads at my station, having the CSAs send out messages on the powerpad daily to couriers asking them to turn in leads. They might not be mandatory, but many people are turning them in just to avoid the harassment.
 

soc151

Well-Known Member
You know it. Bunch of bean counters don't understand the money they leave on table screwing us on piece payment. They see short term profit increase. They don't see my people throwing away their contact info when they ask how to switch over to FedEx.

Exactly. More work and an inflexible time window for the same pay?

No thank you.
 

Code 82 Approved

Titanium Plus+ Level Member with benefits!
Sales..so dumb
All they have to do is hang out at a FedEx Office at 17:55 and watch for the 10 different small business people unloading 50 packages each on some rickety carts hoping to get me to wait until their pkgs are processed by 18:00
 

El Morado Diablo

Well-Known Member
The difference between FedEx & UPS sales is amazing. Here's an example:

Customer decides to contact FedEx & UPS to get pricing information after USPS tells them it's going to charge them full price on return shipments (they were getting a discounted price on their outgoing shipments). They call UPS and are given a number to contact the local center. They call the local center and get the contact info for the local sales guy. He lives 2 hours away and makes an appointment to visit them the next day.

They call FedEx's 1-800 number and get the complete run around. They never talk to someone in inside sales, much less the local sales rep. They call the Ground contractor for help and he gives them the number to the local FedEx Ground station manager. He makes some calls and tells them someone will get in touch with them. A week and a half goes by and they are still waiting for someone from FedEx to contact them. No one ever does.

The customer ended up switching over to UPS. This was a high volume account that would have generated a decent amount of revenue if our sales staff would have bothered to check out. The customer told me their shipping budget was $800,000 a year and rising.

I haven't seen our sales rep in the station for a couple of years now. The last time one of them walked the belt asking for leads I was the only person to say I had one. Expecting him to write down the information, he instead told me to "Turn in a lead and see what happens" and walked off the belt. Many of these sales reps are absolutely worthless... I refuse to turn in leads and the majority of drivers in my station have the same attitude.
 

dezguy

Well-Known Member
Sales. What a joke. We've had 3 sales guys in the past two years quit and head over to UPS. I haven't seen a new local account in YEARS.
 

Cactus

Just telling it like it is
Sales. What a joke. We've had 3 sales guys in the past two years quit and head over to UPS. I haven't seen a new local account in YEARS.
Maybe some customers are waking up to the fact that they're getting screwed. Rising costs, habitual late freight, missed pick-ups, claims denied etc.
 

dezguy

Well-Known Member
Maybe some customers are waking up to the fact that they're getting screwed. Rising costs, habitual late freight, missed pick-ups, claims denied etc.
Could be but I think it is more the fact they neglect our area for two bigger city centres near the station I'm at. But then they'll come to town and cry that we aren't handing in sales leads. We had one courier ask why we should do leads when they aren't even in town unless its for a meeting asking us to get them sales leads. The manager then cut the meeting short.

On top of the crying for sales leads, they also have the nerve to tell us, when we ask why we should get them leads when they just turn around and turn them into ground accounts, to tell us that when they get a ground reg, that customer will always ship out an Express pkg once in a while. What?!?! So, we're supposed to slit our own throats by getting ground more business for an Express package "once in a while"?

I swear, they don't hear the diarrhea that comes pouring out of their mouths when they open them.
 

Operational needs

Virescit Vulnere Virtus
I saw a whole group of sales people in my station on Friday, during the sort. First time I've seen any in years. Do ya think they walked the belt? Nope. They were just there to use our conference room. Lol.
 

59 Dano

I just want to make friends!
Our salesperson comes in driving a new BMW, wearing a very expensive suit, and then expects us to provide him leads so he can make even more money. Almost all of us give them bogus leads. Besides, they'll do everything possible to convert your lead to Ground because the profit margins are higher.

Screw them.

Sounds like a lucrative job to have. Why don't you become a sales rep?
 

El Morado Diablo

Well-Known Member
Sounds like a lucrative job to have. Why don't you become a sales rep?

One of our 30+ year guys tried to get a job in sales some years ago. They didn't take him seriously because he didn't have a sales background. That's a shame because he would have been a natural for the job. Too bad they don't hold potential managers to the same skills & experience standards...
 

whenIgetthere

Well-Known Member
They have really been pushing leads at my station, having the CSAs send out messages on the powerpad daily to couriers asking them to turn in leads. They might not be mandatory, but many people are turning them in just to avoid the harassment.

Last month our senior manager told the entire station he wanted two sales leads from each courier by Friday afternoon. Come Monday, he told us seven leads were turned in by the entire station.
 

MrFedEx

Engorged Member
One of our 30+ year guys tried to get a job in sales some years ago. They didn't take him seriously because he didn't have a sales background. That's a shame because he would have been a natural for the job. Too bad they don't hold potential managers to the same skills & experience standards...

Sales is always presented as a career option for couriers, and it's nearly impossible to get in due to the reasons you mention. Most of our "sales professionals" are slicks from some other business that has zero to do with transportation. It's easy to tell, because they're the ones that tell shippers they can have pickups scheduled for 1800 when the aircraft or CTV departs at 1900. They have little to no understanding of how the system operates, so they make promises based on that faulty database.
 
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