April 14, 2025 • 28 mins
In this episode, we’ll continue on a topic that’s vital for every transportation professional - the key strategies for generating sales and revenue!
Listen to learn the importance of daily disciplined activities over motivation, focusing on revenue-generating tasks like cold calling and its methodology, setting specific daily calling targets, tracking progress to enhance efficiency and drive business growth, and mindset strategies for overcoming sales anxiety!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Came back with a bank window down yelling now money anything hey oh Got the foot on the gas pedal to the metal when I'm get to the back hey Got the foot on the gas pedal to the metal when the lane moving fast hey Let them all cross if they hate then let them made them make a bigger boss hey. What is up, ladies and gentlemen? We are back. We are live. It is the Freight Coach Podcast, the top podcast in transportation coming to you guys every single weekday, 8:30am Pacific, 10:30 Central, to break down some industry headlines. But most importantly, you guys provide some actual insight into what you can do with all of this information. If this is your first time tuning in, welcome. This is the real side of freight, ladies and gentlemen. And I say that before every single show.
(00:50):
And what I mean by that is I only speak with transportation professionals because at the end of the day, you guys, I want to talk to the right individuals who have done what you're looking to do or who are currently doing what you're trying to achieve, so you can take that information, apply it, utilize it, and see a meaningful difference in your business and your life. Happy Monday, everybody. It is great to be back in the desert, man. It was. Being out on the road for an extended period of time is never easy. But. But when you're out on the road and you're jumping between multiple cities and everything like that also is not easy at all.
(01:23):
But, you know, at the end of the day, you guys, we got to do whatever it takes to make this stuff work, and that's what we are going to do. But yeah. So just kind of a little quick recap on everything, you guys. We were down to TIA Capital Ideas Conference in San Antonio last week. And you know, it is. It's always great to be out in front of people, right? And, you know, I put a post out there this morning about this. And you truly never know the impact that you're having on others until you're out there face to face, right? Meeting countless people this week who, you know, stopped me and, you know, said that they watch the show all the time and what the show's done for them and their business and, you know, how it's helped clarify some things.
(02:10):
And, you know, one guy making it feel, you know, he came up and said he's like, man, it's just great to feel like that. Like they're not alone in all the struggles and everything else that they go through inside of building up their business and everything. So it Is, you know, like I said, you never know the impact that you're having on others. And that's why I like truly do this show day in and day out. We don't miss a beat, right? Like we're going to go live every single weekday. We're going to continue to bring this content out there because it does make a difference, right? And if anybody is out there sitting on the fence about doing anything, you know, get out there and just start, right? Just start doing anything.
(02:49):
And that was kind of the, I presented at the sales summit on Saturday of the CIA conference and that was, you know, was a really good turnout for that, for being a Saturday and everything. And you know, I was talking about, you know, like training in sales reps at the end of the day inside of transportation, might I add, because it was, you know, that's all I really know. And you know, I was talking about the fundamentals of it, right? And I feel like it's so overwhelming when you're out there trying to do anything repeatedly, right? And there's, you know, for me it, you know, I gave out some examples and a lot of what I do is, you know, when I'm training anybody, especially when it comes down to a sales rep, it's more about finding that baseline, right?
(03:38):
Like what is their baseline and what are those outputs that they can do every single day in and day out, repeatedly, without fail. And that's a very hard thing to do at times, right? Because it's like, you know, I, I'm not the big yes, motivation is a real thing and stuff like that. But I'm motivations failed me more times than not, right? Because I'm motivated way less than it might seem at times. But what I have done over, you know, the last five years is I've just created discipline inside of my daily routine to make sure I'm getting my revenue generating activities completed no matter what. And some days are a lot easier than others to get those taken care of. But you know, I, I have to show up and do that, right?
(04:25):
Like, I have to be focused on how do I move the needle forward and every single day to get more revenue on the board. Because that's, you know, the name of the game, right? I'm an unapologetic capitalist. I want to build a successful company. I want to build a very large and successful company that can positively impact lives. And I deduce it down to if I don't put in the work on a daily basis, that's never going to happen. But I also don't pay attention to where I'm not. I pay attention to where am I right now and how do I get to that next step, right? Like what's that next step in this journey in building up my business. And for me it's always around revenue generating activities, right? It's cold calls. And I talked about this, right?
(05:07):
And I'm not sitting here knocking any other mode or way of doing things. But I have personally found that cold calling and site visits are the most effective way for my company to develop business out there inside of the transportation industry. And you got to find what works. And I've tried the other things and it wasn't working for me. And I truly believe in simplifying and streamlining a lot of this stuff, right? I simplify it in the way of like I want to do the exact same thing day in and day out. I want to build that muscle memory up so I don't really forget what I'm trying to do and I follow that routine and it's worked, right? It's working really well for us and we're going to continue down that path.
(05:53):
So I would say for anybody out there that is, you know, struggling on like just doing it day in and day out, we, you need to start somewhere, right? And I believe in, I, I believe in starting like again, find that base point, right? Like if it's 30 calls a day, every single day, do 30 calls every single day no matter what. On the days you're feeling really motivated and you want to rock out 40, but you better make 30 the next day no matter what. And you can't negotiate with yourself, right? Like you can't get to a point to where you're like, oh, I did 45 this day. I'm only going to make, you know, 15 the next day because I banked a couple extra, you can't do that, right? It is so detrimental in the long run to flip flop, right?
(06:38):
So it's like for me, if you're, if your number is 30, make 30 every single day. If you go above it, awesome. But make sure the next day when you come in, you're going to do 30 cold calls and then you build up a framework around it. And then for me it's like you track the amount of time it takes you to do said tasks, right? Like if I'm just calling, if I have no other things going on in my day and I'm just calling, I can get like 30 calls done in an hour. Now, right, but it wasn't always that way. When I started, you know, last year, in June of June or July of 2024, when I was like, hey, we're jumping and we're jumping back on the phone, we're going to make this happen.
(07:15):
It took me a lot longer to get those calls in the day. And that's where I find the progress in it, right? So it's like after you know, say you start your numbers, 30 calls might take you three hours, right? It might take you three hours to get those 30 calls in a day. But after you've been doing it for an extended period of time, eventually it gets more efficient, right? Like maybe it gets down to an hour and a half or two hours and then you add a little bit more onto that and then you build it up, right? And again, it's all about that long term progress. And like I was mentioning in my talk on Saturday, I'm always about like just small incremental bumps, right? So maybe you just add five.
(07:54):
That's what I personally do when I get efficient in it and I get that top those calls down between like an hour or an hour and a half or whatever that looks like, then I add five onto that and I do that again now, right? So now I'm 35 calls in a day, for example. And now it, you know, might be back up to taking you two hours because you feel a little bit of anxiety and everything else that comes along with it. And then after you've been doing it for an extended period of time, you get a little bit more efficient and then you add a little bit more on top of that.
(08:25):
And before you know it, you're upped into the, you know, 50s, mid-50s, you know, calls in a day and that's where I found that I can be the Most effective is 55 cold calls in a day on top of the freight that we're moving, on top of all the other stuff that I do, you know, with the show and everything. And that's just my number that I stick with. And I know that if I do that day in and day out, we will be successful in the long term. And that's what it is. It's about that long term habit. It's about that long term. I'm going to do this whether I feel like it or not. And trust me, I don't feel like doing most shit that I do on a daily basis every single day.
(09:01):
But I do it because I've built it up enough over an extended period of time to where I can't not do it at this point. Right. It is too ingrained in my day to day. And I know that is just what's necessary to get this business off the ground and running. And, you know, my company, we have. We've experienced success with that. So, you know, and I think that, you know, everything that we're doing, though, at the end of the day, nothing that we're doing is special. We're just doing we. What others aren't going to be willing to do over an extended period of time. Because again, it's. Anybody can do anything when they feel like it, right? But it's. It's when you don't feel like it.
(09:36):
It's when the last thing that you want to do in that moment is the thing that, you know, you need to do. Whether it's cold calling or, you know, sending a sales email or, you know, having a difficult conversation, those are the most important things that you need to do. So that's kind of my thing with it, all right? And. And then just. Just because, you know, at the end of the day, you guys, we all get rejected. We all get told no. Every. Everybody's good until they're not, right? And that's just one thing that I keep in the back of my mind as I'm going out there and trying to develop business. Everybody is good until they're not. And I think that if you take that approach to it, because again, I don't take it personally when they reject my. Me on.
(10:15):
On the phone. It. It's not. Doesn't mean I'm a bad father. It doesn't mean I'm a bad husband or a bad person or anything like that. They just don't need my services right now. Okay? So what. But how do I get a win out of this? And from my perspective, it is. It's all about getting that next call, right? So a little internal process that I. I will follow on there. So it's like if they're telling me, hey, we're good right now, for example, it's like, all right, perfect. So from there, if they're good right now, when's a good time that I can follow up with them? Or I'll even go as far asking, do they want to. Do you just want us to remove you from your list? And, you know, surprisingly, more times than not, they're cool with us following back up.
(11:02):
They're just good right now. In the moment. Imagine, you know, you took that and your day fell apart because somebody told you no. And then it turns out that it's just a no right now. They're like, hey man, we get how things are. We just don't need you and that's fine. And I always try and like add that in there too. Like, I, I understand how the market's performing is. Can I call you back? Right, like, and I'm not going to say next week or next month or anything like that, but it's about 60 days out. In the future, I want to show that I'm being respectful of their time. They're not just sitting around and waiting for us to call them on a daily basis, right? They get bombarded every single day with inbound solicitations.
(11:43):
And I'm gonna go over a couple of things that I will follow throughout my day, right? So it's like I'm blocking out time. So one thing that I would do, if you're struggling to make your calls, you know, because your, you know, paralysis analysis sets in and that's a big killer for a lot of people, is that paralysis by analysis, right, you're gonna sit there and you're gonna think it is so much more complex than we really need to do, right? But I do timers and everything else. You should be able to find out everything you need to know about a prospect before you call them within two to three minutes of going to their website. You should find out everything you need to know. This ultimately, you guys, is why I am that one trick pony, open deck, heavy haul, that's it.
(12:28):
I don't do ltl. I don't do any of that stuff because I want repeatable, I want scalable. I want to have the exact same conversation day in and day out with people. So I know that because again, it's a numbers game, right? So it's like when I get that and I go in there, so I have my, you know, my research done on there, right? And then I build up that list and obviously the first time I go through a new lead list, it's going to take me a little bit longer than the second and third time that I go through with follow ups and everything because I'm putting that initial research out there with it, right? So it's like we find what, who we're going after. We set our, you know, so step one, set your sales calls number for the day, right?
(13:07):
We'll just go with 30. Just to be. Just to be simple. All right, now you block off time on your calendar. All right? I am a like, rip the band aid off right when I walk in. I don't want to give myself any opportunity to not make a call, so I will jump in right away. So I set up blocks of time on my calendar. So step one, what is your calls for the. You know, that you're going to hit every single day, so we're going to go with 30. Step two, block off time on your calendar. If you're anything like me, rip the band aid off and do it right away. So I do my. Pretty much my first hour and a half of the day, maybe, you know, no less than my first hour of the day.
(13:45):
I am making cold calls out there, and I'm following up and doing all of that. So I have. I, you know, I set my call number and then I have my set times on my schedule. So I'll block it before my show, and then I'm going to knock out the rest of it after my show because I am a firm believer that early bird gets the worm, and I want to get ahead of it. And as the day progresses, things happen. I get busy doing other things, responding to emails, texts, and everything. But I can't get too busy to make my sales, so I try and block off time to do that. So I ensure that I hit that number every single day, no matter what. And, you know, when I'm calling people, okay, so we have that. We have the times blocked off.
(14:26):
And then when I'm calling people, for the. For the most part, you guys, it's like, if I was to put a percentage out there, I would say the overwhelm, it's at least 85% of the time, it goes straight to voicemail, right? I would say 10% of the time, it's going to, like, there's going to be a gatekeeper who answers the phone, and then 5% of the time, there's just no answer at all. Right? So I just look at it as. The probability of you getting somebody on the phone is slim to none. I think I made 20. Yeah, I've made 25 cold calls this morning because we had a bunch of freight moving and I was out of the office. So I'm a little bit behind coming into it today.
(15:06):
But out of the 25 cold calls that I made you guys, I think I talked to three people, three gatekeepers this morning. All right? So I don't know the stats of that off of hand, but that's a pretty standard day. You know, you're going to get a lot of no answers. You're going to get a lot of press 3 for shipping, voicemail full. Nobody's going to pick up the phone entirely, which, you know, that's a conversation for another day. I don't know how a business never answers their phone. But you know, the reality is it's simple, right? When I'm calling somebody, I use my opening line as my voicemail and it's a way for me to practice that. And it's simple. It's like, hey, my name is Chris. I'm, you know, I'm going to introduce myself. The.
(15:50):
The why, like the who and the why I'm calling somebody and then like that action item, right? Like at the end of the day I'm just calling to introduce myself. And that's as simple as it is. This is who we are. We specialize in full truckload open deck transportation. I'm really just reaching out today to introduce ourselves. If you do get the decision maker on the phone, they're going to be like, okay. And then from there again, I have their website up and everything. I've done my research. Hey, with your product I want to bring up something specific about the loading or the offloading process of that only somebody who actually knows what they're talking about is going to bring up. So I bring that up right there.
(16:27):
And again, it's just more of like I'm just trying to establish any small ounce of hey, I know what I'm talking about. Because the reality is they're not going to give you the business first. And it's mainly setting myself up for that follow up, right? It's setting myself up for them to be like, hey man, just shoot us over your information, whatever that looks like. All right? Because that's ultimately how a lot of it goes is if the gatekeeper answers the phone and you know, and you can complete a sentence when you're talking, chances are they're going to pass you through or they're going to provide you an email address to send. And then if you get the actual decision maker on the phone again. There's been a few instances where I've had some really good conversations with some people.
(17:07):
They were good right now and they told me that right away, but we ended up talking for like 10 to 15 minutes again. I want them to think of me first when their current network fails. That's the biggest thing that I'm trying to do. I'm Trying to position myself as a subject matter expert out there to when their current network drops the ball, they are going to think of Chris Jolly in that moment, okay? And that is all that is my only exact anticipation or, you know, expectation, excuse me, on what we need to do on the very first call that when I'm reaching out to people because it is as simple as that, right?
(17:48):
We don't need to overcomplicate this, all right, at the end of the day, because the reality is you got like 10 seconds and if you can't introduce yourself in a clear and concise manner on that very first phone call, they're just going to hang up on you. But rest assured, you guys, they're not going to remember you, okay? They're not. You are not that important to them in their life, just like I'm not important to them in their life. There's a high, high probability in their personal life. They got some going on that's distracting them in that moment, right? So I'm bringing all of this up not to say you, the individual do not matter because that is not the case at all.
(18:27):
But to that prospect that you just botched that inbound for the first time on, they're not going to remember you guys in 12 seconds after they hang up the phone with you, okay? So keep that in mind. I lose my train of thought to you guys because I'm a person, all right? I am a normal human being. I lose my train of thought at times. I don't remember what I'm saying sometimes. So guess what? I wait a couple of weeks and I'm going to call them back. And that's all that it is, right? Like there are so many people who are reaching out to them. And I'm saying this in a way to just let it come across as this. You guys do not let a couple of bad calls deter you from getting to your goal for the day, right?
(19:08):
And another thing, just focus on the day. Don't come in on a Monday and say you're at, you know, 30 calls a day for five days. That's, that's your goal, right? And then don't look at it as I got to make 150 calls this week. Just look at it as I got to make 30. And if you're just getting started out, focus on 10, all right? Focus on just making 10 calls. Once you get those 10 calls in, maybe take a breather, do some push ups at your desk, fill up your coffee, do whatever it is. But, but what's important is in that, that those 10 calls, set aside 30 minutes on your schedule or an hour on your schedule to make sure you hit that. And do not leave your desk until you hit that number. That number, okay?
(19:51):
Do not leave your desk at all. Hit that number. Because when you're just starting out, a lot of stuff is going to feel overwhelming and a lot of people want to talk about all this high level crap. Well, guess what? You can't ever get there unless you start doing the fundamentals, the blocking and the tackling day in and day out without fail. Okay? That's what you need to focus on way more times than not. Because you can't skip, all right? You can't skip to the finish line, all right? You can't. If you're running a marathon, you can't just miraculously show up at mile 26.1 and get it done there out there, right? So just focus on that, you guys. Focus on the fundamentals and the building blocks and everything that I'm saying today.
(20:32):
It might not work for you, but you got to find what works for you. Because what is a universal rule of truth for business development is you have to actually put in the work. You guys, you can't think about it. Eventually you got to rip the band aid off. Eventually you got to jump in and just make things happen. Okay? That's what you got to do. And that's where you need to focus on. Hold on, you guys, I got a quote that just came through here. Let me see. See you guys. Why you guys tune in? Because your boy is actually slanging freight every single day here. And we got to put this quote in. All right? And okay, so just replied because I'm all about replying to customers within a couple of minutes.
(21:33):
And guess who I'm going to use to quote this right here, you guys, Green screens. I use them for literally every single load I move inside of my operation is quoted through green screen. So go check them out, you guys. But, you know, back to what were saying, ultimately here, you just gotta start, you gotta look at where you're not. Don't focus on it for the long term. But if you want to get any traction at all, you guys, you, like, think a little bit less. A really good book that has helped frame some things up in my head about it is called the Alter Ego. I would highly recommend picking that book up and reading it. And a lot of it is because, you know why sales, I think in cold calling brings a lot of anxiety. Is.
(22:22):
Is you feel the insecurities that you feel about yourself in the moment, I will just come out and say it. That's one thing that bothered me for a very long time. Right? And it's the truth. So. But from there, the book, the Alter Ego, helped me frame some stuff out. And I would highly recommend reading it because again, it's not you the individual, you know, it's not you the father, the husband, the wife, the mother, the sister. None of that stuff. It's not that at all, you guys. It's just the actual catching them at the wrong moment more times than not. So that is what I think stops a lot of people from developing business and then continuing to go through it, Right? Because again, anybody can do this one time when they feel like it.
(23:08):
Everybody's good when they're motivated to do what's in front of them and they're going to feel all of that confidence on the phone that they get. But how do you show up when you've been told no, 900 straight times, obviously that's an over exaggeration. And when you've been hung up on and everything else, which happens when way, way less than you would think, at least for me, you guys. And again, you know, those, all those what if they yell at me conversations, it's not happening at all, you know, at least not for me. And I, and I honestly break it down to the fact that I am prepared when I call somebody, I am not there to waste their time. I am clear and concise in why I'm calling them. All right? If they ask what's the purpose of my call, I.
(23:57):
I am legitimately telling them this is 100% a sales call. And I'm just calling to introduce myself because at the end of the day, if they're in the middle of something, if it's something that is not that important to them in the moment, I don't want to leave a bad taste in their mouth in any way that I can control. And again, I just believe in brutal honesty and upfront transparency with it. And when you do get through with somebody, you know, just there better be a good reason why you're calling them. And if you lose your train of thought and they get hung and you get hung up on, guess what? They're not going to remember you guys 5 seconds after you call. So give it a. Give it a breather. I wouldn't recommend calling him back immediately.
(24:36):
Give it a breather and then just touch base with them, all right? Follow up with them and it's not as scary as you think. All right? We make up way more in our heads about all of this stuff and what we think is going to happen way more than act what actually happens. All right? And I will always break it down. I have had exponentially more positive interactions with my prospects out there because I am prepared, all right? I am prepared. I practice my pitch. I mean, you guys would literally think I was a psychopath if you followed me around or if I strapped a GoPro to my chest and walked around all day long, because I would legitimately. I talk to myself a lot, right? But I'm practicing my pitch.
(25:17):
I'm practicing different scenarios of when somebody answers the phone or whatever happens out there on the cold call. So I'm more prepared for it in the moment, and I'm not losing my train of thought out there. So, you know, you guys, that's where I would start ultimately. But, you know, at the end of the day, the most important thing is you need to start. We all suck right away, all right? We're all lose our train of thought. At least I will, right? And if. If you're out there and you're like, just know that I've done all of that and I feel all of those emotions, whatever emotions you are feeling before you go out there and start dialing. I felt them and I feel them. All right? I will just openly admit it, all right?
(25:54):
Some people want to put on this facade that they're perfect. I'm not. I am a dumpster fire some days. But guess what? Through time, through a lot of hard work, I have built up that routine and that formula that I follow every single day to move that revenue needle forward. Because you don't get rich quick in anything. It takes time. And then eventually you start getting some growth, and then you pour gasoline on the fire, and then that's when the explosion happens and you start blowing up, because you've been following it for a very, very long time. But that is going to be it for today, ladies and gentlemen. I gotta jump back in it. We have guests coming on this week pretty much every single day, I'm pretty sure. Yeah, literally every single day this week. We have guests coming on.
(26:40):
But as always, you guys, if you guys got value in what you heard, subscribe to the show. For everybody who stopped me in San Antonio, thank you. All right. Those are those conversations that I have are what keeps me going. All right? Is what keeps me going day in and day out. Because I know that people are listening and I know that people are getting value out of it. And ultimately, that's all I want to do. I just want to help people at the end of the day, and that's what I'm going to continue to do day in and day out on this show. So if you got value, subscribe to the show.
(27:13):
If you're feeling really ambitious after this one, which you should, because I just gave you a nice, easy framework to follow to increase your sales output, rank the show on itunes and Spotify. If you think it's five stars, give it a five stars. Because ultimately, if you saw value, that's how your network's going to see value as well. I appreciate you guys. I love you guys. And we'll be talking to.
Came back with a bank window down yelling now money anything hey oh Got the foot on the gas pedal to the metal when I'm get to the back hey Got the foot on the gas pedal to the metal when the lane moving fast hey Let them all cross if they hate then let them made them make a bigger boss hey. What is up, ladies and gentlemen? We are back. We are live. It is the Freight Coach Podcast, the top podcast in transportation coming to you guys every single weekday, 8:30am Pacific, 10:30 Central, to break down some industry headlines. But most importantly, you guys provide some actual insight into what you can do with all of this information. If this is your first time tuning in, welcome. This is the real side of freight, ladies and gentlemen. And I say that before every single show.
(00:50):
And what I mean by that is I only speak with transportation professionals because at the end of the day, you guys, I want to talk to the right individuals who have done what you're looking to do or who are currently doing what you're trying to achieve, so you can take that information, apply it, utilize it, and see a meaningful difference in your business and your life. Happy Monday, everybody. It is great to be back in the desert, man. It was. Being out on the road for an extended period of time is never easy. But. But when you're out on the road and you're jumping between multiple cities and everything like that also is not easy at all.
(01:23):
But, you know, at the end of the day, you guys, we got to do whatever it takes to make this stuff work, and that's what we are going to do. But yeah. So just kind of a little quick recap on everything, you guys. We were down to TIA Capital Ideas Conference in San Antonio last week. And you know, it is. It's always great to be out in front of people, right? And, you know, I put a post out there this morning about this. And you truly never know the impact that you're having on others until you're out there face to face, right? Meeting countless people this week who, you know, stopped me and, you know, said that they watch the show all the time and what the show's done for them and their business and, you know, how it's helped clarify some things.
(02:10):
And, you know, one guy making it feel, you know, he came up and said he's like, man, it's just great to feel like that. Like they're not alone in all the struggles and everything else that they go through inside of building up their business and everything. So it Is, you know, like I said, you never know the impact that you're having on others. And that's why I like truly do this show day in and day out. We don't miss a beat, right? Like we're going to go live every single weekday. We're going to continue to bring this content out there because it does make a difference, right? And if anybody is out there sitting on the fence about doing anything, you know, get out there and just start, right? Just start doing anything.
(02:49):
And that was kind of the, I presented at the sales summit on Saturday of the CIA conference and that was, you know, was a really good turnout for that, for being a Saturday and everything. And you know, I was talking about, you know, like training in sales reps at the end of the day inside of transportation, might I add, because it was, you know, that's all I really know. And you know, I was talking about the fundamentals of it, right? And I feel like it's so overwhelming when you're out there trying to do anything repeatedly, right? And there's, you know, for me it, you know, I gave out some examples and a lot of what I do is, you know, when I'm training anybody, especially when it comes down to a sales rep, it's more about finding that baseline, right?
(03:38):
Like what is their baseline and what are those outputs that they can do every single day in and day out, repeatedly, without fail. And that's a very hard thing to do at times, right? Because it's like, you know, I, I'm not the big yes, motivation is a real thing and stuff like that. But I'm motivations failed me more times than not, right? Because I'm motivated way less than it might seem at times. But what I have done over, you know, the last five years is I've just created discipline inside of my daily routine to make sure I'm getting my revenue generating activities completed no matter what. And some days are a lot easier than others to get those taken care of. But you know, I, I have to show up and do that, right?
(04:25):
Like, I have to be focused on how do I move the needle forward and every single day to get more revenue on the board. Because that's, you know, the name of the game, right? I'm an unapologetic capitalist. I want to build a successful company. I want to build a very large and successful company that can positively impact lives. And I deduce it down to if I don't put in the work on a daily basis, that's never going to happen. But I also don't pay attention to where I'm not. I pay attention to where am I right now and how do I get to that next step, right? Like what's that next step in this journey in building up my business. And for me it's always around revenue generating activities, right? It's cold calls. And I talked about this, right?
(05:07):
And I'm not sitting here knocking any other mode or way of doing things. But I have personally found that cold calling and site visits are the most effective way for my company to develop business out there inside of the transportation industry. And you got to find what works. And I've tried the other things and it wasn't working for me. And I truly believe in simplifying and streamlining a lot of this stuff, right? I simplify it in the way of like I want to do the exact same thing day in and day out. I want to build that muscle memory up so I don't really forget what I'm trying to do and I follow that routine and it's worked, right? It's working really well for us and we're going to continue down that path.
(05:53):
So I would say for anybody out there that is, you know, struggling on like just doing it day in and day out, we, you need to start somewhere, right? And I believe in, I, I believe in starting like again, find that base point, right? Like if it's 30 calls a day, every single day, do 30 calls every single day no matter what. On the days you're feeling really motivated and you want to rock out 40, but you better make 30 the next day no matter what. And you can't negotiate with yourself, right? Like you can't get to a point to where you're like, oh, I did 45 this day. I'm only going to make, you know, 15 the next day because I banked a couple extra, you can't do that, right? It is so detrimental in the long run to flip flop, right?
(06:38):
So it's like for me, if you're, if your number is 30, make 30 every single day. If you go above it, awesome. But make sure the next day when you come in, you're going to do 30 cold calls and then you build up a framework around it. And then for me it's like you track the amount of time it takes you to do said tasks, right? Like if I'm just calling, if I have no other things going on in my day and I'm just calling, I can get like 30 calls done in an hour. Now, right, but it wasn't always that way. When I started, you know, last year, in June of June or July of 2024, when I was like, hey, we're jumping and we're jumping back on the phone, we're going to make this happen.
(07:15):
It took me a lot longer to get those calls in the day. And that's where I find the progress in it, right? So it's like after you know, say you start your numbers, 30 calls might take you three hours, right? It might take you three hours to get those 30 calls in a day. But after you've been doing it for an extended period of time, eventually it gets more efficient, right? Like maybe it gets down to an hour and a half or two hours and then you add a little bit more onto that and then you build it up, right? And again, it's all about that long term progress. And like I was mentioning in my talk on Saturday, I'm always about like just small incremental bumps, right? So maybe you just add five.
(07:54):
That's what I personally do when I get efficient in it and I get that top those calls down between like an hour or an hour and a half or whatever that looks like, then I add five onto that and I do that again now, right? So now I'm 35 calls in a day, for example. And now it, you know, might be back up to taking you two hours because you feel a little bit of anxiety and everything else that comes along with it. And then after you've been doing it for an extended period of time, you get a little bit more efficient and then you add a little bit more on top of that.
(08:25):
And before you know it, you're upped into the, you know, 50s, mid-50s, you know, calls in a day and that's where I found that I can be the Most effective is 55 cold calls in a day on top of the freight that we're moving, on top of all the other stuff that I do, you know, with the show and everything. And that's just my number that I stick with. And I know that if I do that day in and day out, we will be successful in the long term. And that's what it is. It's about that long term habit. It's about that long term. I'm going to do this whether I feel like it or not. And trust me, I don't feel like doing most shit that I do on a daily basis every single day.
(09:01):
But I do it because I've built it up enough over an extended period of time to where I can't not do it at this point. Right. It is too ingrained in my day to day. And I know that is just what's necessary to get this business off the ground and running. And, you know, my company, we have. We've experienced success with that. So, you know, and I think that, you know, everything that we're doing, though, at the end of the day, nothing that we're doing is special. We're just doing we. What others aren't going to be willing to do over an extended period of time. Because again, it's. Anybody can do anything when they feel like it, right? But it's. It's when you don't feel like it.
(09:36):
It's when the last thing that you want to do in that moment is the thing that, you know, you need to do. Whether it's cold calling or, you know, sending a sales email or, you know, having a difficult conversation, those are the most important things that you need to do. So that's kind of my thing with it, all right? And. And then just. Just because, you know, at the end of the day, you guys, we all get rejected. We all get told no. Every. Everybody's good until they're not, right? And that's just one thing that I keep in the back of my mind as I'm going out there and trying to develop business. Everybody is good until they're not. And I think that if you take that approach to it, because again, I don't take it personally when they reject my. Me on.
(10:15):
On the phone. It. It's not. Doesn't mean I'm a bad father. It doesn't mean I'm a bad husband or a bad person or anything like that. They just don't need my services right now. Okay? So what. But how do I get a win out of this? And from my perspective, it is. It's all about getting that next call, right? So a little internal process that I. I will follow on there. So it's like if they're telling me, hey, we're good right now, for example, it's like, all right, perfect. So from there, if they're good right now, when's a good time that I can follow up with them? Or I'll even go as far asking, do they want to. Do you just want us to remove you from your list? And, you know, surprisingly, more times than not, they're cool with us following back up.
(11:02):
They're just good right now. In the moment. Imagine, you know, you took that and your day fell apart because somebody told you no. And then it turns out that it's just a no right now. They're like, hey man, we get how things are. We just don't need you and that's fine. And I always try and like add that in there too. Like, I, I understand how the market's performing is. Can I call you back? Right, like, and I'm not going to say next week or next month or anything like that, but it's about 60 days out. In the future, I want to show that I'm being respectful of their time. They're not just sitting around and waiting for us to call them on a daily basis, right? They get bombarded every single day with inbound solicitations.
(11:43):
And I'm gonna go over a couple of things that I will follow throughout my day, right? So it's like I'm blocking out time. So one thing that I would do, if you're struggling to make your calls, you know, because your, you know, paralysis analysis sets in and that's a big killer for a lot of people, is that paralysis by analysis, right, you're gonna sit there and you're gonna think it is so much more complex than we really need to do, right? But I do timers and everything else. You should be able to find out everything you need to know about a prospect before you call them within two to three minutes of going to their website. You should find out everything you need to know. This ultimately, you guys, is why I am that one trick pony, open deck, heavy haul, that's it.
(12:28):
I don't do ltl. I don't do any of that stuff because I want repeatable, I want scalable. I want to have the exact same conversation day in and day out with people. So I know that because again, it's a numbers game, right? So it's like when I get that and I go in there, so I have my, you know, my research done on there, right? And then I build up that list and obviously the first time I go through a new lead list, it's going to take me a little bit longer than the second and third time that I go through with follow ups and everything because I'm putting that initial research out there with it, right? So it's like we find what, who we're going after. We set our, you know, so step one, set your sales calls number for the day, right?
(13:07):
We'll just go with 30. Just to be. Just to be simple. All right, now you block off time on your calendar. All right? I am a like, rip the band aid off right when I walk in. I don't want to give myself any opportunity to not make a call, so I will jump in right away. So I set up blocks of time on my calendar. So step one, what is your calls for the. You know, that you're going to hit every single day, so we're going to go with 30. Step two, block off time on your calendar. If you're anything like me, rip the band aid off and do it right away. So I do my. Pretty much my first hour and a half of the day, maybe, you know, no less than my first hour of the day.
(13:45):
I am making cold calls out there, and I'm following up and doing all of that. So I have. I, you know, I set my call number and then I have my set times on my schedule. So I'll block it before my show, and then I'm going to knock out the rest of it after my show because I am a firm believer that early bird gets the worm, and I want to get ahead of it. And as the day progresses, things happen. I get busy doing other things, responding to emails, texts, and everything. But I can't get too busy to make my sales, so I try and block off time to do that. So I ensure that I hit that number every single day, no matter what. And, you know, when I'm calling people, okay, so we have that. We have the times blocked off.
(14:26):
And then when I'm calling people, for the. For the most part, you guys, it's like, if I was to put a percentage out there, I would say the overwhelm, it's at least 85% of the time, it goes straight to voicemail, right? I would say 10% of the time, it's going to, like, there's going to be a gatekeeper who answers the phone, and then 5% of the time, there's just no answer at all. Right? So I just look at it as. The probability of you getting somebody on the phone is slim to none. I think I made 20. Yeah, I've made 25 cold calls this morning because we had a bunch of freight moving and I was out of the office. So I'm a little bit behind coming into it today.
(15:06):
But out of the 25 cold calls that I made you guys, I think I talked to three people, three gatekeepers this morning. All right? So I don't know the stats of that off of hand, but that's a pretty standard day. You know, you're going to get a lot of no answers. You're going to get a lot of press 3 for shipping, voicemail full. Nobody's going to pick up the phone entirely, which, you know, that's a conversation for another day. I don't know how a business never answers their phone. But you know, the reality is it's simple, right? When I'm calling somebody, I use my opening line as my voicemail and it's a way for me to practice that. And it's simple. It's like, hey, my name is Chris. I'm, you know, I'm going to introduce myself. The.
(15:50):
The why, like the who and the why I'm calling somebody and then like that action item, right? Like at the end of the day I'm just calling to introduce myself. And that's as simple as it is. This is who we are. We specialize in full truckload open deck transportation. I'm really just reaching out today to introduce ourselves. If you do get the decision maker on the phone, they're going to be like, okay. And then from there again, I have their website up and everything. I've done my research. Hey, with your product I want to bring up something specific about the loading or the offloading process of that only somebody who actually knows what they're talking about is going to bring up. So I bring that up right there.
(16:27):
And again, it's just more of like I'm just trying to establish any small ounce of hey, I know what I'm talking about. Because the reality is they're not going to give you the business first. And it's mainly setting myself up for that follow up, right? It's setting myself up for them to be like, hey man, just shoot us over your information, whatever that looks like. All right? Because that's ultimately how a lot of it goes is if the gatekeeper answers the phone and you know, and you can complete a sentence when you're talking, chances are they're going to pass you through or they're going to provide you an email address to send. And then if you get the actual decision maker on the phone again. There's been a few instances where I've had some really good conversations with some people.
(17:07):
They were good right now and they told me that right away, but we ended up talking for like 10 to 15 minutes again. I want them to think of me first when their current network fails. That's the biggest thing that I'm trying to do. I'm Trying to position myself as a subject matter expert out there to when their current network drops the ball, they are going to think of Chris Jolly in that moment, okay? And that is all that is my only exact anticipation or, you know, expectation, excuse me, on what we need to do on the very first call that when I'm reaching out to people because it is as simple as that, right?
(17:48):
We don't need to overcomplicate this, all right, at the end of the day, because the reality is you got like 10 seconds and if you can't introduce yourself in a clear and concise manner on that very first phone call, they're just going to hang up on you. But rest assured, you guys, they're not going to remember you, okay? They're not. You are not that important to them in their life, just like I'm not important to them in their life. There's a high, high probability in their personal life. They got some going on that's distracting them in that moment, right? So I'm bringing all of this up not to say you, the individual do not matter because that is not the case at all.
(18:27):
But to that prospect that you just botched that inbound for the first time on, they're not going to remember you guys in 12 seconds after they hang up the phone with you, okay? So keep that in mind. I lose my train of thought to you guys because I'm a person, all right? I am a normal human being. I lose my train of thought at times. I don't remember what I'm saying sometimes. So guess what? I wait a couple of weeks and I'm going to call them back. And that's all that it is, right? Like there are so many people who are reaching out to them. And I'm saying this in a way to just let it come across as this. You guys do not let a couple of bad calls deter you from getting to your goal for the day, right?
(19:08):
And another thing, just focus on the day. Don't come in on a Monday and say you're at, you know, 30 calls a day for five days. That's, that's your goal, right? And then don't look at it as I got to make 150 calls this week. Just look at it as I got to make 30. And if you're just getting started out, focus on 10, all right? Focus on just making 10 calls. Once you get those 10 calls in, maybe take a breather, do some push ups at your desk, fill up your coffee, do whatever it is. But, but what's important is in that, that those 10 calls, set aside 30 minutes on your schedule or an hour on your schedule to make sure you hit that. And do not leave your desk until you hit that number. That number, okay?
(19:51):
Do not leave your desk at all. Hit that number. Because when you're just starting out, a lot of stuff is going to feel overwhelming and a lot of people want to talk about all this high level crap. Well, guess what? You can't ever get there unless you start doing the fundamentals, the blocking and the tackling day in and day out without fail. Okay? That's what you need to focus on way more times than not. Because you can't skip, all right? You can't skip to the finish line, all right? You can't. If you're running a marathon, you can't just miraculously show up at mile 26.1 and get it done there out there, right? So just focus on that, you guys. Focus on the fundamentals and the building blocks and everything that I'm saying today.
(20:32):
It might not work for you, but you got to find what works for you. Because what is a universal rule of truth for business development is you have to actually put in the work. You guys, you can't think about it. Eventually you got to rip the band aid off. Eventually you got to jump in and just make things happen. Okay? That's what you got to do. And that's where you need to focus on. Hold on, you guys, I got a quote that just came through here. Let me see. See you guys. Why you guys tune in? Because your boy is actually slanging freight every single day here. And we got to put this quote in. All right? And okay, so just replied because I'm all about replying to customers within a couple of minutes.
(21:33):
And guess who I'm going to use to quote this right here, you guys, Green screens. I use them for literally every single load I move inside of my operation is quoted through green screen. So go check them out, you guys. But, you know, back to what were saying, ultimately here, you just gotta start, you gotta look at where you're not. Don't focus on it for the long term. But if you want to get any traction at all, you guys, you, like, think a little bit less. A really good book that has helped frame some things up in my head about it is called the Alter Ego. I would highly recommend picking that book up and reading it. And a lot of it is because, you know why sales, I think in cold calling brings a lot of anxiety. Is.
(22:22):
Is you feel the insecurities that you feel about yourself in the moment, I will just come out and say it. That's one thing that bothered me for a very long time. Right? And it's the truth. So. But from there, the book, the Alter Ego, helped me frame some stuff out. And I would highly recommend reading it because again, it's not you the individual, you know, it's not you the father, the husband, the wife, the mother, the sister. None of that stuff. It's not that at all, you guys. It's just the actual catching them at the wrong moment more times than not. So that is what I think stops a lot of people from developing business and then continuing to go through it, Right? Because again, anybody can do this one time when they feel like it.
(23:08):
Everybody's good when they're motivated to do what's in front of them and they're going to feel all of that confidence on the phone that they get. But how do you show up when you've been told no, 900 straight times, obviously that's an over exaggeration. And when you've been hung up on and everything else, which happens when way, way less than you would think, at least for me, you guys. And again, you know, those, all those what if they yell at me conversations, it's not happening at all, you know, at least not for me. And I, and I honestly break it down to the fact that I am prepared when I call somebody, I am not there to waste their time. I am clear and concise in why I'm calling them. All right? If they ask what's the purpose of my call, I.
(23:57):
I am legitimately telling them this is 100% a sales call. And I'm just calling to introduce myself because at the end of the day, if they're in the middle of something, if it's something that is not that important to them in the moment, I don't want to leave a bad taste in their mouth in any way that I can control. And again, I just believe in brutal honesty and upfront transparency with it. And when you do get through with somebody, you know, just there better be a good reason why you're calling them. And if you lose your train of thought and they get hung and you get hung up on, guess what? They're not going to remember you guys 5 seconds after you call. So give it a. Give it a breather. I wouldn't recommend calling him back immediately.
(24:36):
Give it a breather and then just touch base with them, all right? Follow up with them and it's not as scary as you think. All right? We make up way more in our heads about all of this stuff and what we think is going to happen way more than act what actually happens. All right? And I will always break it down. I have had exponentially more positive interactions with my prospects out there because I am prepared, all right? I am prepared. I practice my pitch. I mean, you guys would literally think I was a psychopath if you followed me around or if I strapped a GoPro to my chest and walked around all day long, because I would legitimately. I talk to myself a lot, right? But I'm practicing my pitch.
(25:17):
I'm practicing different scenarios of when somebody answers the phone or whatever happens out there on the cold call. So I'm more prepared for it in the moment, and I'm not losing my train of thought out there. So, you know, you guys, that's where I would start ultimately. But, you know, at the end of the day, the most important thing is you need to start. We all suck right away, all right? We're all lose our train of thought. At least I will, right? And if. If you're out there and you're like, just know that I've done all of that and I feel all of those emotions, whatever emotions you are feeling before you go out there and start dialing. I felt them and I feel them. All right? I will just openly admit it, all right?
(25:54):
Some people want to put on this facade that they're perfect. I'm not. I am a dumpster fire some days. But guess what? Through time, through a lot of hard work, I have built up that routine and that formula that I follow every single day to move that revenue needle forward. Because you don't get rich quick in anything. It takes time. And then eventually you start getting some growth, and then you pour gasoline on the fire, and then that's when the explosion happens and you start blowing up, because you've been following it for a very, very long time. But that is going to be it for today, ladies and gentlemen. I gotta jump back in it. We have guests coming on this week pretty much every single day, I'm pretty sure. Yeah, literally every single day this week. We have guests coming on.
(26:40):
But as always, you guys, if you guys got value in what you heard, subscribe to the show. For everybody who stopped me in San Antonio, thank you. All right. Those are those conversations that I have are what keeps me going. All right? Is what keeps me going day in and day out. Because I know that people are listening and I know that people are getting value out of it. And ultimately, that's all I want to do. I just want to help people at the end of the day, and that's what I'm going to continue to do day in and day out on this show. So if you got value, subscribe to the show.
(27:13):
If you're feeling really ambitious after this one, which you should, because I just gave you a nice, easy framework to follow to increase your sales output, rank the show on itunes and Spotify. If you think it's five stars, give it a five stars. Because ultimately, if you saw value, that's how your network's going to see value as well. I appreciate you guys. I love you guys. And we'll be talking to.
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