Everything is Logistics Blythe Brumleve

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In this episode, Blythe and Yikun Shao, Head of North America Supply Chain at Alibaba.com, discuss how the platform helps small and medium businesses with global sourcing and logistics. Shao highlights Alibaba's AI tools like language translation, image generation for product design, and logistics marketplace. He also details educational resources on trade compliance, managing cross-border shipping challenges, and navigating customs regulations.

LINKS:
Yikun's LinkedInAlibaba.com
QUOTES:


"Nearly two thirds of businesses they plan on increasing their reliance on online sourcing, and including those bigger and more established businesses." - Yikun Shao"Using AI capability can also handle real time inquiries from multiple areas and provide even in some instances provide some industry insights, so that our business buyers and sellers can make more informed decisions." - Yikun Shao"We recently launched a smart assistant tool to help facilitate RFQ transaction and communication aspects on our platform. One of the functions is real-time language translation when buyers and sellers are communicating through a video chat, it helps provide translation services in real-time to at least 17 different languages. Since this new RFQ feature has been introduced, it has driven a 29% increase in quotes from suppliers for small businesses." - Yikun Shao

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Are you experienced in freight sales or already an independent freight agent? Listen to our Freight Agent Trenches interview series powered by SPI Logistics to hear directly from the company's agents on how they took the leap and found a home with SPI freight agent program.


Tai TMS is designed to streamline your brokerage operations and propel growth for both FTL and LTL shipment cycles. Book a demo with the Tai team today and tell them Everything is Logistics sent you.

Maximize your website’s performance as a sales tool with Digital Dispatch’s website management.

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In this episode, Blythe and Jennifer Karpus-Romain, the Executive Director of the Transportation Marketing & Sales Association (TMSA), discuss the organization's 100-year history, digital transformation, and the upcoming ELEVATE 2024 conference in New Orleans from June 9-11, 2024. Jennifer also shares insights into TMSA's marketing strategies, award programs, and educational content designed to help logistics professionals enhance their marketing and sales skills. 


LINKS:
Jennifer's LinkedInTMSA TimelineTMSA ELEVATE Conference
(Use code Blythe24 so we score bonus points with the crew)
QUOTES:

"We have a benchmarking study. That's a sales and marketing survey that we do to our members and people in the industry. It tells you what is going on and sales marketing today what people are spending their budgets on. How many sales and marketing people do they have at their companies? That's always a question I get all the time. What are people outsourcing like? What are people keeping in house? What software's are they? What types of software are they using? Are they integrating their software's all that kind of stuff lives in that benchmarking study, and that's accessible only to members so it all lives inside the member portal." - Jennifer Karpus-Romain 

"Like when people are always like when you're starting new things like what what's your advice? And I'm like, well, like anytime you're starting new things you need to evaluate its actual purpose. And like half the people, especially as the marketing person, like you get thrown so many things and you're like what is the what is the point of this? Like, what how does this serve our business purpose?" - Jennifer Karpus-Romain

WATCH THE FULL EPISODE HERE
---------------------------------------------

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!


Are you experienced in freight sales or already an independent freight agent? Listen to our Freight Agent Trenches interview series powered by SPI Logistics to hear directly from the company's agents on how they took the leap and found a home with SPI freight agent program.


Tai TMS is designed to streamline your brokerage operations and propel growth for both FTL and LTL shipment cycles. Book a demo with the Tai team today and tell them Everything is Logistics sent you.

Maximize your website’s performance as a sales tool with Digital Dispatch’s website management.

Send us a Text Message.
In this episode, Mike Mikulik, VP of Marketing and Sales at SPI Logistics, offers an insider's perspective on the freight agent model. He and Blythe discuss topics like commission structures, technology tools, carrier vetting, and effective sales strategies. Whether you're considering becoming a freight agent or want to improve your current operations, this episode provides the information needed to navigate and thrive in the competitive logistics industry.

LINKS:
Mike's LinkedInEmail MikeSPI Freight Agent ProgramFrom Intern to Freight Agent: Tynan Guthrie's Journey to Building His Book of Business
WATCH THE FULL EPISODE HERE
---------------------------------------------

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!


Are you experienced in freight sales or already an independent freight agent? Listen to our Freight Agent Trenches interview series powered by SPI Logistics to hear directly from the company's agents on how they took the leap and found a home with SPI freight agent program.


Tai TMS is designed to streamline your brokerage operations and propel growth for both FTL and LTL shipment cycles. Book a demo with the Tai team today and tell them Everything is Logistics sent you.

Maximize your website’s performance as a sales tool with Digital Dispatch’s website management.

Send us a Text Message.
Join Grace Sharkey and Blythe for the latest installment of Freight Friends, where they unpack the current state of the freight market and its economic drivers. Discover cutting-edge business ideas like using drones to streamline warehouse inventory, leveraging digital twin technology for optimizing manufacturing, and implementing AI-driven phone systems for smoother logistics operations. Plus, don't miss their exploration of the logistics behind the diverse flavors in the booming snack industry and the hype surrounding themed movie theater popcorn buckets.


LINKS:
Grace’s LinktreeJB Hunt Q1 ReportGatherAIFreightwaves Future of Supply ChainTMSA’s ELEVATE Conference (Use code Blythe24)
QUOTES:
"A lot of brokers have been telling me produce season hasn't been picking up like it should. Again, I always like to kind of look at those around me whenever I want to kind of make a prediction of what's happening with the freight market or even more so what's happening possibly down the line." - Grace Sharkey"We have a broker that I inherited, and I swear each week, I get another email or call from a different rep. They're DMs, we are already a customer and he says it's very annoying." - Matt (quoted by Blythe)"What I think is really cool is this is a company that uses drones, computer vision from those drones to offer inventory management solutions for warehouses. So again, taking a giant warehouse and being able to send a drone out to read every item, take inventory, take all that data, bring it back to managers and figure out where they only want that they can." - Grace Sharkey (on Gather AI)"If you're buying a specialty flavor, Lay's chips it likely came from a factory that's two hours away and has been in business for 50 years with a local supply chain." - Ryan Harlan (quoted by Blythe)"Companies like Nestle think that this model of novelty is the future as they come back things like Ozempic Taking over where people are eating less." - Blythe Brumleve"Last summer AMC chief Adam Aaron predicted that 25,000 Special Edition Barbie Corvettes would sell out by the end of opening weekend at $35 a pop he was right that means nearly 1 million in revenue or about $875,000." - (Quote from Hollywood Reporter)
---------------------------------------------

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!


Are you experienced in freight sales or already an independent freight agent? Listen to our Freight Agent Trenches interview series powered by SPI Logistics to hear directly from the company's agents on how they took the leap and found a home with SPI freight agent program.


Tai TMS is designed to streamline your brokerage operations and propel growth for both FTL and LTL shipment cycles. Book a demo with the Tai team today and tell them Everything is Logistics sent you.

Maximize your website’s performance as a sales tool with Digital Dispatch’s website management.

Send us a Text Message.
In this episode, Justin Cramer, co-founder of ProShip, and Blythe discuss what it's like managing thousands of parcel shipments daily. He explains his transition from the Navy to logistics software, handling peak seasons across industries, and integrating carrier compliance updates. The episode also explores separating systems of record, the onboarding process for enterprise shippers, and how AI could enhance predictive transit time estimates based on weather, events, and other data.
LINKS:
Justin's LinkedInProShip's Website
WATCH THE FULL EPISODE HERE
---------------------------------------------

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!


Are you experienced in freight sales or already an independent freight agent? Listen to our Freight Agent Trenches interview series powered by SPI Logistics to hear directly from the company's agents on how they took the leap and found a home with SPI freight agent program.


Tai TMS is designed to streamline your brokerage operations and propel growth for both FTL and LTL shipment cycles. Book a demo with the Tai team today and tell them Everything is Logistics sent you.

Maximize your website’s performance as a sales tool with Digital Dispatch’s website management.

Send us a Text Message.
In this episode, Blythe speaks with Pablo Palafox, CEO of Happyrobot, about using AI-powered voice assistants to automate repetitive tasks in freight operations. They discuss Pablo's background in industrial engineering and computer science, and how Happy Robot's technology can free up logistics teams to focus on higher-value work, improving efficiency and customer service.

LINKS:
Pablo's LinkedInHappyrobot's websiteEmail Happyrobot
WATCH THE FULL EPISODE
---------------------------------------------

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!


Are you experienced in freight sales or already an independent freight agent? Listen to our Freight Agent Trenches interview series powered by SPI Logistics to hear directly from the company's agents on how they took the leap and found a home with SPI freight agent program.


Tai TMS is designed to streamline your brokerage operations and propel growth for both FTL and LTL shipment cycles. Book a demo with the Tai team today and tell them Everything is Logistics sent you.

Maximize your website’s performance as a sales tool with Digital Dispatch’s website management.