Today we will talk about how to get familiar with the work process as soon as possible and get started as a newcomer after entering the freight forwarding industry.
I won’t go into the clichés like “talk less and do more”, “be bold and careful” and “be humble and ask for advice”. They are all basic common sense and are applicable to all industries. I won’t go into details. Let’s get straight to the key points.
01 The most critical operation process
The most critical thing in freight forwarding operation is to master the operation process. The process links do not seem complicated. In fact, each link can be separated into several links. The knowledge points involved are many and complex, and the business progress changes at any time. The ability to operate and control the overall situation is very demanding. You need to grasp the time point of each link and complete the part of the process that needs to be completed before the cut-off point. Otherwise, if one step is slow, the next step will be slow, which will directly affect the subsequent links and give you trouble later. The operation work brings endless troubles.
for example.
For example, after receiving an entrustment from a customer and reviewing the entrustment without any problems, the first step is to book a space. There are only two words for "booking", but you need to do more than two steps:
- You need to make an inquiry based on the port of departure, port of destination, product name, and container quantity to see who has the best price and can meet all the customer's requirements, and then wait for the business to quote the customer and decide which ship to order;
- After deciding which ship to board, start placing orders and submit them to the shipping company to confirm the space. Sometimes shipping companies with good prices may not have the space, especially on routes that often have liquidated positions. At the end of the month, before the price of the route increases, Often, there are no positions for goods with good prices, and the prices for those with positions are not good. Customers often want goods to be shipped but also need good prices. Especially for goods that are in a hurry to ship out, bookings are late, and warehouses are liquidated, which often forces us to be generous. You are shameless and looking for shipping space everywhere, so you need to start early on routes that are prone to liquidation, and remind customers to order early to grab shipping space.
- At the same time, confirm the customer's specific requirements with the shipping company (for example, sometimes there are many requirements for foreign letters of credit, which need to be verified one by one, especially the requirements for the content displayed on the bill of lading). This link is crucial. If you If you accidentally miss a certain point, just wait for everything to happen later!
- At the same time, it is also necessary to verify the box usage in the yard, the customer’s expected arrival time, and comprehensively consider where to pack the boxes. Otherwise, it is useless to have space and no containers to load the goods. Especially during warehouse explosions, boxes are also prone to shortage. The shipping company doesn't care whether you have space to pack or whether there are boxes available. It only cares about the packing list and you have to do the rest yourself, so you need to do these tasks in advance to avoid causing trouble for yourself.
- Other matters that need to be confirmed together.
How about it?
This is only the first step in the operation process, but it requires you to go through all the processes and consider all subsequent links and all possible problems. If you are unsure about anything, you should go there immediately. Make sure that if you miss anything, you will not be able to eat it later. Really, I am not kidding, you have paid tuition for this.
02 How to master the operation process
First, you need to be patient and learn.
Generally, when we bring new people in, we will first pass over a bunch of business documents that we have worked on, and let you read them without saying anything. Don’t misunderstand this as the seniors being arrogant and rude to bully the new people. Reading the documents has always been the first step for new people to learn. , which is also the starting point for getting familiar with the business. Because business documents are bound in the order of the process, you will naturally discover this order if you flip through it a lot. Although you may not understand the ins and outs of these orders at this time, you will have a general impression in your mind. Wait for you to actually operate it. After confirming it with several transactions, you may suddenly understand what these processes are all about.
What needs to be reminded is that you must not think that you will understand the process just because you write it down. What you remember in your mind are just some meaningless words and phrases, which only stay on paper. Only after you actually operate them, these words and phrases will become clearer. will be automatically connected in your mind to form an operation assembly line. No matter which point you look at, the links before and after this point will automatically appear in your subconscious. This is really not memorized, it can only be understood through actual operation. Sometimes you also need to pay some tuition fees to deepen your impression.
Sometimes there is a gap between newcomers at this stage. A newcomer with strong learning ability will quickly figure out the clues and grasp the key processes. Although she does not know how to operate it yet, once she has the theory, she only needs to practice it a few times and compare and verify it, and she will soon be able to start working. In this link The newcomers who win will most likely win the favor of their leaders and colleagues. Of course, if you really don't have this ability, don't always think about how to stand out. Learn every link in a down-to-earth manner and do every little thing assigned to you well, and you will be recognized by everyone.