Commercial Growth Consulting for Freight Forwarders and Logistics Providers
Price sharper, bid faster, and keep the accounts you win.
Sherpa works with forwarders, NVOs and 3PLs on the commercial side of the business: how you price, how your tender team runs, how you go after accounts and how you hold on to them. I've run that side of the business at Damco, Maersk and Kuehne+Nagel, so the advice comes from having done the job.
How we work together
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Start with a bid review
I sit with your pricing desk, your tender team and your sales leads and go through real bids: what you won, what you lost, where the margin went and how long it took. Most of the time the rate is fine. The trouble is in the handoffs, no clear call on which bids to chase, and every lane priced on different assumptions.
Fix the structure
Then we build what's missing. A rule for which RFQs to chase and which to pass on. One charge structure everybody prices off. A round two playbook. Account plans for the customers that matter, and a margin floor sales can't go under.
Run it on live deals
We put it to work on bids you're answering right now, with deal reviews, tender support and coaching, until it's simply how the team works.
Where Sherpa focuses
Sherpa consulting for freight forwarders focuses on the commercial levers that matter most in freight, logistics, procurement, and supply chain environments: strategy, pricing, tenders, account growth, negotiation, and execution discipline.
Tender teams and RFQ performance
How bids come in, who prices them, how they get reviewed and how fast they go back out. I rebuilt the Americas tender function at Damco and took it from about 30 RFPs a year to more than 300. Read how.
Pricing Discipline and Margin
One way of building a price, minimum margins, fixed versus spot calls, and knowing where to give on round two and where to walk. Sales gets a floor and a target instead of a guess.
Key accounts and sales structure
Picking the customers worth going after, building account plans that go past the rate sheet, and being clear about who owns what between sales, pricing and operations. I led a $10M+ global sportswear program end to end. See how.
What Changes
More bids answered faster
Margin you can defend
The desk turns RFQs around without burning out the same two people every tender season.
Every price is built the same way, with a floor nobody goes under, so round two comes down to a few clear calls.
A better hit rate on the business you want
Accounts that grow past the first lane
You chase fewer bids that were never yours and put real effort into the ones you can win at a margin you like.
Customers buy more from you because someone owns the relationship and has a plan for it.
Who is this built for
Built for companies that sell logistics services.
Freight forwarders and NVOs
that need stronger sales discipline, pricing alignment, tender execution, and account growth
Still pricing ocean RFQs out of Excel? Take a look at TenderTrail, the pricing software we built for forwarders.
3PLs, warehousing and asset-based providers
Contract logistics, warehousing and trucking companies that need to sell space and capacity with more structure: who to target, how to price it and how to fill it.
Buying freight instead?
If you're a shipper buying freight rather than selling it, that's our Freight Procurement consulting.
Commercial and pricing leaders
Heads of sales, pricing and tenders who want an experienced second set of eyes, or senior structure without hiring a whole team to build it.