Small Freight Forwarder for Air Freight to UAE Faces Unexpected Issues, DL Fulfills Commitments Throughout
Mr. Zhang needed to send his rust remover via air freight to UAE. He picked us after choosing and comparing more than a dozen freight forwarders. But customers’ pursuit of low prices is never ending. Sure enough, Mr. Zhang came to me directly and said, "I need to talk to you again. Give me another 5% discount, otherwise I’ll have to think twice."
Oh my god, even the most powerful person couldn’t make this happen!
I told Mr. Zhang, "I’ve already told you, for air freight to UAE, we clearly know the prices of our peers. We do make a profit from each shipment, that’s for sure. But our company is honest. We can give a discount, but the discount percentage is very small. Because our company has been in business for 27 years, and we keep consistent in how we behave, work and serve. Unlike other companies that first quote a high price and let you cut it in half."
Through our previous communications, I’ve given up almost all the profit I could offer. So please think about it. To be honest, the company still makes a little profit, but I personally get no profit from this order. I’m now in Shenzhen. Though I’m young, I can’t survive on just the basic salary. How do we salespeople make a living? We rely on a 3% commission. To be frank, during our two rounds of bargaining earlier, I’ve already given you 1.5% of my 3% commission.
Actually, our company is doing so well not because we seek exorbitant profits. I think a company needs appropriate profits to maintain good services. Not to mention no profit—even if the profit is too low, it’s hard to guarantee service quality.
Mr. Zhang said again, "Others can also handle this shipment, and they are cheaper."
I asked Mr. Zhang, "Have others booked 20 weekly positions with the two major airlines? Do they have priority customs clearance capabilities? Can they jump the queue for cargo pickup? Can their local service answer calls at 2 AM to arrange the next day’s shipping and delivery?" Maybe some can do one or two of these things, but few can do all of them. You have to take these into account. In other words, no money is spent in vain.
Air freight to Dubai involves many links: booking space, security check, palletizing, loading, customs clearance, delivery, etc. As a freight forwarder, we need to smooth out every link and achieve seamless connection to ensure timeliness.
Small freight forwarders’ quotes are only calculated on the assumption that all links go smoothly, but things don’t always go well. When facing issues like cargo being rolled, inspected, or incomplete documents, small forwarders can’t solve them. So the quote also includes the service and commitment of the forwarder to solve unexpected problems. Essentially, quotes from large forwarders like us transfer transportation risks from customers to the forwarder through resource control and technical barriers, thus ensuring the smooth progress of the entire shipment.
After this in-depth communication, Mr. Zhang expressed his understanding and started arranging to send the goods to our warehouse.
DL Logistics is one of the top 5 companies for air freight to middle east. We have booked 20 weekly pallets with two major airlines, have priority customs clearance channels at UAE airports, can jump the queue for cargo pickup at warehouses, and have local logistics staff answering calls at 2 AM. Shipments sent in the morning arrive at noon, and those sent at noon arrive in the afternoon. It is truly one of the top 5.
DL’s air freight to middle east—everyone who uses it says it’s smooth.