Latest / Beyond Fulfillment Podcast / Mastering Logistics Sales: Soft Skills & Authenticity Matter Most with Holly Laboda

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Mastering Logistics Sales: Soft Skills & Authenticity Matter Most with Holly Laboda · Beyond Fulfillment Podcast

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  Foreign.
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  Dave Gulas, Beyond Fulfillment, here at Manifest with another special guest, Holly labota.
• 0:12
  Hello.
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  Thanks for having me.
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  Yes, thanks so much for being here, Holly.
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  So, Holly, you are the co.
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  Founder of Formula L.
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  The founder.
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  Founder.
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  Pardon me.
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  Yes, the founder of Formula L.
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  Okay.
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  And tell us about that.
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  Yeah, Well, I ran a different brand for eight, the last eight years, Luminaries Consulting, which worked with supply chain companies, helping them really elevate their sales force, elevate their sales strategy, and learned a lot through that process and
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  kind of capitalizing on that and all.
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  Everything that I've learned over my tenure in the logistics space really kind of created this model, a sales operating model that pulls together all the complicated parts of growth and makes it kind of connect so it's easier and
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  more predictable and consistent to hit your growth goals.
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  That's Formula L.
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  Okay.
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  All right.
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  And yet you've been in the logistics industry for quite a while, working with salespeople, and you see all the things that people do wrong.
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  It's been your job to really try to help them fix all that.
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  Yeah.
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  So let's talk about 2026.
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  What.
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  What are you seeing in terms of what.
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  What's separating the great salespeople from everyone else?
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  Well, I think the people that are really doing it well are doing it differently because you have to really stand out.
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  There's a sea of noise.
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  Everybody's coming from everywhere.
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  Everybody's trying to get the same shippers, all of that stuff.
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  So people are inundated.
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  So you have to be different.
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  But I think the people that are doing it well aren't doing that in a gimmicky way.
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  They're doing it in a very, like, laser cut, customer focused way.
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  So they're really caring about the growth of that prospect, that they're reaching out to their goals, what they can win personally.
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  And if that's the angle they're taking and they're doing it in an authentic way versus, like, I'm here to meet my own sales goal, that feels different.
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  And that's what's paying off.
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  Yeah.
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  And I mean, especially right this day and age, people can smell that a mile away when you don't have the right intent.
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  I've heard it called commission breath.
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  Yes, I've used that expression before.
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  Yes.
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  Mission breath has a stench to it, that's for sure.
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  Yeah.
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  So it's all about being authentic and obviously solve.
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  Helping people solve their problems.
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  And if your solution is a fit, great.
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  But if it's not right, say so and move on.
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  Yeah.
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  And I think that actually builds so much trust.
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  I have personally had prospects and customers reach out to me to ask me to do something that isn't really the best fit.
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  And what happens is they like almost every beg you to actually do it, and sometimes it ends up.
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  We can shape it into.
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  Into a way that fits.
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  But I think regardless of if they beg you into the business after that, I think just being honest about, here's what I do, great.
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  Here's what I don't do.
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  Well, if this is what you're looking for, maybe here's a better path and actually giving that referral or connection that builds trust and really makes you stand out.
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  Absolutely, Absolutely.
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  Okay, so here at manifest 2026, what would you say is the vibe of the show?
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  You know, I was just talking to somebody about that, and I think it just really summed it up really well.
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  I can't take credit for it, but people are here with kind of buying intent.
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  People are hungry, people are excited about the idea of the market feeling different already and potentially having a different future.
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  And people want to find solutions, find partners, make purchases.
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  People are seeming more open and energized about it and less cautious.
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  Would say, is the vibe.
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  Absolutely.
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  Yeah.
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  I've noticed a lot of optimism within the industry and.
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  Yeah, absolutely.
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  People are ready to buy, ready to spend, ready to invest, and a lot of big, big goals for this year.
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  Yeah.
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  Which feels great to be a part of.
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  Right.
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  It definitely feels different than previous years.
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  Yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  Coming out of the last several years that we've had within the logistics industry, it's certainly a whole new vibe, for sure.
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  Okay.
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  And of course, we can't have a conversation about logistics in 2026 without talking about AI.
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  I mean, it's everywhere here at the show.
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  It's everywhere all the time.
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  I mean, from your perspective, in terms of dealing with companies and their sales teams, what are you seeing with how people are implementing AI today?
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  AI is a really powerful tool, but in my humble opinion, it is just that it is not the be all, end all of everything.
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  It can help make what you do really great, or it can scale completely crazy garbage chaos.
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  So what you really need to do is make sure, like, that you have the right strategy, you have the right processes in place, and then you figure out where I can drive efficiency within it instead of just leveraging
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  it and hoping it saves the day.
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  And it's your silver bullet.
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  Yeah.
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  And I mean, I've seen specifically, like, very large corporations using it to just straight up eliminate humans.
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  And I've seen it Go terribly wrong.
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  And that's not the right approach at all.
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  Right.
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  No, it should be helping all of us to do things better.
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  I mean, in my, again humble opinion, people want to do business with people.
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  They don't necessarily want to do that business with machines.
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  So having, figuring out how you can leverage a tool like that to enhance your effectiveness, your team's effectiveness, your company's reach is great, but it shouldn't be the be all end on, I think.
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  Agreed.
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  Okay.
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  All right.
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  And you focus a lot of your time and energy within the transportation sector specifically.
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  So what are you seeing as far as trends coming up for that segment of the market within 2026?
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  Well, a lot of them that we've talked about already.
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  I mean, I think people are excited about the change in the market.
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  People are excited about AI trends that are also coming out.
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  You know, I think there's, there's a lot of trends specifically in sales.
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  Let's go down that, that rabbit hole here is like there's a lot of trends that are kind of sales techniques that have gotten proven in other industries like software as a service.
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  Sales is all kind of always more advanced, always kind of trying these things first.
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  So there's pieces of that that are being recognized.
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  And coming into logistics, we're kind of upping our sophistication all the time in terms of selling.
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  So I expect to see more things like that.
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  Thinking about how to like multi thread deals and like helping buyers make decisions, facilitating the buying process and that kind of thing.
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  Those kind of things are the skills that are going to take people a long way in the future.
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  Okay, okay.
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  All right.
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  And for all those, there's a lot of candidates, Right.
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  That are either looking to make a move, maybe they're looking for work.
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  Right now they're either in logistics or getting into logistics.
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  And specifically within salespeople, what would your message be to all those people in terms of coming into this logistics at this day and age and that are going to be salespeople?
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  Learn the business, but also make sure that you're just really driving your own, like taking charge of your own career and your own growth and learning everything that you can about how to be a professional seller, how to
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  learn and connect with your customers, how to drive value to your customers.
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  The business knowledge and the business, the product skills will come along the way.
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  But if you can get the, those almost softer professional skills of the sales process, the customer centricity, you will, you will win.
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  Yeah.
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  Soft skills.
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  Right.
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  That's all.
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  It's been a big topic over the last several years.
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  I mean, let's just talk about that specifically.
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  How important are the soft skills relative to everything else?
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  I feel like it is almost everything.
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  All those soft skills, like people.
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  People don't care as much about what you do if you don't do it well.
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  It's like the how of things.
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  Outcomes are really important, but the how is also a part of it.
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  It's not by any means necessary kind of business.
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  So I think the.
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  The soft skills, the approach that you use will go.
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  It makes a big difference in your success.
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  Yeah.
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  Reminds me of this.
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  People always remember how you made them feel, right?
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  Absolutely.
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  All right, so, Holly, if people are watching this and they want to learn more about Formula L and how you can potentially help them, what's the best way people can reach out to you online?
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  Well, you can always find me on LinkedIn, Holly Loboda or Formula L.
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  You can find us on our website, formula l4.com or you can always email me hollyormula4.com all right, we'll link all that in the show.
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  Notes for everyone.
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  Thanks so much for taking the time, Holly.
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  Yeah, thanks, Dave.
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  Thanks for having me.