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Month: November 2019

MODE Transportationand SunteckTTS to Combine, Forming a Leading Multimodal Logistics Provider with over $2 Billion of Revenue

Posted 5 years ago

DALLAS, Nov. 18, 2019/PRNewswire –MODE Transportation (“MODE” or the “Company”) and SunteckTTS Inc. (“SunteckTTS”), two leading multimodal third-party transportation and logistics providers, announced today that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement. Under the terms of the transaction, MODE will acquire SunteckTTS, with both businesses operating under the MODE brand name going forward. The Company will facilitate more than 1.5 million annual customer shipments and generate over $2 billion of revenue.

The new Company will offer a broad range of capabilities across all major modes of transportation including truckload, less-than-truckload, rail intermodal, drayage, air, ocean and parcel freight. The Company will leverage its increased scale and resources to continue investing in technology and innovation for the benefit of its agent, shipper, and carrier communities.

Following completion of the merger, Jim Damman, President & CEO of MODE, will serve as CEO of the Company and Ken Forster, CEO of SunteckTTS, will serve as President & COO. The expanded leadership team will include senior executives from both MODE and SunteckTTS.

“In today’s increasingly competitive logistics market, the importance of scale, service diversity, and technology cannot be overstated. The combination of MODE and SunteckTTS provides new and existing agents, shippers, and carrier partners a significantly enhanced platform positioned for the future,” said Ken Forster, CEO of SunteckTTS.

“We are very excited to announce this transaction with SunteckTTS. Our two companies are built on a similar culture of outstanding customer service. The addition of SunteckTTS’ robust agent, product and customer base further strengthens MODE’s broad diversity of service offerings, while continuing to position MODE as a premium provider of technology-driven logistics,” said Jim Damman, CEO of MODE Transportation.

“This transaction represents an important milestone in MODE’s history,” continued Damman. “A year ago, we launched an initiative to identify strategic acquisition opportunities that would strengthen the MODE platform and enable us to continue to improve the best-in-class service and capabilities we provide to our customers. We look forward to welcoming SunteckTTS as we continue to execute on this strategy going forward.”

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approval, and is expected to close by the end of December.

MODE is a privately held portfolio company of funds affiliated with York Capital Management. MODE received legal advice from Kirkland & Ellis, LLP. SunteckTTS is a portfolio company of funds affiliated with Comvest Partners, who will continue to own an interest in the company following the completion of the transaction. SunteckTTS was advised by Piper Jaffray and McDermott Will & Emery.  

About MODE Transportation

Founded in 1989, MODE Transportation is a leading North American third-party transportation and logistics company. MODE serves more than 3,500 customers across a diverse set of end markets and modes of transportation. MODE has relationships with over 35,000 carriers and operates from over 100 offices throughout North America. The Company is headquartered in Dallas, TX.

About SunteckTTS

SunteckTTS operates as a multi‐modal transportation solutions provider through a network of sales, operations and capacity specialists. The company offers a business process outsource program through which independent agents represent SunteckTTS in the freight transportation marketplace. This agent network services shippers throughout the United States and Canada.

About York Capital

York Capital Management is a global private investment firm that was established in 1991.  The firm manages approximately $18 billion in assets across public and private investment strategies, including its private equity platform, the York Special Opportunities Fund. York Capital employs approximately 60 investment professionals and 200 total employees globally, primarily in New York, London and Hong Kong.

About Comvest Partners

Comvest Partners is a private investment firm providing equity and debt capital to middle-market companies across North America. Since its founding in 2000, Comvest has invested over $4.7 billion. Today, Comvest’s funds have over $3.7 billion of assets under management. Through our extensive capital resources and broad network of industry relationships, we offer our companies financial sponsorship, critical strategic and operational support, and business development assistance.

For more information about MODE Transportation, visit www.modetransportation.com.

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Training Tuesday:Tips for a Great First Impression

Posted 5 years ago

The initial approach to a prospect is the most crucial part of the sales presentation.  All the selling skills in the world won’t matter if you don’t get your foot in the door. First impressions are lasting impressions. You can’t win everyone over with a single script designed to handle the first few minutes. Below are some of our top tips for the initial approach.

1.Believe in yourself. If you don’t believe you can win the prospect’s confidence, you’ll self-destruct in the opening moments of your first sales call. You also must believe in your company and the services you sell. If you don’t have a belief in your services, how can you expect your prospect to believe in what you’re offering?

2. Develop and maintain a positive attitude. Give the prospect a nice, warm, genuine smile. Show that you appreciate their time and willingness to meet with you. Be sincere. Sincerity wins customers – insincerity loses customers and prospective customers.

3. Be professional. Dress professionally and maintain a clean appearance. Shake hands firmly, but don’t overdo it. Make an impression of strength and steadiness, but don’t use an obnoxious amount of force, or shake for an overly long time, as that can make the prospect uncomfortable. Part of this consistent and professional front is also being prompt. Lateness tells the prospect you don’t respect his or her time.

4. Be likeable. Be conversational and use humor early. Likeability is the key to building a connection with your prospect, and that will help you make more sales.

5. Qualify the buyer early, preferably before your first face-to-face meeting. Know the prospect’s industry and business before you make the call. It is important that you know who the decision maker is and make your presentation to

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LTL 101:Reconsignment & Fees

Posted 5 years ago

Reconsignment – Here’s a shipping term that you might be familiar with if you’ve ever had a change of plans with your freight. A reconsignment happens when freight that is already in transit is re-directed from one delivery location to another. This charge can vary based on how far apart the delivery locations are. For instance, if the new location is just down the street, the charge will probably be minimal. However, if freight was heading to California and is being reconsigned to Florida, you will be in for a hefty reconsignment fee.

We get a lot of groans when we have to quote people for the cost of a reconsignment so we wanted to highlight the process so you can educate your customers as well:

  1. We have to send written authorization to make the change to the carrier. A Bill of Lading is a legal contract, so any changes made must be in writing. Authorization must be made by the shipper or paying party always.
  2. The carrier will enter the information into their online system and image your authorization.
  3. A rating analyst reviews the request, verifies that we have authorization to make the change, and completes the request.
  4. Notification is sent to the terminal who currently has, or if it is in transit, who will have the freight.
  5. New labels have to be generated and put on the freight.

Typically, your charges end up being broken down into the cost from origin to reconsignment point, and reconsignment point to new destination, and fees for marking and tagging of the freight. If your freight has to backtrack, you will pay for every mile it has traveled.

GREAT EXAMPLE: If it was originally to go from NY to CA, but then once it reached Chicago you turned it back around to PA, you are paying NY to Chicago and Chicago to PA, not just NY to PA.

Important points to note as well:

  • If you are not the shipper or paying party, you cannot use your authorization to make changes to the BOL.
  • If your name doesn’t appear anywhere on the BOL, see #1 above.
  • If the driver arrives and you say that it needs to go to a different address across town, this constitutes both reconsignment AND redelivery. And it can’t be done without authorization, as above.

This process actually represents a significant amount of labor time and fuel. Even a local reconsignment (change in address within a local terminal service area) requires these steps.

All carriers want to make money on this deal. Nothing is done at cost. But time is money, and the cheapest option is to always do it right the first time.

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Training Tuesday:Tips for Stress Management

Posted 5 years ago

Selling offers more highs and lows than most other professions. Most salespeople suffer through periods of stress that are direct results of their sales jobs, but salespeople who succeed in the long run never let disappointments get the best of them. They know rejection goes with the territory and learn not to take it personally and instead, they view mistakes and failures as lessons that will help them improve. On the other hand, some very promising sales careers have died premature deaths due to stress. Stress sometimes causes sales people to lose confidence and then fill their day with nonessential activities and hide from their customers or prospects. We’re also faced with lots of rejection on our daily search for success. If you dwell on the negatives, they’ll bury you. You have to lighten up and look for ways to lessen the stress caused by your job.

Below are our top 10 tips to reduce stress:

1.Focus. Focus on what’s truly stressful to you about a situation and why – the idea being that understanding the stress lessens it and gives you some control over it.

2.Put stressful situations in perspective. Is this situation going to matter in 1, 5, or 10 years? If not, try to worry about it in the current time. Don’t allow the problem to feel bigger than it is, and remember that at the end of the day, it is just work.

3. Establish boundaries. Postpone thinking about problems until an appropriate time. Successful people learn how to compartmentalize their thinking. It is important to establish healthy work-life boundaries and stick to them. Don’t allow a stressful moment at work to ruin your off time.

4. Take a deep breath. Size up stressful situations and decide which are worth worrying about. Techniques like meditation or other mindfulness exercises can have a powerful effect on stress levels and general mental health.

5. Take vacations and occasional time off. Having a break from the stresscan allow you to recharge and feel more emotionally or mentally ready to tackle the challenges at work.

6. Don’t be afraid to laugh at yourself. Your reaction to a situation is just as powerful as the situation itself, and your reaction and attitude have an enormous impact on your overall mental health and wellbeing.

7. Talk to others about job pressures.  Talking to others who have been in your situation can be cathartic and help you discover new techniques to manage the stress or can just provide a change in attitude that can help put the stress in perspective. It can also be helpful to talk to your supervisor, as they may be able to offer advice or help with a particularly stressful situation.

8. Expect the unexpected. Allow time and reserve energy to deal with the inevitable stressful events that occur daily.

9. Do something for yourself. Take a break from the constant push to be productive and take a walk or enjoy a cup of coffee without constantly refreshing your email. Make the effort to find something small that you can do each day to create a peaceful moment for yourself.

10. Volunteer or do something in the community that is rewarding to you.

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