Sales and operations must go hand in hand

AS SOMEONE who has recently moved from operations to sales, I feel that sales people can only really be successful if they get their clients to meet the operations staff. I find that often the sales representative sells himself instead of the freight company so that when he moves to another company the client is left to deal with a staff member he or she has only spoken to on the phone. Because no personal contact was ever made the client does not really feel obliged to remain loyal to his present freight company. A lot of emphasis is generally placed on freight rates and service, but in the long run clients want to be treated as friends and this can only be done if they have been introduced to the operations staff. John Roodt, Intersped, East Rand.