AI has made it easier to contact more prospects. But it hasn’t made it easier to start meaningful conversations with supply chain and logistics leaders.
AI has done a lot for sales. It helps with research, account preparation, message drafts, follow-ups, and administration. But it has also created a serious problem. It has made it incredibly easy for everyone to produce more outreach.
More emails. More LinkedIn messages. More automated follow-ups. More “personalized” introductions that look personalized only until you receive five nearly identical messages in one morning.
And the people we want to reach have noticed.
I see the decline in real sales numbers
I track my own sales benchmarks, and I also coach logistics sales professionals. This means I see not only what happens in my own outreach, but also what happens inside different logistics sales teams.
The pattern is becoming clear: response ratios are going down. Getting a message in front of somebody is easier. Getting a meaningful reaction from a supply chain director, logistics manager, or company owner is harder.
AI improved the ability to create interactions. It didn’t automatically improve the ability to build trust.
This difference matters enormously in logistics.
You are rarely selling something simple or low-risk. You may be asking a company to trust you with time-critical components, temperature-controlled goods, customs documents, production schedules, or an important transport lane.
A buyer will not move such responsibility to a new provider simply because your email was well written.
A familiar logistics sales story
A freight forwarder decides to accelerate new business development. The team uses AI to write messages and reaches 2000 prospects in a month instead of 200.
The activity dashboard looks better. You see higher open rates; you even get more replies, but you don’tget more conversations.
Why? Because the messages still say the same things as everybody else: competitive prices, reliable service, global coverage, and an experienced team. Adding a company name, mentioning the prospect’s job title, or referring to a recent LinkedIn post doesn’tautomatically make a message personal. These are often just extra layers of superficial personalization wrapped around the same generic sales pitch.
Real personalization means identifying a relevant business situation; that takes a human touch. The message should show that you understand why this particular company might need your service now—not merely prove that you found its website.
Generic outreach is becoming almost invisible
Supply chain leaders are busy. Their inboxes are full, their LinkedIn messages are crowded, and most can recognize an automated message within seconds.
AI can write a good message. It can analyze a company’s website, recent posts, job advertisements, and public announcements. However, it cannot always uncover the information that creates truly relevant outreach.
For example, imagine that you speak with a company’s logistics manager at a trade fair and learn that late collections from Germany regularly cause production problems at its Lithuanian factory. A few weeks later, instead of sending a generic introduction, you write:
“Hey, we spoke in Munich; you mentioned that late collections from German suppliers sometimes leave your Lithuanian factory waiting for critical components. We have helped manufacturers create a backup express solution for exactly this situation. Is this still a problem you are trying to solve?” That is real personalization. The insight didn’t come from the company’s website or a LinkedIn post. It came from listening, asking the right questions, recording the information, and connecting it to a relevant solution.
AI can help you turn that insight into a clearer message. But it cannot use information that your sales team never discovered or recorded.
Cold outreach must become omnichannel
Relying on one channel is becoming dangerous. Especially when now we receive so many of various sales messages. An email may never be opened. A LinkedIn invitation may be accepted but forgotten. A cold call may be screened by an AI agent. A message may be seen without receiving an immediate reply.
That doesn’t always mean the prospect isn’t interested. It may simply mean one contact attempt wasn’t enough to build familiarity or urgency.
Modern cold outreach should connect several channels:
- LinkedIn, to become visible and warm up a lead;
- email, to explain a relevant business case, and teach the prospect why you are better;
- cold calls, to create a real human interaction, and this is still the fastest way to build pipeline;
- short messages, when appropriate, to follow up an existing relationship;
- content, to prove that you understand the problems you mention;
- onsite or any live interactions.
This does not mean attacking a prospect everywhere on the same day. It means creating a coordinated sequence where each interaction has a reason.
Your brand is becoming part of the sales process
For years, many logistics companies treated branding as something separate from sales. Marketing posted company news. Salespeople looked for customers.
That separation is becoming too expensive. When a logistics director receives your message, one of the first things they may do is check your profile, your company page, and your website.
What do they find?
Photos of trucks? Holiday greetings? Another event hosted? Or practical evidence that your company understands their industry, routes, risks, and operational reality?
A strong brand makes cold outreach warmer before the conversation begins. It gives the salesperson credibility they cannot build in one message. This is especially important for sales teams. Buyers don’t just check the company. They check the person.
A salesperson who regularly shares useful observations about production logistics, warehouse bottlenecks, driver communication, customs risks, or lane-specific challenges enters the conversation differently from somebody whose profile contains only a job title.
What should logistics companies do now?
- Track the right thing. Forget the vanity metrics; track the real things – Meaningful conversations with DMs.
- Build outreach around commercial triggers. Expansion, a new factory, a market entry, peak season, a new customer contract, capacity pressure, a supplier change, or problems you know your organization solves.
- Segment by situation, not only by industry. Two OEMS in the same sector may have completely different needs. When you say the same things, most of the time you hit the wrong nails.
- Give salespeople a point of view. They need more than scripts. They need to understand why customers lose money, where risk appears, and when a different logistics model makes sense. Train them on this; this is the most important part.
- Coordinate your sales attack. Define the channels you will use and the timing between touchpoints.
- Use AI for preparation. Let AI summarize and help with other data points. Do not let it invent relevance or replace a salesperson’s judgment.
- Build expert visibility. Consistent content gives prospects a reason to recognize and trust your people when outreach begins. A caveat, though: the content needs to make sense.
- Improve follow-up quality. Bring a case, an observation, a useful question, or a different angle every time.
AI is not killing cold outreach. It is exposing weak outreach.
Cold outreach still works. But the old model—buy a list, send a generic message, follow up three times and hope for meetings—is becoming less effective.
The winners will not necessarily be the companies with the biggest databases or the most automation. They will be the logistics companies that combine market knowledge, good timing, human communication, several coordinated channels, and a brand that supports the sales conversation.
If you are looking for ways to build a winning revenue growth organization, one that combines sales, marketing, customer care, and commercial leadership, get in touch with me.
About the Author:
Thomas Ananjevas is a seasoned supply chain professional with 18 years of experience in purchasing and selling logistics services and building supply chains from the ground up.
Today, he helps freight forwarders, transportation companies, 3PLs, warehousing providers, logistics technology companies, and other supply chain businesses improve their sales performance, strengthen their market positioning, and build scalable growth systems.
As the creator of the Logistics Growth Blueprint, Tomas works with companies to identify commercial bottlenecks, eliminate revenue leakage, improve customer acquisition, increase customer retention, and create more predictable growth without relying solely on price competition.
In addition to consulting, Tomas delivers training programs in sales, marketing, leadership, and customer experience for logistics organizations across Europe. He is also the creator of The Logistics Newsletter.
