The 2014 IWLA Economics of Warehouse & 3PL Sales Course examines a critical part of any warehouse logistics business: pricing and sales.

The new course format tackles the warehouse sales process from start to finish—from marketing, to qualifying leads, to costing, to RFP preparation and then presentation to your client.

The 2014 Economics of Warehousing & 3PL Sales Planning Committee made a few adjustments to address a diverse audience. “We felt the need to address a wider range of people who are attending the class,” says committee cochairman Bob Byrnes, pricing analyst at Kenco Logistic Services. “Our focus is on the high-level elements of separating costs and how pricing strategies differ across different-sized companies.”

Byrnes discusses his own situation as a pricing analyst at a larger organization. “All I do is price, so I need to know the small degree of minutia that goes into pricing in order to complete my function within the sales process. For a one-man sales operation, it’s beneficial for him to know the minutia, but most of the time he knows how he has to price in order to maintain margins and stay competitive,” Byrnes says.

Byrnes and the other course organizers are hopeful the high-level approach to pricing will help overcome the intimidation factor that so many professionals exhibit when tackling this subject matter. “The class can seem mathematically complex and can easily get tuned out if you’re not paying close attention and following along,” he says.

To avoid over complication, presenters are minimizing number crunching in the coursework favoring instead to focus on the process of how these numbers are factored into a pricing concepts. Small-group discussions guided by experts will provide deep dives into subsections of the course to expand upon the attendee’s unique interest areas.

Creating Communities
The 2014 course agenda is almost an equal division of presentations and group work. This is an intentional strategy to build communities across attendees representing the different sizes or roles in their companies, “When it comes down to it, all business owners within a certain level do things similarly,” Byrnes says.

By creating opportunities for attendees to build communities with other likeminded professionals, these warehouse logistics professionals will be able to grow their unique skill sets through new ideas and the experiences of their peers.

Register for the IWLA Economics of Warehouse & 3PL Sales Course, May 7-9, 2014, in Orlando, Fla., here. Hurry! The room block is filling up fast.