XPO’s Marissa Christensen: “Listen first; Sometimes, what we think the customer wants and what the customer needs are two entirely different things”

Listen first: Sometimes, what we think the customer wants and what the customer needs are two entirely different things. It’s important to understand what those needs are before we try to sell anything. That imbues trust in the relationship from the very beginning.

Building lasting customer relationships has many benefits, including increased revenue, positive word-of-mouth recommendations, and saving on acquisition costs. But how does one do this? In this interview series, we are talking to Product Managers, founders, and authors who can share their “Five Tips For Building Lasting Customer Relationships”. As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Marissa Christensen.

Marissa Christensen leads XPO’s field sales organization, with responsibility for executing XPO’s growth strategy in the company’s local sales channel in North America. Since joining XPO in 2012, she has held sales leadership positions of increasing scope, including director, local sales; director, national sales; and vice president, national and third-party logistics sales channels. Ms. Christensen has served in her current role since 2023.

Thank you for doing this with us! Before we begin, our readers would like to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us the “backstory” about what brought you to this career path?

I grew up around my family’s agriculture business and, from a very early age, I learned to appreciate how critical reliable transportation and logistics are to the economy and efficient movement of goods. Then, early on in my professional career, I ended up taking on a recruiter role. While I was satisfied working in that role, when I learned of a position in freight transportation sales, I couldn’t help but jump at the chance to join an industry that I appreciated so much.

I spent the bulk of my professional life in the freight transportation space — and more than a decade at XPO. During this time, my passion for the business has only grown. It’s truly a rewarding career.

Can you share with our readers an interesting or amusing story from your career thus far? Can you share a lesson or takeaway from that story?

Customers must be the number one priority for a salesperson, and early in my career, I sometimes took this mantra to the extreme. Once, I went into labor during a customer meeting. We were working on an important, multimillion-dollar deal, and I didn’t want to leave without getting the customer’s commitment. So, I pretended that nothing had happened while my body was clearly telling me it was time to head to the hospital. Forty-five minutes later, as we were leaving the meeting — with the business commitment confirmed — the customer asked me when the baby was due. “Ohhhh any day now…any day,” I said. Long story short, I rushed to the hospital, and the rest is history.

Are you working on any exciting new projects now?

I am excited about how new technological solutions are transforming the customer experience in our industry. At XPO, we’ve been investing in proprietary technology from day one to ensure our customers have a seamless, best-in-class experience with us through the entire shipping cycle — from getting a quote online to having full visibility into the status of their shipments. To that end, I’m really excited about a new self-service tool that we’re rolling out on our website that’ll simplify the digital experience for so many of our customers.

As a company, we often turn to our customers for feedback on how we can be a better partner to them, and this tool is the product of a recent survey of some of our key accounts. Our tech team is phenomenal. They took the feedback and ran with it, building a game-changing tool that I am so excited to present to our customers.

For the benefit of our readers, can you tell us a bit about your experience with building lasting customer relationships? Can you share an anecdote or two that illustrates your learnings in this area?

As one of the largest providers of freight transportation services in North America, we pride ourselves on delivering excellent service to our customers — including many Fortune 500 companies — without exception. We’ve created an extensive network with national capacity, leading technology, and a world-class team. We eliminate extra legwork for our customers, deliver on our commitments, communicate constantly, and seek to resolve issues with a sense of urgency. These are critical components of our success in attracting customers and building relationships.

A key part of maintaining these relationships is cohesive, multi-department engagement with our customers. Our longest-lasting customers know the drivers who deliver their freight, speak to our freight operations supervisors and dispatchers every day, and are in constant communication with our sales team on collaboration opportunities. Lasting customer relationships require multiple personal touchpoints across departments to support the account. The best salespeople understand this and embrace the need for teamwork in establishing long-term customers.

In today’s fast-paced and constantly evolving landscape, what strategies do you employ to maintain a strong connection with your customers and anticipate their changing needs?

We love to host our customers at our service centers so they can experience how XPO does business differently than other trucking companies. It gives them a chance to get to know our local teams that service them, see our unique technology in action and experience how we act on our commitment to meeting their unique needs. Our team also engages in monthly or quarterly business reviews where we discuss customers’ feedback and evolving needs. When leadership checks in with customers, which they do regularly, this feedback creates opportunities for us and for the customer to get the most out of the partnership.

Can you discuss the strategies that companies can employ to strike a balance between driving revenue and profitability, and focusing on building customer relationships and loyalty?

High-quality and strong customer relationships should be true partnerships with open and candid communication. It’s important to understand where your services are a good fit, not only for the customer but for your business as well. The second piece is often overlooked, but it shouldn’t be. Without a doubt, you’ll be performing at a higher level when the work aligns with your business’s strengths.

Could you describe the metrics and measures you use to evaluate the success of your customer relationship-building efforts, and how you identify areas for improvement?

To maintain a superior level of service, we continuously track metrics such as improvements in on-time deliveries as a measure of service quality. Internally, we hold ourselves accountable for the quality of our work and constantly look for new ways to improve our performance for customers. We also require comprehensive training for all employees to ensure our people can deliver high-quality service and feel empowered to go above and beyond what is expected of them.

We conduct regular business reviews with our customers, where we provide them with relevant updates and discuss the metrics that matter most to that account. We also take that time to solicit their feedback on our performance. This is a great opportunity for us to collaborate on what’s working, what’s not, and what key initiatives we can further develop together.

Regarding customer-facing teams, what steps do you take to ensure they can deliver personalized, proactive, and efficient support, tailored to the needs of each individual customer?

To set ourselves up for success, we ask a lot of questions about our customers’ needs and expectations of their carriers — even before we pick up a pallet of freight from a new account. Our onboarding team is best-in-class and engages with our large customers early in the process to ensure the implementation runs as smoothly as possible. Our sellers across all channels engage our local operations team to ensure we’re ready to successfully manage the business from pick-up to delivery every single day.

What tips do you have for responding to negative feedback from customers, and what steps can be taken to turn those experiences into positive outcomes?

Negative feedback should always be viewed as a gift. It’s an opportunity for improvement and a chance to better understand what matters most to a customer. Listen and be receptive to customers’ concerns and identify what steps you can take to improve their experience in the future. Of course, there will be hiccups along the way, but it’s how quickly and effectively we address and resolve the issues that set us apart from the competition.

How do you use technology or AI to enhance your customer relationships, and what tools have you found to be most effective in building and maintaining them?

Proprietary technology is our key competitive advantage at XPO. We’ve been investing in tech innovation for many years and our ability to scale to a customer’s tech needs is unrivaled. We can instantly onboard a customer through our website with a few simple clicks, ramping up to full integration within a month, even for our largest accounts. Whether it’s a customer with one shipment per month or a customer with a thousand shipments per day, our technology offers a simple and efficient path to suitable solutions. Customers see tremendous value in that.

In your experience, what are five key components of building lasting customer relationships?

Listen first: Sometimes, what we think the customer wants and what the customer needs are two entirely different things. It’s important to understand what those needs are before we try to sell anything. That imbues trust in the relationship from the very beginning.

Be realistic and honest about your capabilities: No one wants to be oversold. Know what offerings you excel at and marry that up with what you see as the customer’s greatest challenges. Don’t create another problem for them by supplying a product that simply isn’t your strength.

Maintain integrity: Customers stick around when you do exactly what you promise. At XPO, we pride ourselves on delivering on our commitments, and thus building long-lasting relationships with many of our customers.

Ask for feedback: Sometimes we think things are great when they might be just good from the customer’s perspective. It’s important to ask for feedback! It often leads to opportunities for expanded partnerships.

Never take the relationship for granted: Customers have options and, whether you want to believe it or not, they do take the competitor’s calls. Don’t give them a reason to say yes to the competition.

How do you ensure that these ideas are implemented throughout the customer journey?

Clear and transparent communication with customers is key. This includes providing them with multiple avenues to get in touch with you to see first-hand that their concerns and feedback are actively listened to and addressed. Regular check-ins, whether through emails, phone calls, or in-person meetings should be scheduled to keep customers updated on the progress made in addressing their needs throughout the journey. Additionally, we ensure that our customers have a seamless experience when they interact with our employees. Our team members undergo comprehensive training and are equipped with the right tools to strengthen and advance the relationship with the customers they serve. Our average Account Executive tenure is 10 years — they know the industry and they are dedicated to creating effective solutions for our customers that address the needs of their business.

If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the greatest amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

Winston Churchill said it best: “Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.” I’d start the “Try Again” movement that would inspire people to go after what they want, learn from their mistakes and keep pushing forward to accomplish their goals. They could be life-changing goals or even small steps like “I will not drink coffee today.” This is all in the spirit of promoting a sense of accomplishment and a little win for each person’s trophy shelf in life.

In sales, keeping this mindset is critical. As in any line of work, there will be days when deals don’t close or you are met with logistical challenges. Focusing on incremental progress, even on the hardest days, will allow you to get up tomorrow morning and try again.

Thank you for the interview. We wish you only continued success!

About The Interviewer: Finn is the editor of People Managing People, an indie media publication on a mission to help build a better world of work. He’s passionate about growing organizations where people are empowered to continuously improve and feel fulfilled in their role. If not at his desk, you can find him playing sports or enjoying the great outdoors. To learn more about Finn’s work please go to https://peoplemanagingpeople.com/