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Freight forwarding companies · Lead generation

Reach the exporters who ship on the ports and cargo you already handle well.

Lead generation for a freight forwarder means finding shippers whose cargo, ports and volumes fit the lanes you run, and getting a rate request from them. GullySales works on the lane pages, the exporter list and the intake form that turn those shippers into enquiries you can quote.

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Scope, fee, reporting and term are agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you.

Realistic editorial illustration of freight and transport companies at work in India

What lead generation means

Lead generation is the combined work of every channel that brings in a new enquiry, whether from search, adverts, referrals or a stall at an exhibition. GullySales runs these channels together and reports the number of enquiries each one produced, not the activity behind it.

Also for freight forwarding companies

Sales and marketing for freight forwarding companies, the overview.

Last updated 18 Oct 2026.

For freight forwarding companies

Where it usually goes wrong, and what we would do.

  • “A rate request from the wrong lane wastes the quote desk”

    An enquiry for a port you do not serve, or a cargo you cannot handle, still costs a sales executive an hour of checking and replying. Lead generation that names your lanes and cargo types keeps those requests away and lets the desk spend time on shipments it can win.

  • “The best prospects are exporters who already ship”

    A garment maker in a cluster with regular orders needs a forwarder every month of the year. A first-time exporter needs one rarely. Building the list around shippers with live orders and known destinations gives the sales team calls worth making.

  • “Merchant exporters ship many cargoes through one desk”

    A trading house may send textiles to one port and engineering parts to another. Reaching the person who books for the whole house is worth more than reaching one factory, and the introduction must list every lane you cover.

  • “Overseas agents are a source of leads too”

    An agent abroad nominating an Indian forwarder sends cargo without any search at all. That route needs a capability note an agent can forward and a record of which agents have written to you.

What we do

What we deliver for freight forwarding companies.

Every deliverable, what it covers for you, and the result it is there to produce. Nothing here is an extra.

  1. Lane-based exporter list

    Manufacturers and merchant exporters near your offices, grouped by what they ship and where it goes, with the booking contact noted.

    Result: A list the sales team can call from, sorted by cargo and destination.

  2. Lane and cargo landing pages

    One page for each port pair and cargo you want to be found for, saying the services you run and what to send for a rate.

    Result: Each page states a lane, a cargo type and the details a quote needs.

  3. Rate request form

    A short form that asks for commodity, volume or weight, ports, Incoterm and shipment date before a person picks it up.

    Result: Every request reaches the desk with the facts needed to quote.

  4. Source record for each request

    A sheet noting where each rate request came from, whether a search, an introduction, a fair or an agent.

    Result: A view of which source produced requests and which produced bookings.

  5. Agent capability note

    A short English note listing your offices, lanes and handling strengths, written for forwarding networks abroad.

    Result: A note an agent can forward to a shipper without rewriting it.

How the result is measured

  • Enquiries generated
  • Cost per enquiry
  • Enquiries by source

Recorded as a baseline before work starts, so every later report has an honest comparison.

Read the full demand and lead generation page

What to capture or send

What to record when an exporter asks for a rate, so the enquiry can be priced and followed.

Port of loading and discharge
Record both ports exactly. A rate to Jebel Ali and one to Rotterdam are different quotes, and a vague destination delays the reply.
Cargo, weight and volume
Capture what is moving, the gross weight and the cubic metres or container size. Dangerous goods or temperature needs change the carrier and the price.
Incoterm the buyer uses
Note FOB, CIF or another term. It decides who books the freight and whether you are quoting to the exporter or the overseas buyer.
Ready date and shipment frequency
Ask when cargo is ready and whether it repeats. A one-off shipment and a regular lane are different accounts.
Forwarder used today and the complaint
Record who handles it now and what went wrong. A missed cut-off or a document error tells you what to promise in the reply.

Who it is for

This is written for these freight forwarding companies.

  • Sea freight forwarders handling full container loads
  • LCL consolidators with weekly sailings to fixed ports
  • Air freight forwarders for urgent and perishable cargo
  • Project cargo and oversize equipment specialists
  • Import desks for machinery, electronics and raw material
  • Garment, leather and handicraft export handlers
  • Agri and food product export handlers
  • Agents and sub-agents of overseas forwarding networks

Not for

It is not the right fit if.

  • You cannot price a rate request in the same working day, so more requests would sit until the shipper booked elsewhere.
  • You handle only sea freight and the exporters you are reaching ship mostly by air, so the leads would not fit.

How it works

How the lead generation work runs

The work itself, in order. How an engagement starts, from your brief to a written scope, is set out on our method page.

  1. 1

    Understand your capacity

    We ask how many enquiries your team can answer well, who answers after hours, and what a good enquiry looks like. Without this, the system fills a funnel nobody is watching.

  2. 2

    Audit current sources

    We read your call log, WhatsApp chats, enquiry sheet and platform dashboards. The baseline is recorded: enquiries by source, reply time, conversion and cost per order.

  3. 3

    Strategise the channel mix

    Search and maps are chosen for people ready to buy, ads for people who are not yet looking, and content and referrals for trust.

  4. 4

    Implement capture and follow-up

    Pages, forms, tags, the lead record and the first-reply message are built and tested end to end. We submit test enquiries ourselves before any media money is spent.

  5. 5

    Measure and optimise

    Enquiries are traced to source and judged by what became orders, not by volume alone. Channels that fill the sheet with poor enquiries are cut back. How often you are reported to is agreed in writing.

Where this fits

Three pieces of sales work, in this order.

This work sits inside sales process design, at stage 1, prospecting and lead generation. The audit comes before it, and sales management keeps it running.

  1. Step 1

    Sales audit

    Find where deals are being lost and what to fix first.

    Start here if you cannot say where orders are lost.

  2. Step 2 · you are here

    Sales process design

    One written way to sell, from first enquiry to repeat order.

    Start here if every salesperson sells differently.

  3. Step 3

    Sales management

    A target, a review routine and someone who owns the number.

    Start here if the team has targets and no routine.

Tell us what you need Your brief is read before we call. Scope, fee and term in writing.

FAQ

Questions owners ask before they call.

Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.

Tell us what you need
Should we chase every exporter in our city?
No. Start with the exporters whose cargo and destinations match your lanes and who ship regularly. A smaller list of the right shippers brings better conversations than a wide list of everyone with an import-export code.
Can you promise a number of rate requests?
No. Requests depend on your lanes, rates and the season of the trade. GullySales builds the pages, list and follow-up, and records the baseline so you can see what each source brings.
Where do we get exporter contacts?
From public trade directories, council member lists, fair visitor records and your own past shippers. We check that each contact is a business contact and that the outreach respects the person's wish not to be contacted.
Should we chase exporters in cargo we do not handle?
No. An exporter of fresh produce expects a forwarder who knows reefer space and cut-off times. Cold outreach on a cargo you have never moved gets compared to those who have. Choose cargo and ports you already handle well.
How much does it cost?
There is no price list, because the work differs by business. The fee is scoped after we have read your brief and spoken to you, and put in writing before anything starts, split into our time, your media spend and production.
How long is the contract?
The term is agreed in writing after we have spoken, along with the fee and the reporting. It is never a default twelve months, and renewal is decided on the numbers against the baseline recorded at the start.
How soon will we see results?
It depends on the trade, the channel and what is already in place. After we have read your brief and spoken to you, we say what we would expect to move first and how it will be measured against the baseline. Nothing here is guaranteed.
Who will actually do the work?
The person you speak to before anything starts. We work from one office in Nagarbhavi, Bengaluru, with no account managers in between.
What do you need from us?
Your brief, and a conversation. After that, access to whatever this work touches, such as your website, your accounts or your enquiry record, and time with the people who handle your enquiries.
What if we are not happy with the work?
Tell us and the plan changes. Everything is reported against the baseline, so a number that is not moving is visible to both sides. The term is in your written scope, and the refund and cancellation policy sets out the rest.

More for freight forwarding companies

Everything else we would do for you.

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Also for freight forwarding companies

Or start from the overview: sales and marketing for freight forwarding companies.

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