From Miami to the World: How Freight Sales is Changing

About the Episode

In this episode of the Forward Thinking Podcast, Sam Smeaton sits down with Jose Coronel, Founder of FWRD IQ and Director at All Trans Cargo, to explore how freight forwarders can win more business in a digital-first world. Broadcasting from Miami, Jose shares his journey from joining his family’s freight forwarding business in Ecuador at 18 to building a fast-growing global brand through LinkedIn, content, and modern sales strategy.

Jose breaks down why traditional freight forwarding sales methods are losing effectiveness, how buyer behaviour has changed, and why forwarders who rely on word-of-mouth and price alone are being left behind. The conversation dives deep into personal branding for logistics professionals, the real ROI of consistent content, how to generate qualified B2B conversations without cold-calling at scale, and the role AI and automation will play in the next phase of freight forwarding growth.

This episode is a practical playbook for freight forwarders, NVOCCs, and logistics sales teams who want to move from transactional quoting to relationship-driven, high-trust client acquisition.

Key Themes in this Episode

• From family business to global digital brand:Jose’s path from Ecuador to Miami, the realities of working in a family-owned freight forwarder, and how stepping into the U.S. market reshaped his career and commercial mindset.

• Why traditional freight sales is breaking down: How over-reliance on price, generic outreach, and “years of experience” messaging is costing forwarders opportunities in today’s market.

• Content as a freight forwarder’s competitive advantage: What happens when you consistently show up on LinkedIn, how content compounds over time, and why credibility is built before the first sales conversation.

• Lead generation without cold-call dependency: Using LinkedIn and targeted cold email together to create inbound conversations with qualified shippers and partners.

• Specialisation vs scale in a consolidating market: Why niche trade lanes, commodities, and vertical expertise allow small and mid-size forwarders to outperform global players.

• The real reason customers compare on price: How lack of brand, trust, and positioning turns every quote into a race to the bottom, and how to change that.

• Sales as a relationship process, not a transaction: The power of research, relevance, and asking better questions to uncover real customer pain points.

• AI and automation in freight forwarding: How AI will transform documentation, sales workflows, and lead generation and why forwarders who delay adoption will fall behind.

• Personal branding for logistics professionals: Why the future top performers in freight won’t just be great operators — they’ll be visible, trusted industry voices.

Why You Should Listen

This episode is a milestone for the Forward Thinking Podcast, with our first international guest joining from Miami, offering a real-time look at how freight forwarding sales and growth strategies are evolving in the U.S. and Latin American markets. It’s a valuable global comparison for Australian operators and a clear signal of where the industry is heading.

If you’re a freight forwarder, BDM, or logistics business owner, you’ll gain practical insight into why traditional, price-led selling is losing impact and how personal brand, content, and smarter prospecting are being used overseas to generate consistent pipeline and long-term client relationships.