A letter carrier’s conversations with a business customer on his route have resulted in a shipping deal worth more than $62,600 for the Postal Service.
While delivering during the coronavirus pandemic, William “Bill” Weiss, of Jeannette, PA, frequently talked with employees of a candymaking business. He learned that the company was seeing exponential growth in online sales as well as using a competitor for shipping.
After receiving positive response to his suggestion to get a free sales analysis from USPS for commercial pricing and online discount pricing, Weiss submitted a tip through Customer Connect.
The program, a joint effort with the National Association of Letter Carriers, encourages carriers to identify sales opportunities for the Postal Service.
Robert Lessman, a Pennsylvania 1 District business development specialist, and Brian McDaniel, a field sales representative, followed up with the customer.
They closed a deal to handle the company’s shipping, which is worth $62,660 in new estimated annualized revenue for the Postal Service.
Sales generated from Customer Connect leads count toward the USPS Power of One campaign to raise revenue through sales leads from employees.
“Bill learned from attending his biweekly Lead the Way stand-up talks about what the Postal Service can do for businesses,” said Lou DeRienzo, small-business senior sales specialist at USPS headquarters in Washington, DC. “He used that knowledge to help his customer get a better deal on shipping and more revenue for the Postal Service.”
USPS is encouraging as many employees as possible to submit at least one lead through any of its six lead programs by Sept. 30.
The small-business team is tracking program participation rates through its weekly “Drive to 35” downloadable report. Additionally, the team is publishing a weekly Business Connect Month report in August that shows how districts are meeting their annual targets for the program.
The Small Business and Lead Generation Programs Blue page has more information about Customer Connect and the other employee lead programs: Business Connect, Clerks Care, Mail Handlers, Rural Reach and Submit a Lead.
