National Account Executive

Job Title: National Account Executive Department: Logistics

Reports to: VP of Sales FLSA: Exempt

The National Account Executive is a high-output, new business “hunter” responsible for generating growth by prospecting, qualifying opportunities, and winning contracted freight by selling Buchanan Logistics’ service and transportation solutions. This role owns the front end of the sales cycle—from first contact through discovery, quote/bid coordination, and close—while partnering closely with the Account Manager/Site Director to develop competitive solutions and pricing.

Once converted, accounts are transitioned through a clean hand-off to the Account Manager/Site Director for ongoing execution, retention, and expansion. As a key member of the sales team, the National Account Executive promotes Buchanan’s values of Determination, Integrity, Safety, and Community in every customer interaction and internal partnership.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these essential functions.

• Identify and prospect new customer opportunities through daily outbound activity (phone, email, Teams/video, in-person meetings) to create qualified contracted freight opportunities.
• Own first contact through close: conduct discovery, uncover freight pain points, position Buchanan’s capabilities and service reliability, and advance opportunities through clear next steps.
• Maintain a disciplined “hunting” operating rhythm with consistent follow-up, urgency creation, and persistence to move deals forward.
• Partner with Account Manager/Site Director to develop quotes, bids, and contracted pricing strategies, including lane analysis and bid/RFP support as needed.
• Manage and forecast pipeline accurately; maintain clean CRM hygiene with daily updates on activity, notes, stages, decision process, and next actions.
• Navigate objections (price pressure, preexisting relationships, “send rates,” timing delays) while protecting margin and advancing the opportunity appropriately.
• Drive toward performance goals, including a target pace of 1 new customer per month
  , by executing high activity and strong conversion discipline.
• Execute a thorough customer hand-off, after closing customer, to the Account Manager/Site Director, ensuring alignment on scope, expectations, timelines, stakeholders, service requirements, and growth opportunities.
• Represent Buchanan with professionalism and integrity, selling what can be delivered and reinforcing safe, compliant execution.

Other duties as assigned. Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

• Proven new-business “hunter” with a track record of meeting/exceeding targets through consistent prospecting and closing.
• Strong command of the full sales cycle: lead generation, qualification/discovery, proposal/quote coordination, negotiation, and close.
• Ability to identify freight pain points and confidently sell Buchanan’s transportation solutions and service reliability across applicable modes.
• Strong negotiation and objection-handling skills that protect profitability while advancing deals.
• Excellent communication and relationship-building with decision-makers (phone, email, Teams/video, in-person).
• Strong collaboration skills—partners closely with Account Manager/Site Director to build bids/quotes and ensure a clean post-close handoff.
• CRM discipline and pipeline management: daily activity logging, clear next steps, accurate forecasting, and KPI awareness.
• Organized, resilient, and adaptable in a fast-paced environment; follows through and maintains high standards aligned to Buchanan values.

• High school diploma or equivalent required (Bachelor’s degree preferred).
• 3–7 years
  ’ experience in logistics/transportation sales.
• Demonstrated success prospecting and closing new business; experience with contracted freight/RFPs preferred.
• CRM experience required.

Prolonged periods of sitting at a desk and working on a computer.