Raising sales and profit at a cargo logistics business, and the metrics to prove it

You are a product manager at a logistics company that moves cargo for its customers. You have been asked to grow both the company's revenue and its profit. Explain how you would approach this, and propose the KPIs you would use to measure whether the improvements are working. ```hint Turn profit into drivers Write profit as revenue minus costs, break each side into the drivers a cargo business actually controls, and look for the drivers with the most room to move before proposing initiatives. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Does the company own its ships, planes or trucks, or does it buy space from carriers and resell it with its own services? - Which freight modes and customers does it serve: ocean, air or road; small shippers or large enterprises? - Over what time frame should results show, and which matters more if revenue and profit pull in opposite directions? - Are market freight rates currently high or low? That changes whether growth should come from volume or from margin. ### What a Strong Answer Covers - A breakdown of revenue and profit into the drivers of a cargo business - Revenue levers and cost or margin levers, each tied to a driver and put in priority order - Trade-offs where chasing revenue can hurt profit, and how to handle them - KPIs for each lever, mixing leading and lagging indicators, with service-quality guardrails - How the plan and its KPIs hold up as freight rates rise and fall ### Follow-up Questions - Freight rates drop sharply over a year. Which of your KPIs would mislead you, and what would you watch instead? - With a small team and one quarter, which single lever would you pursue first, and why? - How would you decide whether to reprice or let go of a large customer that loses money?