Direct shippers - tough crowd

Hand shakes are fine when dollar amounts don't include commas.

 

Hit it hard for a year and got direct produce seller/farm, invite to bid for a poultry co-op, and a super market national chain customer. 1 truck, can be done. It just takes persistence and a tolerance for overcoming rejection. I listed three successful leads but left out my many failures to close. Most of my issues were failure to get in touch with gatekeeper, having only one trailer, or customer skepticism of me being Americas most elite single truck company

 

I got family at a local plant where I park . Went to school with one of the shipping guys. Hauled their freight at my last company job and that company was bought out. The new carrier doesn’t want to do the local shuttle runs. So everyone involved pitched the idea of having me take over. You would be surprised how much pushback is being given. One plant level manager and some corporate guy are roadblocking any new ideas with ridiculous excuses. I can’t even get a meeting.

They may start to listen once the current carrier finally drops them. I have already moved on. Prices would go way up if they want to pull me off of what I have lined up.

Good luck OP.

 

This is exactly what I have done my entire trucking career, nearly 50 years. Look for a small business who wants a reliable carrier, they are out there. Ask them what problems they are having, and help them in that area. Large companies do not want to haul agricultural products from farmers, but there is a large demand for trucks there.

 

It is like 100x harder or even more to find a direct shipper that will even take your call , than it is to find a good broker to work with that pays your asking price... there's nothing wrong with working with brokers at all... if I call 100 brokers today - 90 of them are going to take my call and maybe 5 or less of them would be willing to talk about my asking price to run a load for them... if I call 100 direct shippers today maybe less than 3 of them are even going take my call up the ladder to who I need to talk to about moving ####... or even if it a small company they tend to be cheap ######## and laugh at your quote saying they have been moving it for half the price, then you still have the headache of they don't have enough freight to move or it goes to completely random places in the country with no consistency. Then you have the fact of if they don't pay you after you complete the job, its a legal matter rather then just file on a bond. It is a massive waste of time for 1 guy it seems like In my experience. Unless u get lucky and live in a good freight area with ample amount of small businesses that manufacture ####. That stuff doesn't exist in every area.
Don't let some of these guys tell you direct is the only way.... Its very very difficult to even get your foot in the door as 1 truck guy as you have seen...

 

Maybe being from Jersey & having a last name that ends in a vowel helps

 

In that neighborhood, contract has a WHOLE different meaning.

 

Keep trying, you’re doing it right. Unless you know people and have connections it’s hard and takes time. You’ll be surprised once you start gaining customers how much easier it becomes.

Starting out i relied on past acquaintances people i’ve worked for or with, Got word out threw word of mouth threw friends & family that i now had an available truck. Before long people were cold calling me.

Stay as local as possible with this. Build yourself a “brand”. You want people three towns over talking about you like they know who you are. Make sure you keep the truck and a trailer visible when it’s not working. Let people see you when they drive past your house. Your truck is a free roadside billboard.

Pull up in the driveway of other local o/o’s around the house. Make some friends, trust me it helps.

 

Because the person you need to talk to isn't in when you're there.

Because you show up at an inopportune time.

Because they hate getting cold called for something they don't need. Think about a door to door salesman- does anyone really want that?

I'm not saying that showing up in person is a bad idea - far from it. But effective sales includes a variety of approaches. A phone call/email or two ahead of time can help break the ice and give you more information to make a solid pitch when you show up in person. Or it can tell you "ahh heck no, I ain't hauling poop for this guy".