Just a question for you guys out there that have secured your own Freight. I've heard on this site many times where a person will say I'm going to buy a truck, and people will respond by asking, well how much freight do you have lined up? This question intrigues me. It seems to me that brokers will make a hundred phone calls a day to build a book with 99.9% of people saying no.. to someone that is a professional salesman with years and years of experience with an established brokerage that can easily get that job done. So how does someone without a truck, or even an owner operator that wants to expand that does not have more trucks, how does one actually do this securing of freight BEFORE you have the truck or trucks you need? And if you were even able to get it, if you don't have the trucks, how do you actually do it? How does one make that step to growth? You need the trucks for the freight, but you need the freight for the trucks.
Here I was going to say with a load bar or straps, ,,there was a time, my time, when you had a truck, there was more than enough freight, very similar to today. The big difference is, there seems to be a shift away from O/Os and everything will be company trucks. Insurance rules the roost there. If you simply must, get the account 1st, it's a lot easier to bail on that than sitting on a truck nobody wants. Be very careful what you sign.,,
You don’t. Unless you have a cousin or brother or friend that has freight that needs moving. Even then you can’t really count on that. It’s ridiculous the number of times someone has told me they have all this freight that needs moving. They throw one or two loads your way. Generally crap loads that they can’t get covered. You move them, and then you rarely hear from them again. Except when another crap load can’t get moved. A stranger is not going to say sure I’ll give you work, come back when you actually have a truck. Because the truth is, they have people now and they are not going to call you until those people can’t cover. And it’s more than likely going to be an emergency and they need it done asap. The hope is that you do a good job and they call more often. You will have to buy the truck first. Then you have something to offer. Until then you are just wasting their time. A lot of people make these contacts while they are driving someone else’s truck or are leased on with someone. They make friends with the shipping and receiving and/or the owner/manager of these companies. One thing leads to the next and they buy a truck and have a customer. It’s a hard slog to buy a truck and survive on the load board until these contacts are made. It is doable, but it’s difficult. I hope this helps answer some of your questions.
One time I hauled a load of wood. The plant was begging me to haul their loads. They were tired of paying broker rates. But. I was just a company driver. And we don't usually go out that way. Might get lucky that way. But that's going to be a very rare scenario. Then there's companies that want you to have at least 2 trucks. Or they won't give you the time of day. Steel comes to mind.
Knowing how to secure your own freight is finding the holy grail in this business. As it was mentioned earlier, if you frequent one place enough, after awhile you befriend with them, say a word and it may work. The smaller the place, the better the chances for that. Sometimes they even make an informal offer to you but then you need to consider that the deal is done behind a broker's back...there could be no back solicitation agreement but I personally would not give a duck. Other than that, for fleets of more than 5 trucks, I've also seen bribes, and nepotism.
Pretty simple. Get a load from a broker, get all the details. then tell your buddy, cousin, brother, etc. They bid the same load next time it’s available directly to the customer for at least 15-20% more. Get the Freight. Next time you haul the same load through him. One hand washes another. Next time he wants to steal some customer. You do the same. The problem is getting the customer. Proving you can cover their loads. Everyone claims they haul mostly direct. That’s B.S. Megas haul plenty of brokered freight. Often 50%or more. Everyone is constantly hiring. Brokered freight keeps the new hires busy. The same bunch claims that factoring is financial suicide. Truth is the big outfits often factor. Especially their brokered loads. Sure there’s some that only run 1 Truck and have 1 great direct customers. Met 1 myself. In 1999. His great customer went bankrupt and so did he.
Biggest problem people have is they have no sales skills, they change the rate hourly, they have a large list of the "I don't ...'". They find out a lot of customers won't work with a factoring company and they can't wait the 30-60-90 DTP. They try to change the PU/DEL dates to fit their schedule, not the customers. Their sales pitch is I have truck, you have load? And then blame their failure on the evil broker that can find a truck to do what the customer wants.
Sometimes it’s like mention it’s who you know. That was my good fortune,It helps to be familiar with some companies in your area and finding a need for someone.But in my experience opportunity do reveal itself when you start for example I was moving equipment for a construction company bulldozer, backhoe. I stopped at a Hardee’s for breakfast and the owner saw me and started a conversation with me about moving his equipment moved the bulldozer for him about 50 miles gave him my card and he called me when he needed a truck. I had things like that happen on several occasions.But you need to be able to sale how good of a driver you are is just a part of the equation
