How do you get shippers to ship with you directly?

i think it comes with customer service when you first meet them.

i've only had one that wanted to ship directly. they were tired of the broker. lumber company in the northwest arkansas area.

i'd like to get something going with a company that has 3 locations north of me. i hear loads are hard to get out of salt lake. and this particular company ships at least 200 loads a day. but when i first inquired. i had to have 2 trucks at least.

 

seems as many things are ultra secret... lol,
it really depends on SERVICE,
fork lift driver to management, you dealing with them...the whole time.

 

I am a small produce shipper, I use small brokers... I could not contract directly with trucks, I just could not manage it. For two reasons... I assign a broker or two to certain lanes, I just email loads to brokers and they confirm rates back, we have pre determined rates depending on the season and on,y vary for extenuating circumstances. I can't keep track of when I have a load that might meet your travel schedule. Also, my loads sometimes have a value of $60-$70k, if the reefer fails, I cna hold back from broker till insurance pays, a single truck I would never owe you that much and collecting would be difficult.

 

Hold back paying on a loads that had no issue is a good way to end up in court. That's why there's insurance and reefer break down coverage. You sound like a shipper to stay away from and let the brokers have you.

 

As for hauling for direct shippers make some sale's calls or stop in to some shippers you might want to haul for. Believe me there are more shippers than not that will deal with a single truck O/O's and a lot of them prefer to. Stay away from the huge shippers and go after the small to mid size. When i was running i had direct shippers in every state i ran in. It take a lot of calls and work but the return is more than worth the time. It never hurts to call and ask.

 

10% to as much as 30% depending on what the broker takes.

 

I talked with a broker the other day about how he found his contacts and shipper since he wasn't from the area he was doing business. His reply was that he does a lot of cold calls by going to the area he wants to establish a clientele and uses the chamber of commerce. He looks up the manufacturers that are associated with the c of c and calls and ask for loads. He says he gets 1 out of 100 that are willing to ship with him, yet it might only be 7 or 8 loads a year in a particular area. But that all adds up over time.

Just be sure that if you do cold calls and establish a business relationship, to check the customer's credit rating and terms of payment. You may have to use a factoring company for faster pay, unless you can wait 30 to 60 days.