Advice for a long time driver starting new job as dispatcher/freight broker?

Probably not much I could tell so I'll just leave you with this bit. Don't punch drivers in nose.

 

Go through old BOL's as a jump start when calling customers, you've already picked up at that location and if you did multiple picks at that location over the years let them know and if they recognize your name go with it build your report, if not then let them know I used to be a driver and picked up at your location give some reason as to why you are now brokering freight and want to see what you can do to get your foot in the door and move some freight. Come up with a niche, get good at one thing before branching out if it was flatbed steel, produce, FAK in a Van, or HH what ever it is you feel good at make your money figure it out. There is plenty out there for everyone. Finally you know how drivers want to be treated because you used to be one treat them right and you will get repeat customer with repeat drivers.

 

And good luck with your new job!

 

Honesty . .. even when it hurts because honestly karma is a female dog in heat.

 

Remember that there is a hidden variable in every load called risk. I didn't have a claim touch me in 2016. Literally the worst thing that happened is some guy held a load hostage for 700 bucks. I moved an obscene number of loads of freight that is normally considered to be really drama heavy.

I did all of that by weeding out the bad people very efficiently. At first you'll feel a lot of pressure to generate profit, and that's all well and good... But remember that 20% of loads will cause at least 80% of your problems and problems are what you'll spend 90% of your time dealing with. Anything that reduces the number of problems you have to deal with multiplies the amount of freight you can move.

 

In the beginning you really need to be making 30-50 prospecting calls a day at a minimum. It's very easy to convince yourself that you 'need' another couple of hundred bucks in brokerage and that you can get it by calling 60 people and finding a cheap truck for this customers cheap load... That is a trap. Not only will your cheap truck fall out 50%+ of the time, but the time you spend making those calls could have been spent prospecting instead.

Prospecting is hard to stay motivated for. As we speak I've had a reminder on my phone pop up at 10am every day for a month 'make 10 prospecting calls'. I think I've made maybe 10 prospecting calls lol. This is because prospecting is a huge crap shoot and it takes a long time to see any benefit from it. Unfortunately all revenue ultimately comes from prospecting.

Also not all customers are worth working. This can be a really bitter pill to swallow when you spent 5 days prospecting to get that customer... In fact on average I'm working with <25% of the prospects I move a load with 6 months later. Either they are claim happy (or some other variety of dishonest), cheap, or something goes really wrong way too soon in the relationship.

EDIT: Also when it comes to prospecting targets start with industries you know something about. If there's some industry you've hauled for a lot I'd start by calling them. The more you know the more credible and confident you will sound. For instance the reason why I can procrastinate on prospecting is because from May-November I can basically make as much money as I can stand because of produce. I can do that because I can sell produce customers at will because I know exactly what they want to hear. And because that's true I have a couple of primary produce customers and like SIX companies that call me all the time with freight who I don't really have time for. Prospecting for more produce is kind of pointless at this point because I've already got as much as I care to handle in the commodities I like.