Marketing your Business for the one truck o/o

What type of truck and what do you plan to haul?

 

In short, No. But go after everything that is free. Free linkedin, free google site so people can search for you. I do these and see very little response from it. Now will I buy or donate something at a local charity auction. Yep and let the business buy it. But never spend too much.

 

My feeling is the only thing you can do as a one truck guy is network in your local area.

Your trying to find someone that appreciates local one on one service. That is done on a face to face basis.

Other than that they just want easy and cheap.

Or is that cheap and easy?

Because you know, quitting time is 3:00 and payday is on Friday.

 

A simple one page web site is cheap and the best way to get clients. There are ways to load the page with the name of your competitors so when somebody searches on them, your web page comes up in the search results.

 

The best Luck I’ve had, is simply staying in touch with the loads that work for Me. Always looking for more Contacts. Just made a new one, last week. I’ve hauled plenty for them ( Broker) in the past. And hauled the same load years ago, for someone else. Things change so fast, I try to haul a load or two each month, with Whoever has the Freight. Keeping in contact, I can always find something.Ive often thought about sending out emails with attention Shipping, I know it’s out there, just don’t really want the commitment of a Customer.

 

Starting out, it may have helped to have a website. It looks official when included in your signature of each email. The same way you look at new brokerages they may look at us. So when you fill out the carrier pack, and your website pops up in your info page and signature it’s reassuring to them.

even from the first email reply it says, I’m a real company. Just a simple website.

 

Contact and doing what you say you will.my dispatcher called me said a guy had a load & wanted to talk to the driver first. My dispatcher said he thought the guy was full of it. The guy called me we talked I told him I would do the load. After all said & done with that 1st load he put 5 trucks to work. They are still hauling for him.

 

You'll have to be reliable if it's steady freight.

One member on here said it best.

When you're one truck breaks down. You're entire business is down.

I know a couple of direct shippers. Anybody can sign on. They both probably send out over 100 loads each day. But they require 2 trucks at least.