How do the stay in business?!?

Broker: What do you need?
Dispatch: $2000.
Broker: $1500 is all I have. Can you do better?
Dispatch: Maybe $50.

Silence.

Dispatch: (presses ringtone on old expired cell phone) Sorry I have to take this the phones are crazy this week everyone wants trucks. Hello, this is XYZ Trucking. Yes...the truck is in Harrisburg right now it can load tomorrow AM......$2000.....what's your call back....thanks...bye. Sorry about that.....so do you want that truck for $2,000 or......
Broker: You said $1950. I checked with my customer while you were away and they agreed to 1950.
Dispatch: Ok, ok $1950 then. You can fax the rate sheet to .......

That reminds me I need to charge that 2nd cell phone

 

classic.. LOL

 

EDIT: Broker hangs up and tells co-worker about the suckers over at XYZ Trucking...."I would have paid $2500."

 

That is what I was thinking. I haven't pulled for that in quite a while, and that's after mercers cut. With all the extra costs involved in having your authority, id laugh at two dollars a mile.

 

Can someone just tell me this.. Don't be nervous that a broker will laugh or ridicule your rate, keep looking.
I had a bad experience that a broker went nuts at my 2.10 rate ever since I get really anxious when I throw someone my offer

 

That was the initial offer. It was the first offer, and the broker used the lowball tactic... he was hoping to land a desperate fish, he was looking for someone who "needed" his load....

The lowball is designed to stun, think of it like the brokers "stun grenade"....he threw it at you deliberately.

Imo, the right attitude, but maybe the wrong reaction. You want to brush it off, the lowball, like something on your shirt, but don't let it end the conversation. Tell them the load is something that interests you, but the rate is too lean, there's just no meat on the bone at that rate... Tell them that you have a truck, but that the rate needs to come up significantly. Lob that stun grenade back at them by saying something like, "I run that lane for yada yada, I'm going to need to be at (whatever figure you feel is really appropriate for the load and the lane). Be confident, talk clearly, and let the weight of it settle. In this scenario you have shown good faith while putting them in the position of creating an uncomfortable silence, as they have been stunned and are trying to figure out what just happened....don't say anything while they consider what they're going to do.....Let them end the call..... you want to be the one who works towards getting the rate, and if they can't work with you to get the rate to an acceptable level then let them be the one who killed it.

That being said, sometimes you just have to end the call, it all depends, time of day, day of the week, who the broker is....all factors....all things to be considered, but, if you're the one who negotiates in good faith and if you allow them to end the call, then...you can wait on them, and they know they are in the position of reaching out to you....

You see,

That approach makes you weak, here you are calling again...you're the one in need...I'm not trying to belittle you, I'm trying to share some experience. If you had continued with them, and had left the conversation with a firm offer that was reasonable, then they would be looking to call you back in the event of not being able to cover the load.

Now, in that situation, they are in the weak position....they're calling you....and you can increase the rate, but not in a hostile way, never in a hostile way, rather, in a relaxed and friendly way, squeeze gently....and if you want, you always have the option of taking the rate that you left on the table....

A really good position to be in.

 

You need thicker skin. Attitude helps out there. Think positive. Who has the equipment and who doesn't but needs it? Puts their laughter in perspective when you realize it's not confident laughter but the exact opposite, nervous laughter. Now the laughter might have been profound heartfelt guffaws if you were in Miami with a 53' dry van stating matter of factly you needed $2.10 a mile to Chicago. Don't let these people intimidate you. It's just a person on the phone they can't strangle you. Never be ashamed or timid when quoting your price. Do it with confidence.

 

I'm going to guess that the broker was from Allen Lund...lol...

Did he hang up on you, or did he just try to run you over and intimidate you?

Don't let aholes bother you, and always be civil. Keep yourself above the fray, and if someone is an ahole then don't deal with them. Aholes isolate themselves....

Nobody wants to do business with an ahole.

 

Aholes are a kind of load indicator....

The bigger the ahole, the crappier the load.

He's probably frustrated cause his load is crap, of no real value, and no real hope of him moving it....

Whatever, that's his problem, not yours.