Telephone etiquette

This is why managing your tone and treating folks with respect, as both the broker and a dispatcher/owner/driver is clutch regardless of the market. Tone gives away information about where you're at, and in a negotiation the more information you give the other guy indicating that you're desperate, the more likely it is that you're going to get punched in the nuts.

Then again, having a good idea of what a fair rate is in the market environment is going to save you a fair amount of heartache from the jump. Same with knowing your players on the other line.

For instance- if you quote a rate for me that won't work for me- I don't get mad. I make a counter offer, and if we can't meet somewhere, I shrug- thank you for your time, and end the call. No reason for either of us to get pissed off. You know your business, I know mine and no amount of cajoling is going to change it one way or the other. And we may work together down the line, and the last thing either of us needs is to have to remember an interaction where we were at each others' throats.

 

Good stuff.

I don't remember a time where I've been rude to a broker. Except a couple of times where they quoted me so low that I just hang up the phone and that only with brokers I haven't used before or haven't heard of.

I've been hung up on before too. I couldn't tell you who and I'm sure the brokers who hung up on me don't remember who they hung up on either.

Just don't take it personally.

Although. I will mention that I still struggle with making phone calls. I deal with a lot of anxiety and depression. I will sit a lot in a bad market because I fear rejection. Even though 99% of the calls I get end up in rejection but at least they're calling me. I will call in a bad market when I have to and when expectations are low. But I will wait for a certain load to pop up a few times over an hour and then I know they need help. This happened in Denver Friday when I took the load from Denver to KC for a buck a mile. They had it for $500 and I got it for $625. I felt like I won lol.

Another trick I do is when I do call, I will introduce myself "Good mornin' (Mike, Bob, whatever) , this is Brandon with JRV, how's it goin?" and then I will pause and wait for them to reciprocate. Asking a question more or less forces them to respond by greeting me back. This helps set a professional tone because it shows I value their their conversation, however short it may be. I feel many brokers get calls where the caller more or less delves right into the meat and wants to know "Wussit pay? Wussit pay?". I want to set the notion right off the bat that I'm of a higher standard. I feel some of the big brokerages keep tabs on carriers in their system and their records. I think the carrier Im leased to has a pretty good reputation and I'm glad the owner of the company keeps a high standard. I also haven't been late for a delivery since I bought this truck over 2 years ago except for one where the shipper took 8 hours to load me and I was 15 mins late for delivery.
CHR docked my pay for that and I'm still mad about it. That was a year and a half ago or so.

 

You know, I do the same thing. I have a genuine interest in getting to know the folk I'm working with, for both personal reasons (I'm an introvert masquerading as an extrovert who's 'faked it until he's made it') and professional. The more I get a sense of how you comport yourself on the phone, the better I'm going to feel about sending you into a customer that either is looking for professional drivers or is a new customer that's kind of a question mark.

It's an interesting thing, our business. It's driven by thirty second to five minute phone calls that turn into thousands of dollars exchanged fairly rapidly. Knowing how to talk to folks is a huge deal.

 

I like to see threads like these. Of course, it won't interest every driver, but not every driver is wanting to bring his A Game to every game. I always say, that it's not 1 huge difference between the average drivers and the top drivers, but a million little differences.

Personally, I don't deal with brokers. I deal with shippers and manufacturers. I am leased on to a company that gets the load, then offers it to me. If I accept the load, I do all the phone conversations. The first order of business is finding out who my contact person is. Once I have his name and number, we're going to communicate and coordinate with the crane and the riggers. Since most of these loads are custom pieces, fabbed up to a customer's specs, they will have accurate specs on the size and the weight. I will make absolutely sure that, before I arrive, I have the right equipment for the job.

Here's a thread I wrote a few years ago for the heavy haulers
Professionalism in our end of the business

 

I'd agree with that. I have some go-to guys for various regions that embody this. Between timely and accurate communication with me, to professionalism with my customers, punctuality with pickup and delivery, and then the attention to detail for proper securement, permitting, and so on- it all adds up. Thanks for sharing the link, as well.

 

I like to laugh and joke no matter whats at stake.
It's all about feeling out your opponent.
Even when you can tell the person on the other end of the phone has had a bad day and doesn't want to do anything more than shut the light switch off and go home. As soon as you get the other party to interact on a human level and away from the script the ball is in your court.
Then we can haggle.
I lot of brokers have no idea of the market forces in play. It's xyz to xyz on a computer screen.
Once I'm on a one to one I can freely tell them why my they are gonna have a hard time covering a certain load. Customer, delivery market, weather forecast, ECT. If you can plant a seed of doubt in their minds while selling yourself, your in charge of negotiations. Not the other way around.
I've found more and more that being an independent I can squeeze every last drop available. Would you rather deal with the guy actually doing the work that's on call 24-7? Or get a phone call in the middle of the night from some guy you can't understand named Pablo?
I'm your representative on site, so who'd you rather have. Me or Pablo?
I'm a mechanic that can keep a truck truckin 98% on the time. Pablo can't change a tail light.
Your lively hood depends on me keeping your customer happy and calling you back. Who's it gonna be. Me or Pablo?

 

I deal with a lot of contacts in the EU. None trucking related.

Ask if Mike is there, you’re going to be treated with a lot of disrespect lol And you probably will never speak to Mike.

PS, I hate communicating by email to these people. Language comprehension takes on an entirely different meaning.


Me:
“Do you have a room with a bathtub located by a window with a view?”

Them:
“Yes, all our rooms have a bath.”

:/

 

My biggest complaint today is dealing with people who have a heavy accent, which seems to becoming more common. I can deal with rude or just plain stupid people on the phone, but if I can't understand them, I tell them to find somebody who speaks better English and have them call me back.

 

I guess it depends on how bad you need the truck xD