What do you ask your brokers? This is what I ask:

Coal, your experiences with CHR wouldd be the exception in my experience, but the only time I dragged CHR freight was doing spot market loads as a company driver in a soft freight area. CHR probably took advantage of the situation to get crap loads moved cheap. As far as TQL, while I have never worked with them personally, I have heard plenty of horror stories both here and in real life talking to my friends who drive to be very leery of working with them. Not arguing with your experiences, just clarifying my own position with both companies.

 

Nothing exceptional nor extraordinary about it. Just a matter of making the right connections there. It's networking. Any successful transportation company views networking as a top priority. I can't be the only one....... It's the same as it would be making direct connections or whatever. If you view them as a backhaul or filler it should really come as no surprise that's all one would ever score from them.

 

You got the networking part right, Rollin Coal! I left my boss on hold for a solid half hour while I BS'ed with one of my regular customers. Not by my choice, of course, bit because this customer is coming into a busy season, and it's important that he views us in a positive light so we stay on the list of carriers to call.

Some of my company drivers think dispatch/customer service is a cake job compared to driving. I just laugh a little to myself these days. I consider a chance to go play in traffic with the big truck to be a paid break some days!

Not to denigrate my drivers, or the frustration they go through. I'm still there, too. Just saying there are days where my truck is a VERY welcome sanctuary from the phone.

 

So how long do you stay on hold before you give up?

 

Depends on the situation.

Bear in mind, our situations are dramatically different. I've got an established network (looking to expand a bit, but who isn't?) so I know all my people and they know me. The sales portion has been done, so a lot of our communication is done through email. If they call me, then there is usually a problem or they want money. Problems get dealt with, money gets paid, and we keep on keeping on.

When I'm doing a sales call, however, I'll stay on hold as long as I have an honest feeling I can close the sale and get the freight. If that feeling fades (I think they are trying to wait me out and avoid talking to me) I hang up and move on to the next call. There is no science to sales (despite what the speakers say), it is pure art and gut instinct.

 

Yeah, I know I'm new, and building relationships with carriers. That being said, I still have to track and trace them. I work on the Operations side, I have no real interest in the customer side.

 

Count yourself lucky! I'm as new as fresh driven snow, and I get to work both sides: carrier AND shipper. Take your stress, increase it exponentially by a factor of 12, and you get my average day. I got tossed into the deep end on the brokering side of the business, you betcha betcha!