You're not wasting your time, everyone is trying to do exactly what you're doing but with the pendulum of supply/demand being so far to one side, upselling your product is tough right now. We can all take your suggestions of keeping track of your sales calls and documenting them to see what works and what doesn't. This will work to some degree and there are definitly people out there who may pay more but they are few and far between.
Your analogy of the coffee is a good point but I think you have to remember. Starbucks is closing stores in Canada, Tim Hortons is adding. I think the 1.50 coffee is in much more demand than the 5.00 coffee. People have to go out to get a coffee and make that choice each time of which drive through to go to. Shippers do not, they have the choice of any of the people who come in every day to see them.
I have a customer who receives 10-15 business cards each week from carriers and I am told each one of them offer prices better than mine. If I am too high off the mark, they will definitely change. If I am slightly higher, they will not change for fear that they will get substandard service. This presents the next challenge in this industry - making new inroads with customers. It is really tough to get your toe in the door if the shipper has a solution that is working well. The opportunities out there are few and far between unless you can present yourself as a solution to a problem (which is another point you touched on Pablo in a previous post) but with the oversupply of equipment, problems do not present themselves too often.
Everybody has excess capacity. I received an e-mail from a carrier today that says he has 15 trucks/trailers available today in SW Ontario. Three years ago that was unheard of, we planned those trucks for the whole week ahead - if not more. If these carriers have a customer that dumps 2 extra loads onto them there will not be a problem that presents itself. The same can be said about freight brokers - if a customer dumps a pile of loads (hot, need teams, gotta pick up right now) they can post it on the link and take their pick because their phones are lit up like a Christmas tree for at least a 1/2 hour. If not, the freight broker just looks in their e-mail for the latest carrier that said he had trucks available.
We are all struggling in this market. Pricing is tough and carriers right now have tough decisions to make:
-spend more money and create a sales team like Pablo describes and hope that the returns come in quickly (in my opinion a good long term solution)
-ride out the storm and hope the suppy/demand ratio changes (dangerous if this economy is long term)
-force your suppliers to lower their costs just like shippers have forced the carrier too (good luck but it seems like there is some downward pressure on some of the costs - will it be enough)
-leave the market and come back when its better (Ok if you have some cash stowed away and can wait 2-3 years)
-sell your trucks and create a brokerage firm
-convince every trucking company to raise their rates (never will happen but I threw this in for a chuckle)
Like I said to another owner of a trucking company - we are all the problem. Nobody wants to leave the market but we want everyone else to leave. Until more people leave, the rates, in general, will not rise. There will always be customers that will pay more for freight (5.00 for a coffee) but the most will stick to the double double (1.50 for Tims). If you can live with the 1.50 Tims, you can always try the 5.00 starbucks at any time because it will always be available.
Jim
