Strategies for working with good brokers and carriers

I

iceroad2

New Member
Jul 19, 2024
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Canada
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Good day everyone,

I run a small fleet carrier couple trucks, couple trailers. I focus on refrigerated haulage (i have RGN, flat, step, tarping, over length, over width, over height, multi axle heavy experience as well). I've been operating for a few years and was a company driver / o/o before going on my own.

I am looking for advice (hopefully posting in the right forum) on working with actual legit customers / carriers / brokers on finding freight. I often get the answer of " sorry call back when you have 5 , 10 , 15 trailers etc., doesn't seem to matter how much i expand i'm always too small" we focus heavy on maintenance and washing, have almost no inspections due to that it seems ( one level 2 and two level 1s) this seems to affect me in being able to on board with the big carriers as they all want 5 or more level 1 inspections.

I'd like to run one of my trucks within Canada (we do run U. S.). I would prefer to run BC to AB ringers or BC to SK,MB ringers (both tandem and tri axle trailer options available and of course can do power only as well).

I've tried some load boards but I am not interested in the "race to the bottom" rate game.

Open to comments, suggestions, etc

Thanks for reading!
 
First of all; welcome. Being on this site is the first best thing to start with. Almost every post on this site is either advise on how to do something correct or complaining about something that is not correct in this industry that you can avoid.
As for your challenges with getting onboarded with the right people - that's tough. We are in a freight recession and not many people are interested in broadening their horizons with new carriers. There have been too many instances of people getting burned one way or another. You may have to 'race to the bottom' for a while and get yourself in with some big mega brokers that are ok with your size. Stay leery of the guy trying to screw you because of your size.
Keep calling and maybe physically meet with people. Unfortunately, other than that there is no real good answer on how to get your foot in the door and on the road to success in today's market.
 
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Welcome from one man show as well!
As @Jim L says, your are on the right track coming over here. Saying that from my own experience..
There are a good bunch of good folks over here you may be able to hook up with.
Do not be greedy, be service oriented and very patient.
On the side note, see if you can run local and regional as well, that may help as well.
Best of luck!
 
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Wow, thank you for the response everyone, i appreciate the feedback! I do understand we are in a freight recession so that is probably quite a limiting factor. I am for sure open to working with any good brokers / partner carriers, if anyone has a suggestion on who to work with let me know!
 
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Ask someone like @Freight Broker or @MikeJr what it takes for someone in your shoes to work for people like them.
As for partner carriers, there are a few of us on here that participate in partner programs. Usually it's a two-way street in that you have freight I need and I have freight that you need, but sometimes it's simply I need more short-term iron, and I don't want to buy it or hire it as an O/O.
 
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I find when building a relationship with a new customer or vendor there are some things you can do to make hooking up easier.
Have your setup package of documents ready to go, and make it legible. Not a copy of a scan of a copy and upside down.
Speak honestly and clearly about what you need from your customer to do your job, everyone has different needs.
Ensure everyone in your organization has a full and complete email signature including a direct line to the person sending that email. I want to know who I'm dealing with.
Maybe put your after hours number in your email signature also. Who hasn't had an after hours emergency and neglected to get that information in advance.
Then, do as you promised you would. That means maintaining your equipment to avoid breakdowns as much as possible and hiring competent drivers who pay their taxes.
Treat everyone you talk to on the phone, by email or face to face as a human being, sometimes things happen, be upset with the situation but remember the other guy/gal isn't having a great day either. If on the other hand, someone is trying to take advantage of you come down with an iron fist.
Do these things and your customers will love working with you.

Best of luck to you, and keep well,
Mike
 
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