John Thomas on Freight Brokering

Freight Brokering Is a Many Spendored Thing!

Yes, you can do all sorts of things as a freight broker. Many things. You also need to know how to do many things.

In fact, to succeed as a freight broker - really succeed - you need to know a lot of things that may at first seem totally unrelated to freight brokering.

You need to know how to run a business.

Here are two examples out of hundreds:

• You need to send out 1099s at the end of the year to sole proprietors if you pay them over a certain amount, and
• you need to monitor your load activity to learn which shippers are giving you the biggest bang for your buck.

We cover it all in our training. Our new materials will take you step-by-step through each and every process so you can succeed as a freight broker.

Memorial Day Observed

Here is a special thought for all the veterans of today and a special memory for those who did not come back. I have to remember my two classmates - Bill Small and Tom Nelson. They gave their lives in the service of their country.

I'm a U.S. Army vet and, actually, had it very nice while spending time in Ft. Campbell, KY for basic training, then to Ft. Ord, CA for duty and off to the U.S. Naval Base in Newport, RI for military justice training. Then back again to Ft. Ord.

My thoughts are also with my twin brother, Jim, who is now living near me in Las Cruces and who served some time in the National Guard and did his duty in Chicago during the riots. He actually saw more "action" than I did as we both served during the Viet Nam era. My oldest brother served with the 10th Mountain Division in Europe after WWII and my other brother served stateside before Viet Nam.

My thoughts to all.

Freight Brokers Are Looking for Good Broker Agents!

I routinely get calls from freight brokers who are seeking good Broker Agents. Working as a broker agent is a great way to get started in this industry. The start-up and overhead costs are very low. There are no tests to take, no exams - you just need solid training and/or experience plus a ton of motivation.

By the way - our Broker Agent training includes the contact info for 3-4 freight brokers who are interested in you EVEN IF YOU HAVE NO EXPERIENCE OR FOLLOWING.

But they all require that each agent has solid training. And you will receive a certificate of completion to show as evidence of your effort.

Go to my website now. We have NEW training materials that are second to none! Here is the address:

http://www.atexbrokeragenttraining.com

Have a nice weekend!

What Do You Think?

How do you think the higher mileage and emissions standards set forth by the Obama administrations will affect the trucking industry? Your comments, please.

Freight Broker Training: New & Even More Coming Down the Pipeline!

If you are serious about becoming a freight broker, don't miss this opportunity with our newly revised training materials. You can start calling on customers in as little as 30 days or so and have training materials that you can use for years.

 

Our new training materials are second to none!

Here are some samples of some NEW topics covered:

• Capitalizing your corporation,
• Thoughts about protecting your personal assets,
• How to avoid licensing schemes,
• What about payments from customers over and above base rates,
• Special attention to the produce industry,
• How to expand your search for trucks,
• Four things you need to focus on to separate great customers from the losers,
• New techniques to search for customers,
• A simple formula for getting started fast,
• Analyzing your probabilities in finding trucks,
• Four different types of costs,
• Ten sources for finding start-up money,
• What's the latest (and maybe the most powerful) source for finding money,
• How to offset factoring costs,
• If you offer cash advances, you need to be aware of these .....,
• Why you might need, and how to set up, emergency funds,
• How to get paid more quickly from your customers,
• Plus much more

We have over 30 "handouts", some of which are templates that you can modify for your own use. For example, the Broker-Carrier Agreement, Load Manager Spreadsheets, Sample Databases for Shippers and Carriers, Cash Flow Projections, plus more.

 

These templates will help save many hours of work and they will help you focus on where the real money is.

 

We have over 25 video presentations on these handouts. You can view them over and over again.

 

For a list of topics that we have been teaching for nearly six years, go here: http://atexfrei.ipower.com/programtopics0905.shtml

Then review again the NEW topics above as well.

LASTLY! Keep tuned in for more news - there will be something for nearly everyone!

Small Freight Brokers Vs Big Competition

Some people ask how they are able to compete if they are up against some real giants in the industry. They rightfully wonder if there is a chance for them. After all, a new, one-person freight broker office is pretty, pretty small - to say the least.

But, guess what? You don't need to play this game as if you are inferior. Here is why. There are many freight brokers out there who are either getting very expensive or getting sloppy with their service or both. I've heard that some of the larger brokers, especially, are really expensive.

There is no problem with trying to maximize your income but if you begin working outside the budget of your shipper customers, they will start looking elsewhere.

And this is where YOU, the small freight broker, just might get a chance to get some loads - even against all odds.

If you are a small freight broker, you have to know what you are doing and you have to work, giving exceptional service. If you continue in this, you will guarantee yourself a niche.

So, don't cower and think you are inferior to anyone. Get out there and do your stuff and do it right over and over again.

Freight Brokers: Why and How to Calculate Miles

Many freight brokers do not have a truck or a fleet of trucks. And, yet, it's a good idea to calculate the miles on each load that is given to a carrier.

The basic reason for the freight broker to calculate miles is to know in their mind before they post a load how much per mile are they offering the truck.

If the rate is too low, the freight broker may want to decide if they want to work as a "cheap" freight broker or do they want to hold out for better rates. After all, better rates offered to the trucks means attracting more loyal carriers.

There are free resources on the Internet for calculating miles. Some of the loading boards will automatically calculate your miles for you when you post a load. It's not necessary to have "door-to-door" mileage. A good measure of "practical" miles is enough from city to city. Be sure to calculate "practical" miles rather than "quick" miles.

So, you don't have to be a truck driver to need information on how many miles you have on a load.

Booking the Load: How Freight Brokers Do It

"Booking the Load" is a common phrase among freight brokers when they begin the process of "hiring" a motor carrier. Usually, as soon as the carrier says, "I want the load", the booking process begins.

The first thing a freight broker will do will be to check out the carrier's authority, insurance and maybe the safety records. I have heard many stories of freight brokers not knowing how to do all this - or they neglect doing it. In fact, there are insurance companies selling insurance to freight brokers in the event the freight broker gets caught with their pants down in the booking process.

What a shame. It takes less than 5 minutes to check out a motor carrier and there is no excuse for not doing so except for lack of knowledge or indifference.

If a broker fails to check out a carrier and document it, the broker faces the possibility of being "negligent" or providing misleading information. Either case, it's likely a broker won't last long in business.

In our training, we go into detail regarding all the steps required to properly book the load with the carrier. (There's a certain sequence required as well). We also go over the legal implications for not doing so.

Freight Broker Success Strategies .....

There are many, many avenues to success in any business and freight brokering is no exception. Likewise, there are many avenues to failure. But let's focus on the "success" aspect.

There is a four-step formula that will work if the business owner applies his or her creativity along with a systematic approach. The most interesting part of this is that if you stick with step one and follow through, then the following steps help reinforce and establish step one.

It's sort of like a snowball effect. You get things rolling at first with very humble beginnings, you push and push, and eventually you have this gigantic snowball.

So here are the four steps:

1. Lead Acquisition - the art and science of acquiring potential customers,
2. Integration - Aligning your services to your customer's needs,
3. Systems - the art and science of creating effective procedures, delegating when possible, communicating effectively and taking the time to do proper planning, and
4. Scalability - selling to new audiences or offering new services to existing ones

These are real general, broad stroke beginnings but if enough thought is given, each individual should be able to come up with some very specific tactics.

Freight Brokers Giving Quotes

Often times before a shipper will want a freight broker's set-up package, the shipper will want the broker to give quotes on one or more loads. In some cases, the freight broker has no idea unless they use a rate service. Other times, the freight broker will have trucks and will have no problem coming up with a quote or quotes.

When a shipper asks for quotes, the real questions are:

• Is the shipper actually wanting to offer you the load?,
• Are they using you as a "sounding board" with not much of a chance to give you the load?, or
• Are they throwing your quote into a large pool along with hundreds of other quotes?

Only time and experience will tell you.

If you are currently brokering, what is YOUR experience with giving quotes? Let's hear from you.