How Many Cold Call Should New Freight Brokers Make? | Final Mile 128

Welcome back. It's another edition of the Final Mile. It's our listener QA edition that we've got here every single week. So if you have a question for us, make sure you send it to uh there's a form right on our website, Freight360.net. We do pull some stuff from YouTube comments, our Facebook group, which is uh linked down below. Um, but check out all the sponsors down in the description box to support the channel. And um you got the Freight Broker basics course as well if you're looking for an educational option. But Ben, let's get right into it. We got three good ones today. Um, the for this one came from Facebook and said, hi, this qu or this question is for brokers. In many states, the snow and sleet and ice storm is still lingering, but I'm seeing loads posted that definitely cannot be delivered. Why are brokers posting them? All right, so I picked this question because um you might be listening to this when it first comes out and the storm was a week and a half ago. You might be listening to it a year from now, and you don't even know what storm we're talking about. But this stuff happens like seasonally, whether it's a winter storm, it could be wildfires, it could be a hurricane, you know, whatever, whatever kind of thing that's gonna disrupt the market. And they asked, why are brokers still posting them? Well, I'll tell you that uh there's a probably a couple of reasons, but I had somebody last week, um no, it was that it was earlier this week, like in the middle of the storm, and he's like, he's like, Yeah, I'm posting them, but like no one's calling me. And I'm like, well, yeah. I'm like, um, I don't think you're gonna really find anybody until after this clears. But I think the the answer here to the actual question that I want to elaborate is um some people might just not realize that they're not gonna find capacity, or what's the you know, what's really the loss in having it posted? You might find that one guy who that area that he's in or maybe his comfort level, he's like, dude, I'll I'll drive it. I don't have any issue with that. Um, but it brings up a bigger, a bigger point here, and that's just like communication. So if your like actually, while we were recording our episode earlier, um, one of these customers that has that has delays right now because of the weather just emailed us and said, Hey, I need luck getting these loads picked up. Um, it's just the the tip here is communication, right? Um, hey, tell your customer, like, I'm trying, I've got this posted out here, I'm trying to source carriers, but the reality is I've had it posted and I've made calls and we're just not getting any interest. So that's why I think a lot of people will still have their stuff posted, is to get that feedback for their customer to tell them not just, hey, I don't think we'll be able to move it, but more so, hey, we're not able to find anybody that's available right now and willing to do this. We here's what we're trying. So that's kind of why if it was me, well, I would answer that, yeah, I'm I'm still posting that load. But do you have any other thoughts here on the let's say it's in the middle of a hurricane and you're trying to send someone into you know South Florida?

So when you're covering a lot of freight, like and your customer really needs something moved, one of the things you really want to work on or is really valuable skill or kind of habit, however you want to define it, is I'm trying to cover the load right now, but as I'm trying to cover the load, I'm also trying to find the next best option at the same time. So I might get a carrier that calls me and says, Hey, I'd take that, but I can't get into Detroit to deliver until Sunday. I know this is supposed to go Friday, but like we just can't get in there. Okay, great. Where are you looking to be? I've got an option. Then the next carrier I talk to goes, hey man, I can take this, but I'd either like to pick it up a little later, like tomorrow or the next day, and I can deliver it Monday since I can't get there Saturday and Sunday. And I might have a third carrier that says, Hey, I can pick it up when your customer needs it. If he needs to get it out of his dock, I can store it and have another guy deliver it Monday, right? So I might have three other ways to help with this solution from three different carriers, even though it can't get there when I need it. The reason I leave it posted for when I my customer would like it delivered is so the carriers can see what is like the hope or what is like the previous expectation. So when they see that, they all know that they can't get in there. But they're, if they're gonna call me or email me, they're usually gonna go, like, here's an alternative option and would be able to help with it. So now when I call my customer, like, hey, I know you want this move today, but I got three other options. I can get it today and store it, get it there Monday. I can get it today. The guy can stay there, I can pay him a layover. And a third option is like, I can load it Thursday to deliver it Monday. Here's the prices for all three, because I want to be a problem solver. Again, I'm not in shipping, I'm in communication, the people business, and ultimately problem solving, right? So I'm always looking for another option. And it's the same thing with like a normal load with no weather, right? Like my customer might want to be at three grand and I get a bunch of hits at 36. Like, I'm still writing them down and I'm gonna go back to my customer, like, hey, look, I know you needed to be at three to move this, but I got three options at 36. If you can't get it moved, let me know. I got about 15 minutes to get back to these guys. They can do it. I know it's not ideal, but at least it's an option. And they might have an option that goes, hey, I got a guy that'll pick it up tomorrow for your three grand, but nobody that'll do it for less than 36 today. Hey, the aren't they aren't ideal. They aren't what my customer needed or asked for, but at least I'm showing them I'm willing to think outside of the box to give them options, right?

Yeah, and that's where you can really leverage using those the comment fields on the load boards with your posting to add context to like, hey, we're you know, this could be flexible on delivery window, whatnot. And the same thing, all the things you just said, if you're making outbound calls to carriers, when you know that it's during a storm or something like that, um, you can just have that conversation about like, yeah, you know, this is what the customer's looking for. Obviously, that's been a hurdle for us, and try to talk through some, you know, alternative options for them. So, but good question. Um, hopefully everyone is cleared from the storm by the time this uh this drops on Tuesday. All right, next question Is there an age limit on vans or reefer trailers when a shipper won't load them because of age? Um, no, there is no legal age requirement, but this brings up a good point. A customer might have a desire or a requirement for you to have um XYZ criteria with motor carriers. You know, it's everything from a lot of times it's insurance. Um, it could be they might tell you like, yeah, our biggest issue is like it's these are time sensitive and we can't deal with breakdowns and late deliveries, etc. You can have this conversation with them about, you know, we went, you know, talking back to our prospecting um episode that we did before this. Um one of the conversations you could have is like talking through any kind of ramification of a load delivers late. Like, what does that mean for them? Is there do they get dinged by their customer, et cetera? And you could talk through, like, hey, you know, part of the one of the things we do when we're selecting and and prov presenting you with options for trucks is we can see, you know, make model year, VIN number, we can see their inspection history down. We can see the inspection history down to that that actual trailer level and that truck level and find out like, all right, well, this this guy's driving a 2023. Um, you know, no inspection dings, right? He was clean on his inspection. Uh this other guy that we've got an option, he's a little bit cheaper, he's driving a 2003, and he's gotten some, he's been put, you know, out of service for what I'm just kind of making this up on the slide. You know, but you can add you can have those the add that context into your conversations, assuming that you're using the data that's A, publicly available for free through the DOT, or B, you're paying for a service like a highway, MCP, RMIS, etc., um, to see this stuff. But yes, again, to answer your question, no age limit, like legally required, but there are certainly limits.

Yeah. What's that? There's like qualitative limits, meaning like the shipper might say, like, that's too old, but the real reason is probably like maybe it needed to be food grade. Maybe it the trailer just looks so beat up that they're worried about a claim, right?

Maybe it's well, they don't want their customer to see a rusty old trailer showing up, and this is what this is what these guys are sending me.

So yeah. So, and again, you can turn this into an advantage and an opportunity. That happens, I'm gonna be like, oh, okay, sorry about that. Like you said, Nate, I've got all the info on this. You didn't specify, or I wasn't aware that like you had some qualitative requirement for the trailers. What are you guys looking for? When I spoke to you, you told me the only thing that was important to you was a good rate. Well, I got you the best rate with a guy that was closest to you. If you let me know what you're looking at, I can help with that. Oh, we need this, this, and this for this reason. Okay, great. Well, I've got two options. The other guy's about an extra$400, but I can send him in now. Like I might only be$200 more. But now I'm trying to gauge my shippers pricing versus quality need. They'll always tell you they want it now, they want it fast, and they want it cheap. But when you make them choose between the two, you learn a lot about where their price sensitivity is. Oh,$400 more? Well, you know what? I guess that trailer's okay. I guess my customer won't mind that much. I'd rather have the cheaper one. Now all of a sudden, age and quality doesn't matter. When they think they've got to pay more for the thing they want, all of a sudden you'll see them actually making a choice of which is more important on that scale.

Yep. Exactly. All right, next question. Um, I'll let you take this one. You put it in. What are the expectations for activity or calls at large freight brokerages? I've never worked at a uh large big box one like you. So take it away.

Yeah, I mean, I'd say on average, it's somewhere between 80 and 100 or 110 cold calls per day when you're only prospecting. When you're new and that's your only job is to get customers, that's right around the expectation of a large company. The thing that I think is worth adding is it's not just the activity, it's how and who you're following up with, which I don't think is talked about enough. I'll give you two examples. One person goes into Zoom Info where you can see any company, all these phone numbers, and they call a hundred companies a day and a hundred different people. Nobody gives them business, so they call a hundred different ones tomorrow, and then they call a hundred different ones Wednesday and a hundred different ones Thursday and a hundred different ones Friday. And over that month, the 20 days they were at work where they made phone calls, every one of those days they called a hundred different companies, expecting somebody to give them business in their first outreach. That is very unlikely, if ever, to get you a customer. If another person sitting next to them has 200 leads, calls 100 leads Monday, and all 98 people that didn't answer calls them again Wednesday, and all the people that didn't answer calls those people Friday, and so on. And then everybody they called Tuesday that didn't answer, they follow up with Thursday. And then who doesn't answer? They call Monday. You could work 200 leads for two months. You will get far more business than trying to call a different hundred companies every single day, all month, or all year, because you don't get business in our industry in one outreach. It takes, we talk about this a lot, eight to nine to 12 conversations or at least interactions before they're going to trust you enough to actually start to do business with you. So where I think most people go wrong when they just focus on activity is they're just hoping to find an easy lead or get a one-call close, is what you kind of call it in sales, which is like almost unheard of in freight. Like I had that happen to me one time where my first phone call, I was able to turn them into a customer. And it was like super lucky, very happenstance. That customer just happened to have a bunch of loads given back to them that morning. And I was able to connect with them and they gave me a few. But like that is absolutely the exception and not the rule. You'll get much farther along following up consistently and spending more time trying to reach the companies that don't answer because the companies that need the most help or the person at the shipper that actually needs a new broker probably is too busy to answer the phone. And the ones that do answer every time you call are the probably the people that don't have enough volume and have plenty of brokers and don't need any help. And most people prioritize the people that answer and don't need help than trying to reach the ones that are harder to get to that actually do need help. Very good point.

Very good point. We had, I want to say never a one call close. Um, a first call where it led to like a second call close, basically. There there was a need for a shipment coming up the next week. And hey, call me back Monday and we'll talk about a type deal. So all right, good stuff. Good questions, keep sending them our way, and we'll continue to answer them. Final thoughts.

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