Ever wondered what a typical day as a freight broker looks like? Look no further! In this blog, we'll take you through the ins and outs of being a broker. From morning routines to key tasks throughout the day, get ready for an exclusive look at life as a professional freight broker.
Ok let's dig into at the very beginning. Starting your day off on the right foot is vital for success. Our advice: be at your desk, ready to begin work no later than 7:30am and make sure you are actually working from that time! Don't let precious morning hours slip away by getting caught up in social media or news – use this valuable time efficiently instead. You'd be surprised how much progress can be made when starting early and staying focused!
Start every day making sure you're ready for any surprises on the roads or in your inbox - that's how top brokers stay ahead of the game! So check messages and emails from yesterday to get a jumpstart, whether they be texts from drivers out there or overnight requests from customers. If something goes wrong, it pays to know about it first, so you can handle the issue quickly and with time to spare. There's nothing worse than finding out at the pickup time, that your truck broke down 4 or 5 hours ago. So make sure you've contacted all of your carriers that are over the road or are scheduled for morning deliveries and pickups.
After you’ve confirmed that you didn’t have any fires to put out from the previous night, we’ll move on to our next task. That is calling each of your customers for an update on today’s loads. This is important, make sure that in your conversations with your customers, you’re adding value! As freight brokers, we are our customer's access to the trucking market and building trust between us happens during our phone calls with them. Take advantage of any potential opportunities that could come up during your conversations like hot loads or missed pickups from last night - it may be what sets you above their other brokerages.
Building a strong customer relationship is no overnight task. It requires weeks, or even months of hard work and dedicated effort to reach the point where customers will trust you with consistent freight shipments. But stay focused on your goal- each call brings you closer -and before long that successful partnership will be realized!
Next, post your customer's load list as quickly as possible on DAT and get those loads covered! Remember that time is of the essence; both you and empty & available trucks need to start rolling to make money ASAP. As a broker, you're tasked with the critical job of combining both incoming and outgoing calls – building relationships with shippers on one hand while successfully selling loads to carriers on the other. After all, securing customers is essential for earning money but so are finding reliable carriers who can haul their shipments – you can’t make money without both!
Working as a broker can be an exciting balancing act - one day you may find yourself on the phone for hours, securing and selling loads to carriers while other days require nothing more than waiting. The fact that each day is different is what keeps things interesting!
Ok, before you begin prospecting for the day, the most important task is generating leads. Taking the time to create a list of at least 200 potential prospects will help break down any feelings of scarcity and give you better practice for this valuable skill. It's essential that lead generation happens separately from calling; find all of your contacts first before getting on those calls!
Now that you have your leads prepared, we're ready to prospect. But, finding the best time to engage prospects can be tricky. For successful prospecting, try out various times and days of the week. Experiment with different hours for each region or commodity your business calls on as some may prefer early morning while others require a late afternoon approach. Keep track of what works so that you'll always have an edge in making those crucial connections with potential customers.
But how many calls should you be making? Activity is key in becoming a successful broker! For your first weeks, start with an attainable goal of 30-40 calls per day and increase gradually. Over time, aim for 4-5 days/week at 60-80 calls each – it'll be the single most important determining factor between success or failure. There's no prize for excessive dialing without consistency; instead avoid burn out by keeping those numbers consistent over several days to make sure you reach customer goals while still taking care of yourself!
Lastly, let's reach out to our customers once more and give them updates on today’s loads. We'll confirm that everything is running smoothly and ask if they have any new loads ready for transport. Keeping them informed will help ensure a successful long term relationship.
Freight brokers are constantly kept on their toes balancing requests, customer issues, and the need to keep prospecting. This demanding job will challenge even those with great time-management skills. Despite potential setbacks or excuses that act as barriers to success in this industry only one thing is certain when it comes to achieving your goals: no matter what else may arise, never forget about your prospecting activity!
