Trucking: freight, business casual clothing, fleet owners

Question
bob-

what lanes pay the best for freight? how do I go about finding my own accounts - instead of having to go thru brokers?

thanks

Answer
Hi Maria.

If by lanes, you mean areas of the country, they all pay good.  The key is hauling specialized freight.  Ice cream pays more than canned corn and a yacht pays more than hauling lumber.  There is more work to the load, though.  Your focus, it sounds like, should be steady freight.  You want to bypass brokers, and we all do.  This is what you should do.  Get some business cards, dress in some "business casual" clothing and go cold calling.  Stop in at every business in your area offering your trucking services.  If they have a dock, stop in.

Trucking is no different than any other business.  You offer a service, and to promote that service, you need sales.  Besides myself, I have a very good friend who has a successful trucking company here in central Florida.  He's the only other guy (besides myself) I know that goes out and sell.  Now when everyone else is slow, we're busy.  I got one of my great accounts from cold calling.  I kept stopping into a business, just a couple miles from me, to offer my services.  When their trucking company let them down, I stepped right in and got a load.  I have a regular run from to LA from Tampa with this company and sometimes a backhaul.  It pays very well and is steady.  I always make sure the load is on time and if they need a trailer moved in their yard, I send a truck up for free to move it.  You build a relationship.  Call them, make sure they're happy, and so on.  This is what 95% of other small fleet owners don't want to do and never try.  If I never kept stopping in to this business and giving them my card, I would of never have gotten this account.  Legwork today, will put money in your pocket tomorrow.

Now, you can also use brokers to get the loads.  Then when you find out who the big shippers and receivers are in your area, and drop off a card.  I would still stop in.  Nothing beats a face-to-face sales call.

Good luck!

Bob Stephens