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December 23, 2025 β€’ 14 mins

Nate Cross & Ben Kowalski answer your freight brokering questions and discuss:

🚨 Fraud Alert: Fake carrier showed legit tracking, took a $2K fuel advance, never picked up the load

🚚 ELD Question: How do ELD-exempt carriers get set up on Highway?

🧠 Broker Tools: What’s the best CRM for a freight broker?

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:38):
Welcome back.
It's another edition of thefinal mile where we answer your
questions and respond to yourcomments from social media.
Um and Merry Christmas.
I know we're in the holidayseason here.
This will be dropping justbefore uh um Christmas.
So hope everyone's enjoying sometime off with their family and
um having a good time.

(01:00):
So make sure to leave us areview, comment, share with your
friends, check out theFreeburger basics course if
you're looking for some trainingoptions and support our channel
by checking out the sponsorsthat are listed in the
description box on YouTube or inthe show notes via podcast.
All right, Ben, we got thesethree came from our Facebook

(01:21):
group.
The first one we we did like afull breakdown on the most
recent podcast episode.
So if you want a full breakdown,check that one out.
Um but they said I got scammedby a fake carrier, Scottway
Logistics LLC.
They showed legit tracking andcommunication, took a$2,000 fuel
advance after quote unquoteloading, but never actually
picked up the freight.

(01:41):
Macro point pings were fake andthe driver ghosted.
Lesson learned, no more fueladvances, even with an all-green
RMS.
So here's what um, and I knowthat's not really a question,
it's more of a comment, but Iwanted to bring it in here.
And again, check out the fullepisode from last week if if you
want our full breakdown on thisone.
But um at the end of the day, umuh Ben, I think you said it best

(02:04):
on the podcast is like a phonecall could prevent a lot of
things, right?
And when when it comes to fueladvances, one thing that um I've
since I started that we've doneis I need documentation that is
from my customer.
Like they, you know, they itcould be an email or whatever,
right?
But I need I need verificationfrom them that the load was

(02:26):
picked up, and then I and Iasked for a picture of the
driver's uh CDL and their cabcard registration, right?
Um, those tie the driver to thecarrier and the carrier to the
um shipment and the customerapproves all of it, and then
maybe I'll give an advance out.
I'm not a fan of advances ingeneral, um, but I understand

(02:47):
that they're required forcertain things.
And lumper, like, yeah, I'mgonna advance for lumper if my
customer is requiring it.
Um, but what's your take on ummaybe procedurally or or or or
whatnot as far as this scammerum you know, getting this broker
for two grand on a fuel advance?

SPEAKER_01 (03:06):
Well, one like we looked at this carrier.
So the first thing was if thiswasn't a box truckload, you
could have prevented that withany tool, even I think Safer
will show you their equipment.
But for sure, search carriers,highway, RMIS will tell you the
equipment they have listed.
And if this wasn't a box truckload, that's your first red

(03:26):
flag.
The second is if you're evergonna give a fuel advance, you
need your customer to confirm itwas loaded on the truck you're
going to advance money to,right?
So not just a bill of ladingfrom the carrier, which is the
third one, but like a phone calland an email from my customer
from that shipper, hey, who didyou guys load?

(03:47):
Any issues there?
Just want to confirm the truck.
That would have prevented this.
And then the third is if thecarrier sends you a bill of
lading and it's your customer,you should have another bill of
lading in your TMS to compare itto to see if it is legit.
Now that can still be faked ordefrauded.
However, when you do all four ofthose things, the likelihood

(04:08):
that you wouldn't have caughtthis one is pretty slim.
So again, like just like yousaid in our full length one is
like you need both tools,processes, and knowledge to be
able to protect yourself.

SPEAKER_00 (04:21):
Agreed.
Agreed.
All right, next question.
Um, how can ELD exempt carrierssign up on highway?
It seems most brokers won't loadyou if you don't have an ELD
connection.
Um, this is an interestingquestion because this came up
earlier this year in my companywhen you know we were looking

(04:42):
at, you know, for example, likeon highway, and this is what the
question was about is like youcan have a rule, like they have
to have an ELD connection.
Um, well, there are instanceswhere carrier like a box truck
that fits under, I think it's10,000 pounds for the uh gross
weight, um, they don't need tohave an ELD.

(05:02):
If they're a short haul, theydon't need to have an ELD.
If they're intrastate, theydon't need to have an ELD.
You have the ag exemption,you've got the 19th.
Yeah.
So there are exemptions, and ifyou just blatantly say we're not
going to load anybody withoutELDs, you're potentially giving
up a big chunk of the market.
And a lot of times it's a nichepart of the market, like

(05:25):
Sprinter Van business, forexample.
Like there's a lot ofopportunity in um expedite,
final mile, things like that forsprinter vans and and whatnot.
Um, what you can do in highwayto answer the question is if you
are ELD exempt, there is a wayto um prove that, and you'll be
listed in highway as ELD exempt.

(05:46):
So it kind of check it gives youlike a little check mark
basically that um, yes, Iunderstand I don't have an ELD,
but I have given the documentsnecessary, depending on the
situation, to Highway to showthat I'm ELD exempt.
So glider kit is a greatexample.
Like if they got the old the1999 or older engine and they
just upgraded their, you know,the the rest of the truck around

(06:10):
it, um or if it's just an oldtruck for that matter, um, you
can you can show that you're ELDexempt.
So um there and again, outsideof Highway, there are other ways
to verify uh the quality of acarrier.
Um so like if we're gonna talkgen logs for a quick second, if

(06:30):
I know that the carrier is uh,you know, they're they're you
know, they don't have an ELDaccording to Highway.
Um I'm loading a sprinter van,right, and I can see on gen logs
a picture of the trucks and Ican see a footprint of where
they operate and it all linesup, um, that's gonna be a good a
good sign for this carrierversus um having to go through

(06:53):
an exemption process withhighway.
So any other thoughts on uhexempt carriers?

SPEAKER_01 (06:59):
Other than again, a phone call will probably get you
approved to the broker's managerif they can't.
Hey, is there anyone else I canspeak to there?
Anyone on your carrier team?
And then just have aconversation as to why you're
exempt and why you're notmeeting the rule, and you could
probably get it waived.

SPEAKER_00 (07:16):
Yep.
And we've done the same thingtoo.
Like, um if if in your vettingsoftware, like highway or
whatnot, if you're getting aflag that the carriers got
trucks that are not on theirinsurance policy.
I I've had instances where likethe truck went in the shop and
it's gonna be a a pretty longtime.
Um, and they're they just tookit off their insurance to save

(07:39):
money.
And we'll take it, but you know,it still shows connected to
their ELD because they it'sstill on their account.
Um, we'll take like a shop quoteor you know, whatever that just
it's a show of good faith, like,yeah, like this truck's in the
shop, it's why it's off myinsurance.
I'm trying to save money whileI'm having to spend money to get
it fixed.
I just didn't take it off my ELDaccount, um, or whatever.

(07:59):
So there's there's ways to justpick up the phone, have a
conversation, and figure outwhat what you need to do to all
feel comfortable.
Um, our last question what CRMis good for a freight broker?
So um there are a lot of CRMsthat are out there, and we've
seen and used a whole bunch ofthem.

(08:20):
Um specific to freight, the onlyone that I'm aware of that's
like freight specific is shipperCRM.
Um but here's what I'll tell youwith CRM.
I was helping somebody last weekget get their CRM set up.
Is if you get like a genericCRM, like a um pipe drive, um

(08:42):
HubSpot, Salesforce.
And when I say generic, I meanit's it's meant to be applied to
a variety of differentindustries.
It's gonna come out of the boxwith a lot of stuff that you
probably don't want to see orneed to see, and it's gonna come
with a lot of things that you'reprobably gonna want to build,
add, and customize to make it agood freight-specific um tool.

(09:02):
So the ones I just mentioned areall ones that I've heard uh and
used and seen good feedback on.
Um but things like, you know, Iwas helping somebody clean
theirs up last week, like Isaid, and taking out like
certain, like if you got aprospect, right, and a lot of
the generic stuff in there islike, you know, you know, deal,

(09:23):
like there's a lot ofdeal-related stages and
estimated order value and thingslike that.
It's like, well, this is kind ofdifferent.
What I want to see is I want tosee like their name, their
company, the commodity thatthey're shipping, the mode of
transportation.
Is it FTL, LTL, Expedite, um,the volume of loads per week,

(09:45):
for example, right?
Um, their decision maker level,like, are they tendering
freight?
Are they handling onboarding?
Like all those things.
So when I when I open up my CRMto make all my calls, I can
quickly see on one screen allthe things that are important to
me.
And if you don't take the timeto customize your CRM in that
fashion, you're gonna findyourself clicking through a

(10:07):
bunch of different screenstrying to get all this
information when you could haveit right in front of you.
Another thing I thought was cooltoo, and I do this in HubSpot,
you can pin a comment to the topof like your feed for a for a
prospect.
So, like if you know that thenext time I call this person, I
want to ask them how their kid'sbirthday party went, boom, pin
that right to the top.
So as soon as you pick up thephone, you got a reminder right

(10:28):
in front of you.
You don't have to scroll throughand look at your notes.
So, what are your thoughts onCRM?

SPEAKER_01 (10:33):
Uh, I mean, everything you said, the thing I
would say is like I used HubSpotfor years, you and I both have.
Um, I really started using a TOabout a year ago, ATTIO, because
one, it was a little cheaperthan HubSpot, but it's it's very
easy to change.
Meaning, like, I was able toconfigure a TO in like two hours

(10:58):
to be exactly what fields Iwant.
I was able to make it say and doeverything I needed to with very
little effort.
Where I found that the larger orthe older CRMs that have been
available are far lessconfigurable unless you really
spend top tier.
And like I've even worked withlike HubSpot consultants to try

(11:20):
to get it to do what you justsaid of like commodity, what
type of equipment, what's theseasonality?
Are they a decision maker?
Are they the tenderer?
Like, are they in procurement?
And like all of those thingsI've been trying to do for years
in every other CRM I was able todo in a TO in like an hour.

(11:41):
And it is like custom, bespoke,super easy to use, way lower
cost than most of the otherones.
So for me, that's the one I'vebeen using mostly in the past,
probably year, year and a half.
And like I kind of recommend itto everybody because I haven't
found any functionality versionto it looks like, or you can
start off that I can't do withit.

(12:02):
Like it literally doeseverything I've ever found in
any other CRM.
And I've really gotten like waydown in the rabbit hole of like
building like sequences wherelike I've set it up so like it
will email the decision makerquarterly for a brokerage and
say, hey, wanted to catch upwith you on uh a quarterly
review, because you just kind offorget to do that.

(12:24):
I have it set up so like if youhave an inactive customer, it
will send them out an email toconnect with them.
So like you don't run into the,oh, I did all this work to bring
on this customer and then justforgot about them because they
just didn't have any loads thepast month.
So there was a lot offunctionality and things that
I've been able to do with thatthat literally took me almost no
effort, where all of the otherones that have been around,

(12:48):
they're just to your point, likethey're very good, but they're
mostly built for other types ofsales.
Our industry is a very uniquetype of sale because like you
need to first close the companyto do business.
Yep.
But then in addition, you needto penetrate it and keep working
it to be able to actually dobusiness with them.
There's not really like a dealnumber or like, hey, this is

(13:10):
what the value is kind of thing.

SPEAKER_00 (13:11):
You literally like it, we it's very transactional,
right?
Um, we operate a lot in the spotmarket, so that's a that's a
very good point there.

SPEAKER_01 (13:19):
Well, and here's the other thing I was able to do
with it.
I was able to make thoserequired fields under like a
contact and a company record.
So like if you're a salespersonat a brokerage, I set this up
for a client, like it literallyis the first thing you see.
It says, How many truckloads dothey move per week?
And there's a drop down whereit's like zero to 10, 10 to 20,
20 to 40, 40 to 60, right?

(13:40):
So like you kind of it helps thesalespeople not forget to ask
those questions, right?
Yep.
And then it'll say, like, dothey have an RFP?
And then there's another dropdown.
What time of year is their RFP?
Right.
So like I was able to design itin a way that like you can't
forget to ask those questionsbecause they're like literally
right next to that person's namewhen you call them.

SPEAKER_00 (14:02):
That's yeah, that's great.
I I love having the requiredfields too in the CRM for that
exact reason.
So all right, good, good stuff,good questions.
Keep sending them our way.
We'll keep answering them.
Final thoughts.

SPEAKER_01 (14:13):
Whether you believe you can or believe you can't,
you're right.

SPEAKER_00 (14:17):
And until next time, go bills.
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