August 19, 2025 • 16 mins
Nate Cross & Ben Kowalski answer your freight brokering questions and discuss:
💰 Bulk Tanker Profitability – Which pays more for dedicated contracts: food-grade or non-hazmat chemical tankers? We break down the pros, cons, and market factors so you can chase the best rates.
📧 Email-Only Prospects – Stuck with a shipper who only wants to email? Learn how to engage on their terms while steering the conversation toward a phone call.
🚛 MC Seasoning – Does paying for an MC and insurance without hauling count toward the 6–12 month “seasoned” requirement? Here’s the answer and what to watch out for.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, welcome back.
It's the final mile.
We're going to answer yourquestions.
These come to us today fromYouTube comments and our
Facebook group, but make sure tocheck out all the other content
at Freight360.net, includingour Freight Broker Basics course
, if you're looking for thateducational option, and share us
with your friends all that goodstuff, and check out the
sponsors down below.
(00:20):
It will help support thechannel.
All right, our first question.
This is going to probably gotowards uh, towards you more
than anything.
It's more of a niche thatyou're involved in, but it's on
on bulk, uh, tanker moves.
So the question was what paysmore for dedicated contracts?
This was an owner operatorlooking to, um, to, you know,
(00:40):
figure out where they want to gocommodity-wise.
I said food-grade or non-hasmatchemical tankers.
They said I'm a one-truckflatbed dry van carrier looking
to move into bulk.
So I guess my first because I'mactually curious myself the
profitability of bulk in generalversus just a basic dry van.
(01:02):
What is the average rates whenyou were in the bulk world, like
what's a rate per mile?
And then we'll kind of compareit to uh, um, a standard like
dry van so I mean it's they'revery different for very
different reasons.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
So, for instance, I'm just looking at some of the
stuff that's like because foodgrade and non-hasmat chemical
actually kind of overlap in afew things.
There's lots of chemicals.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
You could have a food grade chemical.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Glycerin, for example , is a food it needs to go in a
food grade trailer, right, thatis certified, but it is also
technically a chemical that isnon-hasmat, right.
So like there's a lot ofoverlap in some of these and
there's also a very difference,very big differences, in
equipment.
But like, even just looking atsome of the rates per mile, like
, and you can be at like 350 to550 a mile, depending- on what
(01:57):
lanes which is way above your.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
You know your dry van or flatbed it is, but it isn't.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
So here's the thing, right, and the thing you need to
understand with running thesetypes of lanes is those are
typically like a round trip.
Yes, and here's why there's nota lot of spot loads available
for like day of or even a coupleof days in advance, and it's
also really hard to line them upbecause you typically have to
get a tank wash in between,which could be anywhere from a
couple hours to like.
Typically have to get a tankwash in between, which could be
(02:25):
anywhere from a couple hours tolike overnight leaving to get
your tank washed, and if thatdoesn't get done on schedule,
you miss the round trip.
So what you end up having to doif you're literally running
both sides of the lane I don'tknow North Carolina to like
Houston and back you need like aday or two gap in between them
because you got to get the tankwashed and get over to your next
(02:47):
place.
So it's a lot more per mile,but you have a lot more dead
time where you're basicallyneeding to get there way early
to make sure you make yourpickup.
So even at 550 a mile, a lot ofthese are run round trips.
So cut that in half.
You're at 225 a mile.
Now you got to throw in a tankwash.
Maybe your customer pays it,maybe not, but that could be
anywhere from 200 to 350.
(03:07):
So now all of a sudden you'reback to two bucks a mile, like
right out of the gate, right.
So there are lots of thingsthat really matter.
When you're trying to figureout, like when we run tankers,
we would always look as like,how much can we earn per week
per driver on each piece ofequipment.
Not necessarily per mile,because when you factor all the
dead time in repositioning,getting there, getting back like
(03:30):
, the numbers seem super highrate per mile, but when you you
figure out what that driveractually earns a week, they
don't.
They're not as exaggeratedbetween the two, if that makes
sense.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Yeah.
So the way, the way I wouldunderstand that then is like you
know, you look at that rate permile and if it's roundtrap you
cut in half.
I guess the benefit to thetanker side is if you can get to
a position like that whereyou're keeping your empty miles
(04:01):
as low as possible and you'rekeeping your.
You're keeping your empty milesas low as possible and you're
keeping your.
Uh, cause, if you look at,let's say, the example you gave
and it's like, okay, well, it'scut, you're ended up getting two
, 25 a mile and you're like, allright, well, maybe it's two
bucks a mile for a drive in, um,but that drive in.
Also you have to factor in,like, if they're not doing round
trip dedicated stuff, thenthey're going to be driving
empty.
You know, deadhead 100 mileshere, deadhead 150 miles here,
(04:25):
et cetera.
And I like how you pointed outwhat are my earnings per week?
Right, that's, I think, per dayper week.
All of that is a great way tolook at it.
I think at the end of the day,the more specialized companies,
the niche is very likely there'smore potential for higher
earnings on it.
Otherwise it wouldn't makesense to incentivize anybody to
(04:46):
operate in that world.
But to the original questionfood grade versus non-hasmetic
chemicals?
The question may have beenasked incorrectly and I'm glad
that you were here to answer,because I wouldn't have been
able to give that.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Yeah, and I'm even looking at some of my stuff and
again, this is from a year and ahalf ago but like, yeah, I'm
seeing everything from like 550miles, 650 miles.
Oh, this customer awarded itfor 550 miles, said it was a
great rate.
But then I kind of look at thelanes they were associated with
it and like it was because I wasdoing a lot of this trying to
match up basically backhaul andfront hauls with other customers
(05:20):
.
But then you run into like whatbecomes even more difficult is
in a van.
It doesn't matter if it goes ina van, I can pick up whatever
you have and pick up whateverSteven has if it goes in a van.
But when it's a tanker youmight need food grade, you might
need a kosher cert.
But Steven has a backhaul loadand he's like, yeah, great, you
have a tanker, but what Stevenputs in is going to put in my
(05:41):
truck is not allowed before Iload you, because then you get
into like they're calledapproved prior load.
So basically anytime I'm goingto load for you.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
How far back do they look?
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Three, usually three loads.
Now it's a little different fordifferent commodities but like
food grade glycerin, which isjust one I did a lot of, they're
going back three loads forevery single one.
So if you loaded peanut oil andyou have an exclusion for
peanut oil, then like I can'tmatch those two lanes up and
that's it.
You kind of run into the samething.
You run into, like with reeferLTL, like different temperatures
(06:14):
being able to put differentcommodities in the same piece of
equipment really does make thisa lot different.
And like there's just morethings to try to determine when
you're figuring out how much canI make per week as opposed to
just what am I getting per mile?
Gotcha All right.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Next question is how do you get an email?
Only prospect to take a phonecall.
So they went on and say, likemy this, this person I'm
prospecting, will only respondto me via email.
I can never seem to get them onthe phone.
I got a couple of thoughts onthis.
We probably need moreinformation, but I usually, with
(06:50):
anybody, the first time youstart to communicate with them,
I try to meet them where they'reat Right.
It's like I've had people thatI've talked to that like will
just only text me and they'llonly text me when they have a
question about something, and ifI ask them something, they will
not respond back.
Right, and the same thing canhappen via email and then I get
friends that are probably likethat.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Oh yeah, like there's just people you know that have
that type of personality where,like they just won't answer the
phone.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
The same thing.
You could reverse engineer.
You could have a customer orsomeone that like what they what
could get accomplished in anemail they will always call you
about right, and you just haveto start.
Wherever that relationship is,and if it's strictly just email
or if they're strictly justgoing to call you instead of
saying a quick email, that'swhere you start and then, um,
(07:36):
the you know, if someone'scalling you too much, you can
always try to build out like hey, um, what do you you think
about?
You know, will X, y and Z bedone over email?
It's probably the quickest,easiest way to get done.
That way I can focus, you knowbest service for you, et cetera.
Now to get someone to go fromemail to phone some prospects
(07:56):
they're just fishing you forrates and you may never get them
on a phone call.
They're just fishing you forrates and you may never get them
on a phone call.
It could be that you knowyou've got to try to work your
way through their phone tree towhere someone finally patches
you through and you're, like Jim, glad I finally got you on the
phone here.
I know we've been emailing alot.
I had a couple of questionsabout that quote request you
(08:17):
were sending over.
Well, now you got them on thephone, the phone, and that's a.
That's a gatekeeping techniquethat some prospects will use,
because until they get somethingfrom you via email, that that's
that they like.
They don't want to let youthrough to the phone.
So you know it's going to bethe same way we teach about
getting through gatekeepers and,you know, trying to navigate
your way through their phonesystem, through their directory,
(08:38):
to finally get them.
Um, what you probably want todo in an email is give them a
reason to take time out of theirday and hop on a phone with you
.
Do you have any thoughts on Iknow it's kind of a generic
question, but any thoughts onthis?
Oh yeah, I do that all the time.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
So, like a couple of examples right, like I can't get
somebody to answer when I call,I first try a couple of
different days of the week andtimes of the day to see if maybe
I catch them at a better timewhere they maybe answer.
Right, then I'm probably goingto try to find a reason to make
them want to pick up the phone.
Like hey, just saw this, had acouple of quick questions, you
got 30 seconds.
Didn't want to send you a superlong email, maybe something to
(09:16):
that effect.
Right, giving them a reason oflike hey, or like hey, I've got
some guys lined up, I thinkmight actually be pretty cheap
compared to what we've beenquoting.
But I want to ask you a fewthings that the drivers asked to
see if we can make this work.
Right, I'm trying to think whatdoes it look like from their
point of view?
What would I be willing to talkto somebody about?
And then I just startedthinking like how can I frame
(09:37):
this to make them care enough togive me 30 seconds on the phone
, right?
So you're trying a bunch ofdifferent things to try to get
them on the phone.
The other thing is, like I'vedefinitely just had people that
just don't talk to anybody.
Like I had customers that likejust literally won't ever pick
up the phone and talk to you.
I am trying to find otherpeople in the company to talk to
.
Then I'm looking who else hasthat job title that I can pick
(09:58):
up the phone and call?
Is there somebody in sales Ican call and have be transferred
over to that person?
I'm going to try to call justrandom phone numbers to get
maybe pushed over to that person.
I mean, literally I would gothrough every bag of tricks I
could possibly think of to tryto start building a relationship
with anybody over there,whether it's their manager,
(10:18):
their coworker, maybe it'ssomeone that works for them,
that is below them, that maybe Ican get on the phone.
But just keep trying.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Yeah, the whole.
The big takeaway is you want topose it in a way that it gives
them an incentive to want totalk to you on the phone.
So the examples you gave weregreat, um, all right.
Lastly is about, uh, the age ofa authority.
So this is a carrier asking,cause a lot of you know some,
some brokers will say hey, wedon't work with anybody that's
(10:47):
got less than a year authority,et cetera.
So the question was if I payfor a new MC and insurance for
six to 12 months without haulinganything, will it then count as
seasoned for brokers whorequire it?
So my understanding is yes,because as brokers we can't see
how many loads they've hauled,but what we can see is how many
(11:08):
inspections they've had.
So if you didn't meet mycriteria for, or if you meet my
criteria for 12 months butyou've had no inspections,
you're throwing up all kinds ofother red flags.
Because if I'm like he's got atruck, he's been in business for
a year, has never beeninspected, is he double
brokering?
What's going on here?
That's where my brain would go.
(11:30):
So, technically, yeah, yourauthority is going to age.
My recommendation would just beif you're new, do it the new
way that everybody else does.
You're going to have to gothrough build relationships.
You're probably not going toget the best lanes or the best
pay and freight that's out there.
It's the same thing we dealwith as brokers when we're new
is that we have to take time andbuild up trust, and with that
comes the less profitablebusiness as we're getting
(11:52):
started off.
What's your take on that?
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Yeah, similar.
I mean agree with everythingyou said.
What I would also do is startmaking phone calls immediately
and trying to buildrelationships and just saying,
hey, like I'm new, this is whatI would like to be able to do.
I'd like to be able to build arelationship with you.
I know I might not meet yourcriteria, but if you ever really
need help with a load or a lanethat comes up and you give me
(12:15):
enough time, maybe I can help,Because what you're really
trying to do is to get thatbrokerage to make an exception.
And the easiest way to get themto make an exception is two
things getting them to trust youby talking to them and, second
of all, being patient enough towhere the opportunity happens,
where they're going to need tomake the exception.
Right, it works the same thingwith a broker trying to get in
with a shipper hey, I know youguys aren't on board any new
(12:38):
carriers, but if you ever needhelp and nobody else can get you
a truck, I might be able togive you a hand.
Give me a call If I can.
Maybe we can work it out and Ican't tell you how many
customers wave that and on boardyou immediately because they
actually need you to get thattruck.
The other thing, is.
I would go through new brokerstoo.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Yeah, that's a good point.
One of the things that I'vealways, like we've done, is like
if they're under a year, wehave that set as, like you know,
it'll flag it as they're a newauthority.
But you talk to these, you know, you talk to this owner
operator and he's like, yeah man, I just drove for 12 years
under this other company.
I wanted to go start my ownshop.
It's like you probably got away better driver on the phone
(13:17):
there versus someone who startedtheir business two years ago
and passes that 12 monthauthority rule.
So it's all you know relativeto the big picture.
So, like you said, pick up thephone, call people.
But yeah, that is one of thehurdles for anyone that's new as
a broker or calling shippers.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Like if I'm a carrier and I really wanted to do that
honestly, like I would probablycall every shipper local to me
and I would go there in personand start introducing myself and
I would say, hey, not expectingyou guys to need any help right
now, not expecting you guys tobe able to talk about like
running or doing businesstogether.
But I'm literally right up theroad starting a new trucking
company.
I've been driving for 12 yearswith a larger company.
(13:57):
There's ever an opportunitywhere we can talk or you need
local runs done last minute.
My yard's three miles up theroad.
Feel free to give me a buzz.
I'd love to be able to connectand I would just do that with
everybody.
And then I would follow up withall those people two weeks
later and then I'd do it again,you know, two weeks after that.
And I would just keep doingthat over and over because one
of them is going to go.
Yeah, I have this local lane.
That's a pain in the ass that Ican't anyone get to cover last
(14:20):
minute.
And then you'll start gettingrandom phone calls of like, hey,
can you go grab this from methis afternoon?
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Sure, and again, you've got to be available,
you've got to be able to helpwhen they need the help too
no-transcript and you know, whenI'm delivering to a certain
(14:51):
place, like, hey, I'm actuallyand you may have some sort of
restrictive covenant, depends onyou know who you're working for
.
But if I've got FaceTime withthis location already, I'm going
to be like, hey, I'm actuallylooking at branching off on my
own.
You can have thoseconversations in person ahead of
time.
So, yeah, cool Good stuff, goodquestions.
Keep them coming our way andwe'll keep answering them.
(15:12):
Final thoughts Ben.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Whether you believe you can or believe you can't,
you're right.
All right, welcome back.
It's the final mile.
We're going to answer yourquestions.
These come to us today fromYouTube comments and our
Facebook group, but make sure tocheck out all the other content
at Freight360.net, includingour Freight Broker Basics course
, if you're looking for thateducational option, and share us
with your friends all that goodstuff, and check out the
sponsors down below.
(00:20):
It will help support thechannel.
All right, our first question.
This is going to probably gotowards uh, towards you more
than anything.
It's more of a niche thatyou're involved in, but it's on
on bulk, uh, tanker moves.
So the question was what paysmore for dedicated contracts?
This was an owner operatorlooking to, um, to, you know,
(00:40):
figure out where they want to gocommodity-wise.
I said food-grade or non-hasmatchemical tankers.
They said I'm a one-truckflatbed dry van carrier looking
to move into bulk.
So I guess my first because I'mactually curious myself the
profitability of bulk in generalversus just a basic dry van.
(01:02):
What is the average rates whenyou were in the bulk world, like
what's a rate per mile?
And then we'll kind of compareit to uh, um, a standard like
dry van so I mean it's they'revery different for very
different reasons.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
So, for instance, I'm just looking at some of the
stuff that's like because foodgrade and non-hasmat chemical
actually kind of overlap in afew things.
There's lots of chemicals.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
You could have a food grade chemical.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Glycerin, for example , is a food it needs to go in a
food grade trailer, right, thatis certified, but it is also
technically a chemical that isnon-hasmat, right.
So like there's a lot ofoverlap in some of these and
there's also a very difference,very big differences, in
equipment.
But like, even just looking atsome of the rates per mile, like
, and you can be at like 350 to550 a mile, depending- on what
(01:57):
lanes which is way above your.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
You know your dry van or flatbed it is, but it isn't.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
So here's the thing, right, and the thing you need to
understand with running thesetypes of lanes is those are
typically like a round trip.
Yes, and here's why there's nota lot of spot loads available
for like day of or even a coupleof days in advance, and it's
also really hard to line them upbecause you typically have to
get a tank wash in between,which could be anywhere from a
couple hours to like.
Typically have to get a tankwash in between, which could be
(02:25):
anywhere from a couple hours tolike overnight leaving to get
your tank washed, and if thatdoesn't get done on schedule,
you miss the round trip.
So what you end up having to doif you're literally running
both sides of the lane I don'tknow North Carolina to like
Houston and back you need like aday or two gap in between them
because you got to get the tankwashed and get over to your next
(02:47):
place.
So it's a lot more per mile,but you have a lot more dead
time where you're basicallyneeding to get there way early
to make sure you make yourpickup.
So even at 550 a mile, a lot ofthese are run round trips.
So cut that in half.
You're at 225 a mile.
Now you got to throw in a tankwash.
Maybe your customer pays it,maybe not, but that could be
anywhere from 200 to 350.
(03:07):
So now all of a sudden you'reback to two bucks a mile, like
right out of the gate, right.
So there are lots of thingsthat really matter.
When you're trying to figureout, like when we run tankers,
we would always look as like,how much can we earn per week
per driver on each piece ofequipment.
Not necessarily per mile,because when you factor all the
dead time in repositioning,getting there, getting back like
(03:30):
, the numbers seem super highrate per mile, but when you you
figure out what that driveractually earns a week, they
don't.
They're not as exaggeratedbetween the two, if that makes
sense.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Yeah.
So the way, the way I wouldunderstand that then is like you
know, you look at that rate permile and if it's roundtrap you
cut in half.
I guess the benefit to thetanker side is if you can get to
a position like that whereyou're keeping your empty miles
(04:01):
as low as possible and you'rekeeping your.
You're keeping your empty milesas low as possible and you're
keeping your.
Uh, cause, if you look at,let's say, the example you gave
and it's like, okay, well, it'scut, you're ended up getting two
, 25 a mile and you're like, allright, well, maybe it's two
bucks a mile for a drive in, um,but that drive in.
Also you have to factor in,like, if they're not doing round
trip dedicated stuff, thenthey're going to be driving
empty.
You know, deadhead 100 mileshere, deadhead 150 miles here,
(04:25):
et cetera.
And I like how you pointed outwhat are my earnings per week?
Right, that's, I think, per dayper week.
All of that is a great way tolook at it.
I think at the end of the day,the more specialized companies,
the niche is very likely there'smore potential for higher
earnings on it.
Otherwise it wouldn't makesense to incentivize anybody to
(04:46):
operate in that world.
But to the original questionfood grade versus non-hasmetic
chemicals?
The question may have beenasked incorrectly and I'm glad
that you were here to answer,because I wouldn't have been
able to give that.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Yeah, and I'm even looking at some of my stuff and
again, this is from a year and ahalf ago but like, yeah, I'm
seeing everything from like 550miles, 650 miles.
Oh, this customer awarded itfor 550 miles, said it was a
great rate.
But then I kind of look at thelanes they were associated with
it and like it was because I wasdoing a lot of this trying to
match up basically backhaul andfront hauls with other customers
(05:20):
.
But then you run into like whatbecomes even more difficult is
in a van.
It doesn't matter if it goes ina van, I can pick up whatever
you have and pick up whateverSteven has if it goes in a van.
But when it's a tanker youmight need food grade, you might
need a kosher cert.
But Steven has a backhaul loadand he's like, yeah, great, you
have a tanker, but what Stevenputs in is going to put in my
(05:41):
truck is not allowed before Iload you, because then you get
into like they're calledapproved prior load.
So basically anytime I'm goingto load for you.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
How far back do they look?
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Three, usually three loads.
Now it's a little different fordifferent commodities but like
food grade glycerin, which isjust one I did a lot of, they're
going back three loads forevery single one.
So if you loaded peanut oil andyou have an exclusion for
peanut oil, then like I can'tmatch those two lanes up and
that's it.
You kind of run into the samething.
You run into, like with reeferLTL, like different temperatures
(06:14):
being able to put differentcommodities in the same piece of
equipment really does make thisa lot different.
And like there's just morethings to try to determine when
you're figuring out how much canI make per week as opposed to
just what am I getting per mile?
Gotcha All right.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Next question is how do you get an email?
Only prospect to take a phonecall.
So they went on and say, likemy this, this person I'm
prospecting, will only respondto me via email.
I can never seem to get them onthe phone.
I got a couple of thoughts onthis.
We probably need moreinformation, but I usually, with
(06:50):
anybody, the first time youstart to communicate with them,
I try to meet them where they'reat Right.
It's like I've had people thatI've talked to that like will
just only text me and they'llonly text me when they have a
question about something, and ifI ask them something, they will
not respond back.
Right, and the same thing canhappen via email and then I get
friends that are probably likethat.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Oh yeah, like there's just people you know that have
that type of personality where,like they just won't answer the
phone.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
The same thing.
You could reverse engineer.
You could have a customer orsomeone that like what they what
could get accomplished in anemail they will always call you
about right, and you just haveto start.
Wherever that relationship is,and if it's strictly just email
or if they're strictly justgoing to call you instead of
saying a quick email, that'swhere you start and then, um,
(07:36):
the you know, if someone'scalling you too much, you can
always try to build out like hey, um, what do you you think
about?
You know, will X, y and Z bedone over email?
It's probably the quickest,easiest way to get done.
That way I can focus, you knowbest service for you, et cetera.
Now to get someone to go fromemail to phone some prospects
(07:56):
they're just fishing you forrates and you may never get them
on a phone call.
They're just fishing you forrates and you may never get them
on a phone call.
It could be that you knowyou've got to try to work your
way through their phone tree towhere someone finally patches
you through and you're, like Jim, glad I finally got you on the
phone here.
I know we've been emailing alot.
I had a couple of questionsabout that quote request you
(08:17):
were sending over.
Well, now you got them on thephone, the phone, and that's a.
That's a gatekeeping techniquethat some prospects will use,
because until they get somethingfrom you via email, that that's
that they like.
They don't want to let youthrough to the phone.
So you know it's going to bethe same way we teach about
getting through gatekeepers and,you know, trying to navigate
your way through their phonesystem, through their directory,
(08:38):
to finally get them.
Um, what you probably want todo in an email is give them a
reason to take time out of theirday and hop on a phone with you
.
Do you have any thoughts on Iknow it's kind of a generic
question, but any thoughts onthis?
Oh yeah, I do that all the time.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
So, like a couple of examples right, like I can't get
somebody to answer when I call,I first try a couple of
different days of the week andtimes of the day to see if maybe
I catch them at a better timewhere they maybe answer.
Right, then I'm probably goingto try to find a reason to make
them want to pick up the phone.
Like hey, just saw this, had acouple of quick questions, you
got 30 seconds.
Didn't want to send you a superlong email, maybe something to
(09:16):
that effect.
Right, giving them a reason oflike hey, or like hey, I've got
some guys lined up, I thinkmight actually be pretty cheap
compared to what we've beenquoting.
But I want to ask you a fewthings that the drivers asked to
see if we can make this work.
Right, I'm trying to think whatdoes it look like from their
point of view?
What would I be willing to talkto somebody about?
And then I just startedthinking like how can I frame
(09:37):
this to make them care enough togive me 30 seconds on the phone
, right?
So you're trying a bunch ofdifferent things to try to get
them on the phone.
The other thing is, like I'vedefinitely just had people that
just don't talk to anybody.
Like I had customers that likejust literally won't ever pick
up the phone and talk to you.
I am trying to find otherpeople in the company to talk to
.
Then I'm looking who else hasthat job title that I can pick
(09:58):
up the phone and call?
Is there somebody in sales Ican call and have be transferred
over to that person?
I'm going to try to call justrandom phone numbers to get
maybe pushed over to that person.
I mean, literally I would gothrough every bag of tricks I
could possibly think of to tryto start building a relationship
with anybody over there,whether it's their manager,
(10:18):
their coworker, maybe it'ssomeone that works for them,
that is below them, that maybe Ican get on the phone.
But just keep trying.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Yeah, the whole.
The big takeaway is you want topose it in a way that it gives
them an incentive to want totalk to you on the phone.
So the examples you gave weregreat, um, all right.
Lastly is about, uh, the age ofa authority.
So this is a carrier asking,cause a lot of you know some,
some brokers will say hey, wedon't work with anybody that's
(10:47):
got less than a year authority,et cetera.
So the question was if I payfor a new MC and insurance for
six to 12 months without haulinganything, will it then count as
seasoned for brokers whorequire it?
So my understanding is yes,because as brokers we can't see
how many loads they've hauled,but what we can see is how many
(11:08):
inspections they've had.
So if you didn't meet mycriteria for, or if you meet my
criteria for 12 months butyou've had no inspections,
you're throwing up all kinds ofother red flags.
Because if I'm like he's got atruck, he's been in business for
a year, has never beeninspected, is he double
brokering?
What's going on here?
That's where my brain would go.
(11:30):
So, technically, yeah, yourauthority is going to age.
My recommendation would just beif you're new, do it the new
way that everybody else does.
You're going to have to gothrough build relationships.
You're probably not going toget the best lanes or the best
pay and freight that's out there.
It's the same thing we dealwith as brokers when we're new
is that we have to take time andbuild up trust, and with that
comes the less profitablebusiness as we're getting
(11:52):
started off.
What's your take on that?
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Yeah, similar.
I mean agree with everythingyou said.
What I would also do is startmaking phone calls immediately
and trying to buildrelationships and just saying,
hey, like I'm new, this is whatI would like to be able to do.
I'd like to be able to build arelationship with you.
I know I might not meet yourcriteria, but if you ever really
need help with a load or a lanethat comes up and you give me
(12:15):
enough time, maybe I can help,Because what you're really
trying to do is to get thatbrokerage to make an exception.
And the easiest way to get themto make an exception is two
things getting them to trust youby talking to them and, second
of all, being patient enough towhere the opportunity happens,
where they're going to need tomake the exception.
Right, it works the same thingwith a broker trying to get in
with a shipper hey, I know youguys aren't on board any new
(12:38):
carriers, but if you ever needhelp and nobody else can get you
a truck, I might be able togive you a hand.
Give me a call If I can.
Maybe we can work it out and Ican't tell you how many
customers wave that and on boardyou immediately because they
actually need you to get thattruck.
The other thing, is.
I would go through new brokerstoo.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Yeah, that's a good point.
One of the things that I'vealways, like we've done, is like
if they're under a year, wehave that set as, like you know,
it'll flag it as they're a newauthority.
But you talk to these, you know, you talk to this owner
operator and he's like, yeah man, I just drove for 12 years
under this other company.
I wanted to go start my ownshop.
It's like you probably got away better driver on the phone
(13:17):
there versus someone who startedtheir business two years ago
and passes that 12 monthauthority rule.
So it's all you know relativeto the big picture.
So, like you said, pick up thephone, call people.
But yeah, that is one of thehurdles for anyone that's new as
a broker or calling shippers.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Like if I'm a carrier and I really wanted to do that
honestly, like I would probablycall every shipper local to me
and I would go there in personand start introducing myself and
I would say, hey, not expectingyou guys to need any help right
now, not expecting you guys tobe able to talk about like
running or doing businesstogether.
But I'm literally right up theroad starting a new trucking
company.
I've been driving for 12 yearswith a larger company.
(13:57):
There's ever an opportunitywhere we can talk or you need
local runs done last minute.
My yard's three miles up theroad.
Feel free to give me a buzz.
I'd love to be able to connectand I would just do that with
everybody.
And then I would follow up withall those people two weeks
later and then I'd do it again,you know, two weeks after that.
And I would just keep doingthat over and over because one
of them is going to go.
Yeah, I have this local lane.
That's a pain in the ass that Ican't anyone get to cover last
(14:20):
minute.
And then you'll start gettingrandom phone calls of like, hey,
can you go grab this from methis afternoon?
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Sure, and again, you've got to be available,
you've got to be able to helpwhen they need the help too
no-transcript and you know, whenI'm delivering to a certain
(14:51):
place, like, hey, I'm actuallyand you may have some sort of
restrictive covenant, depends onyou know who you're working for
.
But if I've got FaceTime withthis location already, I'm going
to be like, hey, I'm actuallylooking at branching off on my
own.
You can have thoseconversations in person ahead of
time.
So, yeah, cool Good stuff, goodquestions.
Keep them coming our way andwe'll keep answering them.
(15:12):
Final thoughts Ben.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Whether you believe you can or believe you can't,
you're right.
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