Freight or Load is the core of the industry of Hotshot Trucks. If you can find a load that means you can earn a profit, which motivates you to keep in the business continuously. For someone new to this field, finding a profitable freight maybe a troublesome task. This article is written with the purpose to ease that task for you.
1.Freight Brokers
The first and the main way of finding a freight is through the brokers, obviously. These brokers can help Hotshot Truckers to make connections with shippers who will assign loads to them. Even though you have to pay for the brokers from what you earn, it can be considered well spent because these brokers make the foundation for your business themselves. They even negotiate with the Shippers for higher rates, because higher the rate, higher their payout. Finding Freight Brokers is so easy, it can be done via online or just by asking another fellow trucker. There are more than 20,000 brokers registered in United States and Canada.
2. Load Boards
Load Boards or Freight Boards, regardless of whatever you may call it, is another great way of finding a freight for your truck. It is a place where truckers, brokers and shippers post and search about freights online. Most of these Boards are quite elaborative and user-friendly, so it won’t be hard for you to get the idea of the basics of how a Load Board works. Either you are a shipper or a trucker, there are filtering functions to point out the special criteria you seek online. Some of these Boards can be used for free while some of them comes with a subscription system. Normally, services with a fee provides a rather higher quality service than those free services. These boards basically include features like load matching, credit details, FMCSA verification and Access to Mobile.
Even though this is a great way for the starters to kick up their business, it comes with disadvantages too. For an instance, due to the heavy competition in popular routes, it might be little challenging to find a profitable rate for you to deliver freight. So, it may not be as it seems always.
3. Dispatch Services
Dispatchers are kind of like brokers but with a little difference. It is more like hiring an agent to work for you. In most cases the agent (dispatcher) will charge a fixed rate from your income. Dispatchers have many connections in the business network, that is how they find good freights for you to carry at highly competitive rates. In addition to finding the freight, dispatchers also provide service to do all the essential documentary work and even collecting the payments.
4. Government Contractor
Government agencies are situated all across the country. In order to work with government agencies, you will have to register as one of the government contractors. Unlike working with dispatch services or brokers, this requires little additional requirements to be fulfilled. If the targeted freight is something special, then your truck has to have the potential to carry out the job. It is directly connected to the government, so the rules and regulations are inevitable.
5. Prospecting
While prospecting is not actually a suitable method for newcomers, if done right it can be a huge source of profits to anyone who has been in business. Prospecting takes time, you need to analyze how the industry works around you. You need to pickup several target shippers, and then do some background checks about what they transport, when and where to they transport. After selecting a few you can introduce yourself to them either by in person or by a call. Everything depends on how you introduce yourself; it actually takes some marketing strategies to impress the shippers. If you can convince them that you can fulfill their trucking needs, that you are the one they have been searching, then you can gain a chance to prove them that you are fully capable Hotshot Trucker. This is kind of a hard way to find a load but if someone can make this method to a success, they can build long lasting business relationships with key shippers, even without middlemen.
These here are the 5 most effective methods of finding a freight to your Hotshot Truck. Starting a new business is difficult, it takes time to slowly grow up and stabilize in the business. You just need to be clever and quite patient about the decisions you make and what you earn. Here is one last way addition to the main 5 above.
6. Networking
This can be also called as self-promoting. All you have to do is make appearances and build contacts. The more you are familiar to people in the industry, your name will be said more often. You can attend meetings, socializing activities and any kind of event that brings the industry people together. There are no guaranteed freights through this method, but there is a chance for you to get some good business via a referral. Like all the other marketing techniques, it is always good to have a number of connections in the industry so you can get in touch with the people you need, whenever you need.