Click Here for Available LoadsIn the Top 100 of all Freight Brokers Nationwide - by Inc. Magazine

Category : Freight Broker Agent

Why Joining a Company With an Internal Brokerage Could Cost You Your Business

In the right circumstances, becoming a freight agent can be a fantastic career choice, filled with opportunities to focus on bringing in first-time clients, building relationships, and exceeding the expectations of shippers and carriers. The freedom, pay, and level of control can be enticing. However, in the wrong situation, joining a freight brokerage can be a debilitating decision.

One of the riskiest moves for a freight agent is stepping into an organization that runs its own internal brokerage. As an agent, you shouldn’t have to compete within your company to keep the business you’ve already secured.

The professional relationships you’ve developed are a huge part of your success — both now and for many years to come. You may lose some of those relationships through natural attrition, but that healthy fear of competition should stem from external agents, not from people within your company. Freight agents who are forced to compete with an internal brokerage spend too much time looking over their shoulders.

Burning Out From Unnecessary Competition

The constant struggle to drum up new business is as American as apple pie, but it’s not always necessary. While a certain level of competition is good for keeping you sharp, undue competition — the type that’s common with internal brokerages — burns salespeople out far too quickly.

Within a brokerage, each independent freight agent should be able to plan his or her business development strategy based on the tools at hand, without fear of being blindsided by salespeople who supposedly are on their own team. Natural growth unfolds as a result of healthy competition — not because of stressful, excessive pressure from an internal brokerage.

At Freight Tec, we sign a non-compete, non-disclosure agreement every time we partner with a freight agent. Read over the document here.

Lack of Freedom and Support

Many experienced freight agents are recognizing there’s a balance between too little freedom and too little support. The sweet spot is where independent freight agents thrive.

With a company like Freight Tec,  these talented independent agents have the autonomy to use their time-tested processes to close deals, enjoy the fair gross profit commission split they deserve and have the back-office support that’s so difficult to obtain outside an established company. Benefits such as paid-for technology platforms and exhaustive back-office administrative help are game-changers for many agents.

Leave Internal Brokerages Behind

The presence of internal brokerages is a thorn in the side of many excellent freight agents. If you’re interested in leaving internal brokerages behind, explore the benefits of becoming an independent freight agent by emailing your questions to info@freight-tec.com. Or, learn more about the perks of the independent freight agent lifestyle in our infographic.

Learn More About Our Freight Agent Program

4 Apr 2019 Continue Reading

3 Surprising Ways to Improve Your Bottom Line As a Freight Agent

For freight agents, there is strong, vast potential to grow a client base and make a lot of money. Of course, like in any industry, there are challenges that must be overcome.

Many of today’s freight brokers and agents feel pressured to stay up to date with the latest software — the type of industry-specific platforms that quickly are becoming “table stakes.” They also struggle to keep up with the escalating number of back-office administrative tasks necessary to run a successful freight business. What’s more, freight agents feel the burden of ages-old issues such as exorbitant overhead expenses.

Luckily, there are ways to improve your bottom line as a freight agent, including:

28 Mar 2018 Continue Reading

Agents Liable for Customer Bad Debt?

Should Agents be 100% liable for their customer’s Bad Debts?

Imagine one of your largest customers going belly up… and they owe you and your Broker company $50,000.00…

You soon learn there is no hope of collecting any of the money owed…

Who should pay for that bad debt?

It should be split the same way your commission was paid out between you and your Broker. If you are on a 50% / 50% split with your Broker, then you should both pay $25,000.00 of the bad debt.  If you are on a 60%/40% split, you would pay $30,000, and the Broker would pay $20,000.

Why?

Its fair. Its ethical. And both parties always have great interest in doing business with customers who will pay you.

I’ve heard of Brokers paying 100% of any bad debts from their Agents… They are CRAZY !

Lets me share a story with you…

I know of a company who practiced the policy of paying 100% of any bad debts from their agents. They did it because they thought it would lure agents into their company, and you what? They were right! They did lure a lot of agents into their company!

A few years down the road, they were hit for a $400,000.00 bad debt from one customer, then another one for 109,000.00, then another one for $55,000.00. The agent (who’s customers they were) didn’t care… he didn’t have to pay any of that $500,000.00+ back. No worries for him…

But there was great pain and anguish for all the other agents, and the broker. The broker was not in position to handle these rapidly mounting bad debts (there were more that rolled in). The broker tried to work things out… but the hole they were in got deeper and deeper too fast.

The broker quit paying the carriers.

The carriers sued all of the customers (and I mean EVERY single customer).

The customers had to pay all the freight bills again. (after already paying the broker months ago).

The customers were very angry.

The customers no longer trusted the agents they had worked with for years.

Good agents and several other good people lost their customer base – and their jobs. They could no longer provide for their families.

Agents now had to start over – their previous customer relationships were ruined because their broker ended up going belly up and not paying the carriers.

The criminal thing behind it all was this: There was a rotten apple agent who PURPOSELY did business with companies he knew were at risk of not paying their freight bills for one reason or another. Because he was paid his commission each week – he knew he would be paid before the bad debts hit the broker.  One bad apple spoiled the bunch… Actually, he put them out of business.

1 Mar 2018 Continue Reading

The Pros and Cons of Starting a Freight Brokerage Company

Before entering any industry, gathering as much information as possible is vital. Of course, fact-finding alone isn’t enough. In a highly competitive industry such as freight transportation, stacking up the potential benefits against the likely drawbacks is a key way to determine whether the rewards are worth the risk.

When it comes to opening up a freight brokerage, there are some really powerful pros and cons to consider.

19 Feb 2018 Continue Reading

Does Your Freight Brokerage Do These Three Things?

 

Whether you work for a freight brokerage or operate your own, it’s important to now and again take stock of what’s working and what’s not. There are some key questions to ask yourself about the industry and your brokerage.

Most of these questions are about common freight broker frustrations such as tedious, tiresome administrative tasks that take time away from actual sales activities. For brokerage owners, it’s important to think about the status of ongoing operating costs and risks. For agents, it’s worth asking, “Am I being supported by my company? Am I being enabled to thrive?”

If you’re being honest about your future in the shipping industry, think about whether your freight brokerage does these three things:

13 Feb 2018 Continue Reading

How to Expand Your Customer Relationships as a Freight Agent

For a freight agent, having loyal, high-volume shipping customers is a must. But securing MANY of these reliable customers really is a key indicator of long-term success and low stress.

A lot of agents are good at maintaining strong relationships with existing customers, but how about finding new ones? With the combination of diligence, talent, and skill, you can forge new bonds on a regular basis. Here are several tips for how to expand your customer relationships as a freight agent:

9 Jan 2018 Continue Reading

Shippers Can’t Be Too Careful in Qualifying Carriers

This is a True Story.  A carrier calls our office to book a load we had shared with our network.  We start our Carrier Qualification Process and find out that the Carrier wants to use an owner-operator.  We advised the Carrier that we needed to see their federal operating authority, Certificate of Insurance, W-9, and a signed copy of our Broker/Carrier Agreement.  When we receive everything back, we find that the Certificate of Insurance shows CARGO LIABILITY INSURANCE ONLY.

So, we called the Carrier back and asked if they had a separate Certificate of Insurance for Auto Liability.  He said, “No. Our owner operator carries Auto Liability Insurance.  All we provide is Cargo Insurance on the load and trailer.”   When we talked to the Owner-Operator, he forwarded to us a Certificate of Insurance showing Auto Liability Insurance.  At this point, most companies don’t check any further.  But our Carrier Qualification clerk, Kellie, called both of the insurance agents to verify insurance coverage.  This is what she found:

The Owner-Operator only had “Non-Loaded” Auto Liability insurance commonly referred to as “bobtail” insurance.  HE WAS NOT INSURED IF HE WAS HAULING A LOAD!!! The company for whom the Owner-Operator was hauling DID NOT HAVE AUTO LIABILITY INSURANCE.  Therefore, if we would have given this Carrier our load, our Shipper and we would have had a huge public liability risk since nobody was insured to protect the public. Imagine what would have happened if this truck was involved in an accident while hauling a load for one of our shippers.  The injured parties would have sued everybody—including our shipper and us—for damages.  The trucker and the company probably are “judgment proof” as all of their operating assets are most likely heavily financed with little or no equity.  That would leave only Freight Tec and its shipper liable.  As a result, we would have had to pay.  Freight Tec carries Professional Errors and Omissions Liability Insurance (the same insurance as medical doctors, lawyers, CPA’s, and engineers carry) in the event we make a mistake.  Fewer than 50 property brokers out of over 15,000 carry this insurance to protect their shippers.  Freight Tec is one of a select group of brokers who does.

BOTTOM LINE: You cannot be too careful in Qualifying Carriers.  Freight Tec does this every day on a FULL-TIME basis to protect our Shippers and ourselves from potentially devastating lawsuits.  To further protect our Shippers, we also carry Professional Errors and Omissions Liability Insurance.

2 Jan 2018 Continue Reading

3 Benefits of Working with a Freight Broker That Offers Cutting-Edge Technology

When choosing a freight broker to work with, access to technology might not be the first factor that comes to mind. Your questions likely center on issues such as credit, industry compliance, insurance, reputation, and communication skills.

Here’s the irony: Each of these issues for freight brokers can be better managed and made easier through technology. When used intelligently, cutting-edge freight broker technology frees up agents to do their work with more efficiency and passion than ever before.

11 Dec 2017 Continue Reading

How to Find a Brokerage that Will Help Serve the Needs of Your Clients

In a highly competitive industry such as freight, independent freight agents are always looking for an edge. In particular, they want to find a brokerage that can help them serve the needs of their clients, or shippers.

There aren’t any magic pills that solve the challenges that agents face, but there certainly are small but powerful tools and support that can make a big difference.

7 Dec 2017 Continue Reading