How to Be a Successful Freight Broker: Driving Value Through Bundling

For those who are seeking how to be a successful freight broker, they should first look at how they can make themselves stand out. Differentiation for freight brokers is often difficult to achieve. And then there are the different freight broker business models. In addition, the logistics and transportation industry is very competitive with few barriers to entry. This creates a fragmented industry that includes a high number of companies with similar names, salespeople and marketing materials.

It’s difficult to stand out from the competition. That’s why it is important to create and name your own proprietary process for moving freight. One of the simplest ways to do this is by bundling your multiple services to create a unified process that drives value for your customers.

Here are three tips to help guide you on how to be a successful freight broker and freight sales and ultimately, freight broker profit.

3 Tips on How to Be a Successful Freight Broker

Building Services

Freight brokerages offer a varied range of services and solutions to shippers. These services include much more than finding a truck to pick up and deliver freight. Most freight brokerages offer visibility, document management and payment tools for their customers and carriers. Most freight brokers include these services in their sales presentations as a list of features, instead of a comprehensive bundle of services.
By intentionally bundling all of your varied services together as one single narrative, it is much easier to present the benefits in each step of a load’s life cycle. For those asking how to be a successful freight broker, a single narrative creates a unique stickiness in the minds of your customers and prospects that a series of individual features will never accomplish.

Create One Unique Service

Creating a process from A to Z drives value for every customer. A unique service also becomes a powerful narrative that differentiates your freight brokerage and guides you to be a successful freight broker.

It all begins with defining your process for moving freight in detail. You can do this by mapping out your process step-by-step. Once this is done, you can then start identifying how you can create unique offerings through bundling your various services. This includes your process for accepting tenders, covering loads, pick up and delivery, visibility, appointment settings, document management, handling claims, and invoicing.

This is now your road map to create a unique set of processes that differentiates your freight brokerage from others and shows you how to be a successful freight broker.

Name it and Claim It

Once you have a road map, then it’s time to put on your marketing hat and create a single narrative for your bundle of services. Building your narrative starts with naming each of the major steps in your process and puts you on your way in your quest on how to be a successful freight broker. Make sure each is descriptive and memorable. Remember, it is all about creating enough stickiness so your customers and prospects remember at least one or two of your marketing terms long after the meeting has ended.

Once you have each step of your process named, it is time to name the entire process. Again make sure it will be remembered and will work well for all your marketing plans across your website, social media posts, email campaigns, and of course for your salespeople, who will be explaining the value over the phone and in meetings.

How SONAR Aids Those Seeking How To Be A Successful Freight Broker

FreightWaves SONAR provides the fastest freight market data in the world across all major modes of traffic – guiding brokers who are seeking how to be a successful freight broker. The SONAR platform is the only freight forecasting and analytics platform that offers real-time freight market intelligence driven off actual freight contract tenders.

SONAR has proprietary data that comes from actual load tenders, electronic logging devices and transportation management systems, along with dozens of third-party global freight and logistics-related index providers like TCA Benchmarking, Freightos, ACT, Drewry and DTN.

Whether you’re working from the office or from home, SONAR can provide you the data and intelligence you need to stay ahead of your competitors.

Find out more about FreightWaves SONAR for brokers.

You can find more information on freight brokerage and carrier sales tips on the popular FreightWaves sales show, Put That Coffee Down.

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What's the SONAR ROI?

By increasing the number of loaded miles per day your drivers drive by 1% and your rate per mile by $0.03 you will make more per week #WithSONAR.

#WithSONAR you can save up to per week through better bid negotiations and more effective management of your routing guide.

#WithSonar you can add 1 more load per person each day and increase $5 margin per load, earning your company an extra per week.

Disclaimer: Every company’s circumstances are unique. Fixed and variable expenses, market conditions and operational factors vary. Unforeseen events may also affect results. Calculated potential results reflect the consensus expectation of FreightWaves’ experts. Actual results may vary.

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