Freight Brokerage Ideas

In all worlds; time is money. Freight is no different. You know that saving money and saving time is the same at the end of the day. A good Freight Broker has the unique chance to help you do both of these things. When you consider that you’ll realize going without a Freight Broker is simply costing yourself in the long run. Costing yourself twice.

First, a good Freight Broker will help you when it comes getting your goods on a truck and then to their destination. Pretty simple, right? But they get it on a truck very quick. And not just any truck. A trusted truck. And that truck puts your produce first and gets it to their destination. Quickly. Because that gets you paid quickly which spins the wheel of business.
Second, a good Freight Broker will have a massive list of contacts that will make it easier for you to get what you need. Having enough trucks going to the right places is imperative for those times when you have more goods to ship. Sure, it’s good that your goods are on the move when they’re on the truck, but it’s not that good if you have to wait for a truck.
Third, a good Freight Broker will help make calls on what the future holds. Things change a lot. And not being in the know can slow down your business. But when your Broker knows how the market is swaying, they can help you make decisions so you can stay ahead of the curve. Getting your products out to the places that want them the most.
Forth, a good Freight Broker will keep you in good standing when things go bad. Claims are a nightmare. Claims can keep your goods stuck on a truck. Not only are you not selling them, but they are just wasting away.

As you can see, a good Freight Broker can be your gateway to saving time and saving money. This can have a huge impact on your bottom line. An impact so big that you just can’t afford to skip it.

Information in the Freight Market is worth more than gold. The frustrating thing is that all information you find about the market can be equally important, but there is just so much of it. Every day there can feel like a tidal wave of knowledge is at your doorstep. It’s more than a full time job when it comes staying informed. Here are just a few examples to consider :

Every year Congress considers, delays, or passes new regulations that impact the Transportation world.

Weather trends around the world are not constant. New trends, not seen for decades, can creep up and change what produce moves, how fast it moves, and how much it moves for.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration can implement changes and regulations really quickly.

This is just a glimpse of the things you need to know about in order to thrive, or just not get stuck behind, in the Transportation world. These can be the things that can give you the edge you need to put your profits over the top.
Now, staying ahead of this is truly a full time job. A good Broker is your gateway to this information. They need to stay ahead of the curve to stay relevant in the business. And they know what things matter and what things don’t.
Having a knowledgeable Freight Broker on your side is the best way to stay informed without going crazy. You’re busy. You have your own responsibilities. Let the Broker take care of this for you.

Trying to understand all the differences in Claims, Insurances, and Bonds is enough to make your head spin. Make it more complicated by remembering that different loads, states, and trucks can all require unique versions of insurances is downright absurd.
These are the things that a good Broker is paid to do. They help keep you and your goods protected. And help you get paid when it’s time to be paid.
A normal thing that can happen, when several people are working together, is that when a claim does occur, you have every single party expecting something else.
Each party can end up thinking that they are due money and that someone else is supposed to be paying out. This can be one of the most frustrating experiences to have in all of business. It can take weeks or months to figure out who owes what and this can really slow down the state of business.
As a good Freight Broker works with you and the carriers, they know exactly who is being covered by what, and who is doing the covering. If a claim does happen, they know exactly how to process the information as quickly and as accurately as possible. While this may seem like something every Broker can do, it’s not. It’s a very intricate process. And the Brokers that know how to excel in these moments can end up saving you a ton of money and even more hassle.
It’s not just experience and knowledge that makes a Broker good at this. It’s also their relationships with carriers and customers. People are able to drag their feet and can try to fight on small matters. A good, knowledgeable Broker with good relationships simply is never in this spot. And, if you find a good Broker, you’ll never be in this spot, too.

The Freight Business has new and innovative technologies appearing all the time. Like with most technologies, their true usefulness can take some time before it becomes apparent. A good Freight Broker knows the Pros and Cons of innovative technologies and when to use them.
With each good Technology comes several ones that are bad, and more that are just useless. Spending time, and money, using bad or useless technologies can eat into how well a Broker does business.
But utilizing good technologies can put a Broker ahead of the curve. Recently keeping in contact with trucks, and their locations, is just a few clicks away. Pulling up all needed information about a load, a driver, and their history are all just seconds away. And keeping people and goods safe is easier than ever.
Technologies like this allow you to get, receive, and evaluate information faster than ever. These are examples of good technologies.
Bad technologies tend to leave you, your goods, or your information out in the open. Automatic temperature monitoring of a cooling system on a truck can easily produce false information. And, if that does happen, even just for a second, you can have a perfect load of goods receive a claim.
And the amount of useless technologies out there are too many to count. While these won’t end up doing too much to you or your broker; they will end up wasting a lot of time.
A good Broker with a lot of experience will have a strong sense for what technologies are worth a try and which ones aren’t.

The nature of this business will cause Claims, no matter how careful you, the Broker, and the Carrier are. Car accidents, broken machines, and acts of god can all occur and a claim will happen. While preventing Claims is a proven skill that should be a focus for any good Broker; handling a Claim when it does happen is a very important skill.
Speed is the most important thing during a Claim. When you have a Broker that doesn’t know the proper strategies and what information is most important right away, speed becomes an enemy.
But when you have a Broker that not only knows what needs to get done, but also how to do it, and the perfect order of these things, speed becomes a most potent ally.
Having access to all pertinent information about the load and the claim is paramount. A well organized and experienced Broker will be able to come up with all the information on the load, on the insurances, on the destination, and on the carrier in a matter of minutes.
Then they will orchestrate all the pieces in order to ensure all information that matters is quickly obtained, sorted, and pushed through so not only are you and your goods protected, but you can get your goods on the move as quickly as possible. It turns out, when done right, a claim is not a death certificate for your goods. A good Broker will know when they can salvage product and get you your money as quickly as possible.
Other Brokers, those that are not up to the task of handling a Claim, may disappear at a time like this. You can find yourself handling a lot of this on your own, and you might not have all the information you need to quickly process the claim, leaving you behind and poorly represented to your customers.