Expanding your team, especially if you’ve been a solo act for a while, is a significant decision for any freight agent. That said, hiring may be exactly what your freight agency needs to reach that next level of growth! By expanding your team, you empower your business to scale and yourself to get back a lot of time to allocate more effectively elsewhere.
If you’re ready to scale, we’re here to help you make it happen.
One Team Member = 2,000 Hours Back
At Tallgrass, we say that when a freight agency hires a team member, it’s the equivalent of 2,000 hours (per employee) back in your year. Don’t believe us? Crunch the numbers for yourself.
40 hours a week times 50 weeks a year (that’s two weeks of holidays) = 2,000 hours. That’s 2,000 more hours a year you can reallocate to building up your book of business, having delegated some of the day-to-day management of your current clients and loads. And you can finally take a day off instead of working 60+ hours a week!
By hiring a team for your business, you’re investing in your business and yourself. And here at Tallgrass, we take pride in supporting our freight entrepreneurs as they scale their businesses, every step of the way. Let’s explore why hiring to grow your freight company can make a big difference — and how Tallgrass is built to support ambitious agents who want to build a team.
How Expanding Your Team Helps You Scale Your Business
Growing your team by hiring an assistant or even junior agents can help you expand your freight agency to new heights by allowing you to delegate several tasks to put more space in your schedule, helping you earn more money, have a more efficient business, and find more freedom as you scale.
“The beauty of business ownership is there is no one telling you what to do or how to do it. At other agency programs, there are restrictions. But at Tallgrass, you get a blank canvas for how you want to create your agency,” reflects Tallgrass agent Jacob C.
How can expanding your freight agency help grow your business?
1. More Space for Sales — and Strategic Growth
If you’ve been working in freight for even a little while, you know how much legwork and detail management it takes to be successful. So why not delegate some of these tasks to someone who can handle them efficiently and professionally behind the scenes while you focus on interfacing with current and potential customers and strategically growing your book of business?
Here are just a few of the tasks an assistant could help you with to free up time in your business:
- Monitor the status of active freight shipments and send updates to customers
- Set up new customers and loads in our robust CRM
- Manage adjustments and disputes
- Answer and direct incoming calls
- Research potential new leads
- Inbox management
- Take new orders from customers
- Preparing documentation for new loads
- Schedule pickup and delivery appointments
- Send rate confirmations to customers
Here at Tallgrass, many of our independent agents work on their own, and many have built thriving teams! For newer agents wanting to uplevel, Tallgrass is here with a blueprint. Our Roundtable event sets the stage for hungry agents to learn from veteran agents. Seasoned agents share how they hired their team, including when the timing is right, how to find ideal candidates, onboarding and training and so much more.
2. Get the Support You Need
Depending on the scope of your business and the specifics of each customer, you may only need one assistant to cover all of the various admin tasks, or you may be ready for junior agents to come in and focus all of their attention on one major customer that needs a lot of focus. That’s the beauty of hiring for your own freight agency: it’s up to you how to structure it!
Hiring team members for your agency gives you the flexibility to create a freight agency the way you want it to look, and there are no wrong answers here. Some Tallgrass agents have one assistant while others have a team of three or more managing their loads.
“They’ve created an energy and magnetism in our culture, where agents feel empowered to continuously reach higher,” says TGF agent Sean B. “We have access to unlimited opportunities and resources, and that’s an invaluable asset you just can’t find anywhere else.”
3. See Your Productivity Spike
This should come as no surprise, but stress decreases productivity. An agent who is doing everything alone, especially as the business grows, will inevitably get stressed and overwhelmed! And if you’re multitasking to try and stay on top of everything, your productivity can decrease by as much as 40%.
Hiring someone to help take a load off (pun intended) can help reduce the need to multitask and your stress levels and your productivity can increase from its baseline. A freight agent who is not overworked is a happy freight agent — and happiness means a 12% increase in productivity.
“No matter what level of success you find yourself at, you can never settle,” says Tallgrass agent Tom V. “The sky is really the limit here at Tallgrass Freight.”
How Tallgrass Supports You in Hiring
At TGF, we want to see your business thrive. And by we, we mean all of us! From the back office support to the Tallgrass CEO & COO themselves, we’ve got you covered in building your team. In fact, championing our freight agents is our favorite thing to do! However you decide to hire and structure your freight agency, we want to support you.
Could you use 2,000 extra hours in your career? Join the Tallgrass team, and we’ll help you make it happen. If you’re interested in learning more about how Tallgrass can make your freight agency vision a reality, contact us to learn more!