Complacency is a freight agent’s kryptonite. If you grow too comfortable with the status quo, you may quickly find your numbers dropping in the ebb and flow of freight. So how do you stay fired up and pursue success as a freight broker? Three thriving Tallgrass freight agents share their best tips and daily rituals for success and keeping momentum high.
Gaining Traction Early On as a Freight Agent
When you first start your career in freight, the drive is high to find customers and build a financial foundation for your freight agency. Tallgrass agent Tyler J. encourages new freight agents to lean into this by giving every opportunity their best effort. “There’s no such thing as bad freight to start off,” says Tyler.
However, there is a caveat once you have a stable book of business. As Tyler’s partner-in-freight Ricky C. puts it, “Not everybody’s money is green.” If a customer isn’t helping you grow sustainably, focus your energy more on finding “better freight.” You’re looking for freight that is:
- Profitable
- Manageable
- Efficient
- Stable
While not all of your customers early on will fit the bill, use the foundation you’ve built to give yourself time to pivot and prospect higher ticket clientele.
Structure Each Day for Productivity
While it’s good to look at your book of business on a macro-level, the micro-level daily rituals are the key drivers behind success and growth as a freight agent. Most of our agents at Tallgrass split their days roughly in half. They start by checking on their active loads, sending emails and following up with their customers and carriers. Once they have all of their trucks in a row, the rest of the day is dedicated to prospecting! Reaching out to active leads and cold calling new possibilities on a daily basis ensures success.
Tallgrass agent Aaron B. emphasizes the importance of not just treating cold calls like a one-and-done, but building real connections with potential customers. “It’s not just cold calling and then having one good conversation and hoping for the best,” says Aaron. “Get back on the phone with them and have another good conversation!”
Warning Signs of Complacency: How to Know if You’re Getting Too Comfortable
Getting too comfortable is one of the biggest challenges for freight agents. By the time you realize you’ve grown complacent, it’s often too late and your book is suffering. Tyler J. says that agents who stick to their daily rituals and keep on prospecting are a lot less likely to reach that point. That way, “if you lose your golden egg, you have one ready to hatch.”
The biggest warning sign that you’re on the verge of complacency is when you start lacking motivation to prospect. You don’t want to push yourself to the point of burnout, but taking it easy isn’t going to sustain you in the freight industry! Here’s the thing: everyone has those days when you feel like you’re slogging through mud just to get through your basic to-dos. Revisit your goals for the year, and break it down: What will it take to make those goals come to life? The complacent moments will come, but freight never stops moving. Keep trying to push through them and don’t let yourself settle for less than excellence!
How to Get Back on Track
Fortunately, freight brokering isn’t rocket science. You know how to keep your book thriving. You know how important it is to take care of your customers and keep cold calling new ones. The key to avoiding both complacency and burnout is to put that knowledge into action. Aaron can relate to complacency, having been in that place shortly after building up a stable book. What made a difference for him was diversifying his book and finding the types of accounts he enjoyed so he didn’t get burned out and grow complacent.
Build Relationships, Not Transactions
Once you have a solid start on your book, don’t expect it to just take care of itself. Be proactive! Tallgrass agent Aaron says, “You need to make your clients your friends. Relationship is everything.” Sometimes, this means working on your day off, staying late to deal with an unexpected crisis or handling things you don’t want to deal with. Doing whatever it takes for your customer’s happiness is what makes a great freight agent!
Tyler and Ricky have what they call their “best customers.” These are the ones they have the longest and most successful relationships with, where the customers feel supported and have established a strong sense of loyalty. “Our best customers know that if they’re in a bad spot, they can holler at us and we can find a way to get them out of it. It may not be what they want to hear, but it’ll be what they need to, and it’ll be a compromise that’ll work.” Their honesty and willingness to workshop other options keep their customers loyal to their freight agency!
Accountability to Avoid Complacency
Having a strong support system is vital to staying on top of your game in the tumultuous freight world! Accountability comes in many forms:
- Your own freight team to share the workload and motivate you to do your part,
- A freight agent program that gives you the perfect balance of independence and support,
- And a community of freight agents who share your mindset and just get it!
Tyler and Ricky both love the supportive atmosphere they’ve found at Tallgrass Freight, both through mentorship from our agent development staff and the friendly competition with other agencies. “It’s good to be around a bunch of people who are trying to make an honest way in an industry that just isn’t honest all of the time,” shares Tyler, who always loves attending Tallgrass Agent Roundtables.
At Tallgrass Freight, we care about our agents’ success and celebrate their wins! Our goal is to keep complacency out of the equation by setting the bar high and continuing to raise it each time an agent surpasses our expectations.
If you’re looking for the best freight brokerage in the country — one that keeps you motivated and equips you with the tools to thrive as an agent — contact our recruiting team to learn more about Tallgrass!