We love sharing the stories of independent agents and what led them to Tallgrass. But their stories don’t end when they take the leap. Joining the team is only the beginning!
Long-time Tallgrass Freight agent Garett L. is one such freight broker who went from cold calling in his self-proclaimed “crappy apartment” to running one of the largest freight brokerages at Tallgrass! Get to know Garett’s freight agency and see how support from TGF has fueled exponential growth.
The Evolution of an Agency: From First Days to Today
Garett’s career with Tallgrass started like that of many other freight careers: dialing for dollars. Due to a noncompete with a prior freight brokerage, Garett had to build his book of business starting from scratch. While making more than 100 calls a day, Garett eventually landed a high-volume account that helped him to jump-start his business in earnest, though the low margin made it only helpful in the short term.
Eventually, Garett and his then-girlfriend (now wife!) Rianne started thinking about moving from their home in North Carolina to Kansas City, to work from the TGF headquarters. Rianne left her job when they moved, and started working part-time. Rianne’s support ultimately led to significant growth. When Rianne went on to pursue new professional endeavors, her impact had been so positive that Garett knew he needed to hire another team member. He then brought on Bri, who began as an Assistant and today is the Operations Manager.
Before bringing on Bri full-time, Garett found himself struggling to chase down freight every day. “I knew that it wasn’t a matter of if I lose my market share, but when,” recalls Garett. “So it was time to bring on someone to help manage the accounts while also trying to gain new customers.” That was the turning point. With Bri full-time, Garett was able to dedicate himself fully to prospecting and acquiring higher-quality accounts. From there, the numbers kept growing and Garett was able to expand his team even further. Garett now has four employees on his team, and each has been integral to his continued growth and success in freight!
Day in the Life of an Agency Owner
No two days are the same for a freight broker, especially with such a large and varied book of business. Garett is no stranger to the importance of flexibility and hard work, and with his team supporting him, he now can focus almost exclusively on cold-calling potential customers. “I’m a big believer that you have to keep pounding the phones,” says Garett. “That’s my goal every single day.”
Here’s what a typical day looks like for Garett:
7:00 AM – Learning and Mindset Readiness
Garett begins his day with the 20-minute drive into the TGF office, during which he likes to listen to audiobooks or podcasts on leadership, sales or self-help to ensure he starts work with a strategic, motivated mindset. Once at the office, he narrows his learning focus to sales training videos to prepare him for the day.
7:30 AM to Lunch – Pounding the Phones
Garett logs in around 7:30 AM and, after checking to see if any of his employees need help with the book, dives into cold calling until lunch. “I know for a fact that my team has only helped grow our book,” Garett says, which allows him to invest time in prospecting and customer acquisition. This faith in his team allows Garett to focus on his role and on potential customers.
Lunch to 1:00 PM – Connect with Customers
After engaging with his team over lunch, Garett usually has a good idea of what’s going on with the book of business and where he’s needed, so he takes about an hour following the break to talk to current customers in need of direct interfacing with him and filling in where his team needs him most.
3:30 to End of Day
The afternoon is when Garett has the most flexibility. He’ll help where he’s needed with the book, but more often than not, he’s back to prospecting potential customers until it’s time to head out! On the drive home, he tunes back into his current audiobook or podcast for a little motivational wind-down.
Independent Agent to Freight Agency: How Garett’s Life Has Changed
Garett attributes a large percentage of his growth to the support and dedication of his team. While it’s strange not knowing every detail of what’s happening with his freight brokerage’s book of business, Garett also finds this refreshing as it significantly reduces his stress and mental clutter so he can dedicate all his energy to growing the book.
“When you’re doing it by yourself, you know every single thing that’s happening, but you’re doing it all alone,” Garett says. “You’re dealing with the stresses that every freight broker deals with, and it’s all on you.”
Because of the support he has from his team and from Tallgrass, Garett feels much more freedom to grow, and has seen the fruit of that in how his freight book has continued to thrive and expand! “When you get enough good people in your corner, you can trust that they’re making the right decisions,” says Garett. “You can trust that they have your best interests at heart for your book and the business.”
How Tallgrass Supports Agency Growth
While Garett raves about the many advantages of being part of Tallgrass, including the top-notch CRM and the support of the back office and leadership team. He’s also quick to note two other benefits that have been invaluable to his growth as a larger agency: management modeling and networking opportunities.
Garett is grateful to Tallgrass for giving him someone to model himself and his agency after. Seeing how the Tallgrass team operates helped him especially in the beginning as he was learning the ropes for managing his team, and he has taken full advantage of having the leadership right there to support and advise him along the way!
From Roundtables to networking events and fun socials, Garett effuses that Tallgrass does better than any other brokerage he knows of at networking internally. Tallgrass is constantly helping agents connect with and support one another, even when they’re in vastly different places with their agencies. “There’s always something that I can learn from any of our agents, whether they have a few months or a decade of experience,” Garett says.
Having the support of Tallgrass means a lot to not only Garett, but to his team as well. Ryan, an account manager with Garett’s company, especially loves how the CRM helps him do his job effectively and efficiently. “The CRM allows all agents and employees easy navigation of all aspects of a load,” Ryan shares. “When your operating system is seamless, it makes training, development, reporting and success exponentially easier!”
Bri agrees with the profound impact the CRM has had on their freight business. “The constant improvement of the CRM in the last 1.5 years has been absolutely incredible,” she shares. “Being able to have a say as well with the “What If” program truly feels like you are being heard with the growing needs of a team!”
Ryan also loves how Tallgrass provides agents and their teams with the autonomy to serve customers in the way that’s right for them. “At Tallgrass, we have the ability to change processes, procedures and documents that will fit the specific needs of our customers,” he notes. “If we had to treat all customers the same, we wouldn’t have the success and business that we have!”
Join the Tallgrass Team!
If you want to own your book of business as an independent agent with the potential to grow your own team, Tallgrass Freight is the place to do it! Garett describes Tallgrass as a “small company with that big company feel.” We have big-company resources and leadership with the small size to enable close community and interaction from the most seasoned agents to the brand new freight team employees. If you’re ready to take the next step in your freight career, contact us to learn more about joining Tallgrass.