Today is my 6 year anniversary at TQL. A lot of things have changed since I started my freight brokering career in 2018. Here are some of the key things I have learned and adopted to guarantee success.
1. Transparency is key: No matter if you're talking to a customer, prospect, or carrier, transparency is the #1 thing that has helped get through stressful situations. Be upfront with your customers and carriers!! This is logistics, nothing ever goes perfectly as planned and the sooner you realize that the better off you will be. Freight is not always about being perfect, but how you handle situations when things do not go as planned. Hold yourself accountable!
2. Stress management: This career can be the most rewarding and fulfilling career out there but can also be very high stress. Learn how to deal with your stress in a positive way. I have seen people come and go in this industry because they could not deal with the stress without turning to vices. Go on a walk, read, hit the gym, pray, whatever you need to do to keep yourself sane.
3. Speed: In the world of logistics, timing is everything. Being able to troubleshoot issues quickly and efficiently will take you a long way as a broker. Ideally, when you talk to a customer about issues, you are coming to them with the problem AND the solution in hand. Easier said than done I know, but if you can get this down, your customers and carriers will appreciate it.
4. Don't lose sight of the big picture: I cannot tell you how many times I have seen brokers go for the big margins and wins every chance they get, with no vision of the long term. Yes, we are here to make money, but more importantly you are here to provide value for your customers. Think about where your relationship could be with your customers in 3-5 years and reverse engineer back to step 1. Would you rather make a few extra bucks right now and not work with a customer down the road? Or have that great customer 3 years from now and have more freight than ever because you spent more time building value than jacking up your rate?
5. Last, be a partner: This is a very cutthroat industry. You will constantly have other brokers and asset carriers coming after the same clients you have. How do you stand out? Be obsessed with your customers operations. I truly believe if you want to build the most amount of value, you need to know as much about your customers operations as if you were an employee there. If you just call and say, "do you have anything going out this week?" every time, you'll never be more than a quote and a truck and are easily replaceable.
There is a ton more I can go into, but these 5 things have helped me the most in my career. Enjoy and happy hunting!
Congratulations Crystal Boulanger !