- So your biggest problem, what's causing you more
frustration and pain than anything else, what's causing you not to succeed as a new freight broker is you don't know how to
obtain a customer base. You can't get new customers
for your business. Now, the reason why you're
not getting customers is because you're probably
not calling shippers often enough, and the
reason why you're not making those calls consistently is because you don't know what to say. That's what I'm going to
help you out with today. So let's go. (bright electronic music) Come on in, don't be shy. And if you stick around
to the end of the video, we'll have a very nice gift for you. So now, before we get started, I need to ask you a big, big favor. If you like this video, please take the time to smash that Like button,
(bell dings) make the Like button turn blue. It does a whole lot for our channel, helps us to get exposed
to a bigger audience. We certainly would appreciate it. Also, if you're interested
in more videos like this, you want to become an entrepreneur, you want to be freight broker, this is a channel that
you want to subscribe to. So make sure that you
hit that Subscribe button and then hit that notification bell and you'll be notified every
time I release new videos. Thank you in advance. Now let's get started. Today we're talking about shippers and shippers are the
lifeblood of our business. They are our potential customers, they become our customers
and, without customers, we cannot build a business. So we have to establish a customer base in order to build a businesses that we're interested in building. So that's number one. And far too often, I see that most people are focused on the wrong thing when they first start offering
their service to shippers. And I want to back up a little bit, I want to say this quickly. Some of us have the impression, especially when we first start that we can just go out
and offer our services, offer trucks to shippers, and they're automatically going to say, "Hey, okay, let me know
how many trucks you got "and I'll let you know how
many lanes that we have, "and we can start working together." That sounds very good, but that's not how it works in most cases. So we have to understand how
to communicate with shippers and then how to speak to the issues and problems that they have. And first we have to learn
what those problems are. So today, I want to get
you to redirect your focus. I think your focus is in the wrong place. And you know, talking about your service, talking about what you offer, we're going to redirect that
and help you to understand how you can solve your shippers problems. And the first thing that we have to do is understand what those problems are. So today I'm going to give you something that you can say to shippers, other than what you're saying,
other than the typical, "We have trucks, can we help
you move some of your freight?" We're going to give you something that you can dial in on and focus and then build your conversation off of. So stay tuned to this video. So now you're at the
point of your business where the real business starts. The setup is finished. You've gotten your business set up, all your systems are in place, all of the tools that
you need are in place. Now it's time to go ahead and take action. And that's where, sometimes, we start to have a problem at. We start to figuring out, "Oh, this is going to
require something from me. "This is going to
require a huge sacrifice, "a big commitment." And then we start to shy away. So I don't want you to shy away. I want you to meet this challenge head on. So I'm gonna help you to do that by showing you where
you are in the process, and then giving you some things that you can do to actually take you where it is that you want to go. So you've gotten to the big point. The big point now is what you have to do is get customers for your business. That is the key right now, because if we don't have customers, we don't have a business. We just have a lot of
stuff that we put in place that we're paying for, but
we don't have a business yet. Once we start making money,
then we have a business. So that's what we want to
move you to, to making money. So here's what we want to talk about. Now, once you've gotten
your business set up and now it's time to go after customers, you must have a game plan. You gotta have game plan and a way that you're going to go out and approach and eventually make that
customer part of your team. You become a partner with that customer. So what is the game plan? How are you going to make that happen? Again, before I said, it's not just about going out and saying, "I got trucks, you have
loads, let's work together." It's about helping that
shipper to understand that you can solve their problem, but you need to understand
what the problem is. And when you first start, you really don't know what
shipper's problems are, so you need to sit down
and start asking yourself, what are some of the typical issues that shippers will run into? And how can I solve those issues? There's where we need to start at, is to figure out what is it that I can do to solve that customers' problems? That is what it's all about. That's what your job is as an entrepreneur, as a shipper, or excuse me, as a freight broker, your job is to solve
your customer's problems. If you can do that, you can
do great in this business. If you cannot, you will fail. It's that simple. You have to solve the customer's problems. And first, what we have to do is understand what that problem is. What are some of the
problems that a shipper has? So that's what we're gonna talk about. I'm going to give you one
problem that a shipper has, and then I'm going to show you
how I speak to that problem, how I design a game plan
around solving that issue so that I can eventually start
working with that shipper. Now, if you're anything like me, when you get a sales call, you know that it's a sales call. And what you probably going to be doing is looking to move that
person to the end of that call as quickly as possible, unless
they are saying something that you hear that says, "Hmm, I may be able to
benefit from this call." Then you may be able to
listen a little bit longer, but if you don't hear something in the very early part
of that conversation that gets your attention, you likely going to move that person to the end of that call
as quickly as possible. Well, that's the same way with you when you are calling shippers. If they don't hear
something that they say, "Hey, I can benefit from
something that sounds like, "you know, maybe different
from what I've been hearing," then they're probably gonna move you to the end of that call. So you want to say something
very early in the conversation that gets their attention. So what are you going to say? Here's what I would say. Remember, I'm starting the call this way because I want to get
the shipper's attention. I want him to know that I
understand what his problem is, and I have a solution for the problem. So I'm going to start the
conversation in this fashion. I'll say something like, "Hey Mike, this is Brandon
over at Alliance Logistics. "Hope I didn't call at a bad time." Quick pause. "How would it benefit you to
have someone on your team, "a partner who can move last-minute loads "after other freight brokers or carriers "have canceled those loads?" And then I shut up. Now I shaped the question
in the way that I did, I said, "How would it benefit you?" because I don't want him to
just give me a yes or no answer. I want him to tell me
how it could benefit him, or, you know, how does
he see it benefiting him to have a person on his team
that can get the job done when someone else has dropped the ball. I want him to see that I understand the problems that shippers have. That's a common problem, so I'm expecting that
he has that same issue. And I want to give him a go-to
when that situation happens. I'm not trying to get the
entire piece of the pie on the first go, but I
want him to understand that I have a good
understanding of what happens in a freight broker world on
a day-in and day-out basis, what happens in trucking
and I have a solution. And then we can get to the part about what's required
in order to get set up, what we can do for him moving forward and all of that good stuff. But first let's just get in the door. Let's get in the door with
something that is common. Something that he understands,
something that he says, "Hey, this is something that I
may be able to benefit from." That's how I start out the conversation. And you know, sometimes
you're going to have different ways that you start out. Remember, this is just a recommendation, and then you shape it and mold
it in a way that you want it. But you know, when you
compare that to the common, "Hey, I was just giving you a call "to see if we can help
you move some freight," that's completely different. Yes, shippers need freight
moved, but anybody can do that. We want to talk specifically to a problem that a shipper has,
because in my experience, we get better results that way. People are willing to listen when you're speaking to
an issue that they have, and especially when you're saying, "Hey, I can solve this problem for you. "I can help you with this problem." So that's what I wanted to
share with how I approach, how I go out and approach
that introduction, when it's time to call
and introduce yourself. Some people just think it's about calling and introducing you and your business. Well, that's one way of doing it. But to me, it's much better to have a brief introduction up front because the shipper knows
what you do already. He knows that you are
a broker or a carrier. All of that is good. You know, saying "I'm a third
party logistics company", where you from, like, remember
you only have so much time. And you know, in my experience, people don't really listen to all of that. If they decide to move further with you, then they can get who you
are and where you from if that's important. They can get all of
that stuff at that time. So remember to focus on getting
the shipper's attention, because you only have a small
amount of time to do that. So get that shipper's attention, get it with a problem that they have and then show how you
can solve that problem. Now, are you going to be nervous
when you first get started? Certainly, we all are, that
just comes with the territory. I want you to think back
with when you were a kid and you had a girlfriend or
boyfriend, 11, 12, 13 years old. Well, when you first
started having conversations with your girlfriend and boyfriend, it was a little uncomfortable. You have those long stretches of silence because you don't know what to say. Well, that's kind of the same way that you're going to start out here. You're going to be a little nervous. You're going to have some butterflies before you start calling, but it's important to start calling because after two weeks have passed, you're gonna feel a little bit better. After two more weeks have passed, you're gonna feel even better
about making those calls. But if you keep delaying it, if you keep pushing it off saying you don't know
enough to get started, then you're never going to get started. The whole idea is to start somewhere and improve the process as you go. Remember, it's not about perfection. It's about getting started. Getting started is better
than perfect any day. So let's just get
started with some basics. And then once we get started,
we can improve as we go. And as you do it more and more, you'll get more confident and you'll get, your conversation are
going to be more fluid. You're going to be more,
you're going to be smoother when you're talking to your customers. All of that stuff will come. You want to be that right now, but in order to be that
you have to get started. So that's what I wanted
to share with you today. I certainly hope that
this has been helpful. If you would, please, I
would like for you to leave a comment in the comments
section and let us know how you approach introductory calls or how you approach your calls in general, how you set your calls
up for conversation. What are you saying
actually to your shippers? We certainly would appreciate it if you would share that
in the comments below. That way, we can all
learn from each other. It's not just about me coming
and sharing how I see it, but we can be in a
community of people here that all are learning from each other. So thanks in advance. So now for the gift that I promised at the front of the video. If you're interested in learning more about the freight broker
business, and you wanna know what it's really like to be in the seat, you wanna see what it's
like to talk to customers, how to get loads set up
and then how to go ahead and move loads and get paid, if you wanna see that process, you wanna watch someone else do it, I have a five-video series that you can sign up for on my website. It's absolutely free. You don't have to pay anything for it. You just go to
www.BrandonTheFreightbroker.com, wait for the popup to appear, and then you can register
for my five-video series titled "How the Load
Movement Process Works." So I want to leave you with one quote before I end the video. It's by Marilyn Ferguson. It says "No one can
persuade another to change. "Each of us guards a gate of change "that can only be opened from the inside. "We cannot open the gate of another "either by argument or
emotional appeal," close quote. So what that means to me is that it is not my responsibility
or your responsibility to open anybody else's gate for change. That person has to open
that gate on their own. When they are ready for a change, that's when change will appear. It will not come any
sooner or later than that. So when you are ready for a change, you have to open that
gate from the inside. I wish you the very best
in your life and business. See you at the top, because
the bottom is much too crowded. (digital chiming) (smooth digital music)
