Increase your chances of success as a Broker

You’re an experienced freight broker. You're good at what you do. You're ready to be self-employed. So you set up shop and start your own logistics company. You’re excited to be able to provide your customers with excellent service. You’re making money. Life is good. This happy scenario may continue, but it can also easily take an easy turn for the worse. Let's say all is going well, but you're running a little low on working capital. Then the snowball effect kicks in… you have carriers who want to get paid, but you have customers who are not paying you fast enough. Before you know it you're doing all you can to keep yourself afloat because you don't have available cash to work with. On top of this, you’re too busy too qualify your carriers for safety compliance which opens you up to lawsuits. Most of your time is taken by invoicing, collecting, accounts payable demands, and insurance and legal demands. Not moving loads! Now you feel your service is suffering. You never thought is would be this way.

Keys to keeping your transportation broker business alive and thriving

More and more freight brokers are experiencing this easy-to-start, hard-to-maintain scenario. And more and more start-ups are going out of business because they don't have the working capital to meet the demands of their carriers and their customers. They're making a profit, and it may be enough to live on, but it's not enough to run a business. If you don't want to find yourself in this situation here’s what you can do about it as an independent freight broker or truck broker. First and foremost, pay attention to your accounts - both receivable and payable. Have the carrier fax you the POD as soon as possible and then invoice your customer immediately. For most freight brokers and truck brokers, this means keeping the cash flowing so you can try to pay your carriers timely. If you have slow-paying customers you need to figure out a way to collect from them as fast as possible. (Tip: always run a credit check on ALL of your customers.) Constantly monitor their credit line and adjust it as necessary. It really does only take one customer not paying you to put you in debt and out of business. Also, don't wait until the last minute to pay your carriers. You’re already a new freight broker with no established credit history. If you average anything over 30 days, you're going to have a hard time booking carriers without some sort of upfront payment. As a freight logistics company, you have to pay your carriers on time, every time. You want customer retention, and you have no customers if you don't have carriers. Your carriers are your business, and if you want to continue to get freight broker jobs and loads and stay in business you must pay them, on time every time. Another area that demands your attention as a truck broker or freight broker agent is “risk management” - how to protect yourself and your business from potential liability. If you are completely independent you are required to comply with the FHWA authority, hold a surety bond and insurance. It is imperative that you comply with these requirements to stay in business and protect yourself from potential lawsuits. You also need to ensure that your carriers are safety compliant in order to protect yourself, and to keep any problems from rebounding on you as the transportation broker.

Increase your chances of success as a transportation broker

If you’d like to bypass the potential perils listed above, contact Cargo Transit today. Utilize the expertise and technology offered to you by an established transportation broker. As a freight agent of Cargo Transit, we can pay your carriers on time, every time. We can also offer your carriers a “quick pay” option. When carriers are considering which logistics company to haul for, they will discover Cargo Transit has an excellent rating with all the major credit agencies in the logistics industry. You can be in business immediately by using our operating authority, surety bond and cargo insurance. You will also have access to our contracts and legal documents, put in place by a transportation attorney for all our protection. Cargo Transit will also handle the time consuming process of customer invoicing and carrier payments. We will check your carriers for safety compliance and set up your carriers for you into our system. We will also provide you with Transcore’s Keypoint Dispatch Software and technical support at no charge. This software will allow you to work from anywhere at anytime. This saves your valuable time so you can spend it moving more loads and servicing your customers. We also have tools to allow you to “win the business” over your freight broker competitors. Cargo Transit is a certified Woman Owned business. Many customers have a program in place that requires them to give vendors enrolled in their diversity program a certain percentage of their business. Many customers who are not currently accepting new brokers or carriers will open the door to you with this certification. This nationally recognized certification will lend itself as an additional marketing tool to help our transportation agents have an advantage over competitors. Within our software you have access to over 6,000 carriers. Also, our software offers your customers more service by emailing your customers when their loads have been delivered. Contact us today to discuss your future as a successful independent freight broker.