Strategic thinking?

[JoeMP2]

Hi fellow expediters..
I have been following the posts in this forum for about 1year and have decided to chime in. As a foot soldier of the expediting wars, I have gained valuable insights from the regular contributors of EO. Expediting is my passion. Goes all the way to the marrow of my bones. Like many of you, I am constantly searching for new ways to improve myself in this profession we have chosen. By way of a brief bio, I am an owner/op w/Panther 6years.
No doubt, I have seen a slowdown in freight past month or two. Of course, this is not first time but it is worrisome. I try to keep an open mind to innovation and out-of-the box thinking. So my question is: What new tactics or strategies are you employing to capture more freight opportunities? JoeMP2

 

[ATeam]

After a year or so of expediting, we settled into the same freight-finding tactics and strategy that we use today. As long as it keeps working, we will keep using it.

We identified the kind of freight we wish to haul. For simplicity sake, call it FedEx Custom Critical White Glove freight. We then configured ourselves and our truck to haul it.

(Note to newbies: Do not take the words "configured ourselves" lightly. This is not a business to jump into and hope for the best. Configuring ourselves includes countless hours of research, totally committing to specific results, doing whatever it takes to achieve the results, and most difficult of all...changing our minds about some of the things we think are true and some of the things we think are false. More than anything else in this business, your opinions and perceptions will make or break you. There is the way things are in expediting, and there is the way you think things are. But that is a different topic.)

A strategy we chose against was to be generalists, hauling general expediting freight, running any ol' truck that can be used at any ol' carrier. We chose to be specialists instead, fully committing ourselves and our truck (or choosing fleet owner trucks) to one purpose...hauling White Glove freight. This is a strategy choice we made while researching the business. It was made before we even had our CDLs.

The risk is the White Glove market may dry up or be diluted by competition. It also may happen that our now-excellent relationship with FedEx Custom Critical may go south for whatever reason. In four years, that has not happened. We are as busy as ever and continue to be happy FedEx campers. If that changed, we would change too.

Some people say, don't put all your eggs in one basket. We said (to ourselves only), put all your eggs in one basket, and then watch the basket. Though, we hardly bet the farm on the outcome. We did not enter the business with empty pockets. We had reserve funds to bail us out from any mistakes we might have made. We had a house and other career options to return to if expediting did not work out. Happily, we never had to tap into reserve funds or return home. Our strategy worked from the first day.

If this strategy fails in the future, we are not without options. We can at any time reconfigure our truck or change truck types. As the critical shipment transport business changes, we will likely change with it.

Or, we may find an entirely different kind of business opportunity. Who knows, an exciting new career in lawn ornament sales may be in our future.

Our strategy is White Glove. The freight-finding tactics within our White Glove strategy were refined over time. I have talked about our deadheading and load acceptance techniques in other posts. Present-day tactics are the result of doing more of what works, doing less of what doesn't, and sometimes trying something new.

Hats off to JoeMP2 for asking a great question. Expeditiers who think like he does have good futures ahead.

 

[chetjester]

Sorry about what I said. I'm going through load-o-pause.

Chet Merithew
The Prodigal Son of A. Blair
Truck #81105
OOIDA #828583

 

[Bruno]

I have never heard Phil or his wife say they was perfect. I only know One man that was ever perfect and that was Jesus. Phil is just tring to help others in the business, no harm done on his part. People that like to throw rocks into someone well are called slingers. Davekc, Dreamer, RichM, Teamcaffee, Terryandrene, Ateam, and all the mods just try to help people that are new to the business. I found out over the years that if your doing a good job people tend to throw rocks at you. I have done my share of throwing rocks, nothing ever good comes out of it when you do. It just makes you look bad and you lose good friends over doing things like that. We are all in this business to make money and have fun at what we love to, and that is "Trucking".

God Bless and Drive safe
Dave Mayfield
FedEx Custom Critical
14 years as an O/O in Expediting.

 

[ATeam]

I did not see what chetjester edited out and apologized for, but he did and that's good, right? Bruno's comments are appreciated too. But the topic started with a very good question from JoeMP2. If we could get back to answering that, many readers can benefit.

JoeMP2 said, "What new tactics or strategies are you employing to capture more freight opportunities?"

 

[dhalltoyo]

Less deadheading.
(Some carriers have more centralized freight.)

Better use of electronic information.
(When I get an offer, I find out how many truck are sitting there, how many on refusal and how many headed there with delivery times before I unload.)

Reducing expenses.
(I never idle. I have never stayed in a motel. Most meals come from the grocery store. Never buy anything but fuel at the truck stop.)

More proficient negotiating skills.
("It's gotta go!" But it goes to East Uhunga and the last load ever shipped from anywhere near East Uhunga is 500 miles away. "OK, I'll help you and you cover my fuel in route back to______ after I deliver in East Uhunga.)

 

[JoeMP2]

When you say you inquire how many are on a refusal in an area before deciding to take a load- how does that info factor into your decision making process? How does this work to your advantage?

 

[dhalltoyo]

Timing.

I need to know when they are coming out of refusal status. I could be 8 hours out and they all have 4 hours before they are back on the board as 1,2,3,4 and 5; then I get there and drop off so I can be number 6. No thank you.

Especially important when your particular carrier happens to have 20 units that live in that city (or nearby) and your dropping off Monday morning after they have all been there over the weekend.