The Trucking Business VI

Proactive Trucking Communication

Excerpt from Kevin Rutherford’s interview with NATCO VP Cori Eckley for the “Trucking Business & Beyond” radio show, February 19, 2021 on SiriusXM Radio Channel 146.

Kevin Rutherford: Tell us: what are you looking for in owner-operators? Should they call you? 

On the Road Again…and Again

Cori Eckley: Of course. We do. We love to hear from owner-operators who maybe we don’t have a relationship with. Or we do and they just need to revisit; maybe they’ve done a transaction back in our history and got lost in the shuffle. We like when they revisit. 

Or new carriers, as well. I encourage them to reach out to ouroperations team: talk about their business, their equipment. The lanes they want to run in. Get set up with us if they’re not. So that way, when a transaction is available and a load is in their wheelhouse they want to take, and we want to work together, that process is already done. If we’re not stuck doing paperwork and verifying insurance. Granted, that process doesn’t take long, but it’s still another process we have to complete. If we have it done, we can rock and roll right away, and move forward, and work together. 

So, I do encourage carriers to call us, to introduce themselves. My girls do say at times it’s hard to find new relationships and they go searching. They also want to hear on the carrier side coming inbound to us, not just the folks with loads. But when they’re working to build their business, aside from the transaction, and before a transaction even occurs. We, too, like to hear from the carriers. To move forward.

Kevin Rutherford: Yeah. That’s a really good point because most times we don’t start the communication till we need a load. As an owner-operator. When I need a load, I don’t want to be waiting around. I don’t want to be wasting a lot of time. It’s time to move. If that’s when I call the broker, the odds of building a relationship go down. Because we’re just in a hurry: we want to get through the transaction. You’ve got more loads to move onto to move; I’ve gotta get this one on the truck and get it delivered. 

So what we need to do—kind of more what we’re doing here on this segment, but we need to do it more in the real world: when you’ve got down time, as an owner-operator, why not go back through your records, look at some brokers maybe you pulled a load for. Why not just call them back up? And when you’re not in a hurry. Maybe you don’t even need a load. Maybe you’ve got a load. Why not just call them and say, Hey, what’s going on in your world? What kind of freight are you pulling? What are rates looking like? Do you have some loads you really need to get moved? Call and just talk once in a while. And get those things set up ahead of time, so that when the transaction does occur, it’s just quick and easy and efficient. 

Cori Eckley: Yes. And it does make things a lot easier on our side—and for the carrier—if we do communicate in that fashion.