For freight brokers, building a book of business can be a grind. It takes a great deal of resolve and persistence to overcome the daily obstacles. It’s the reason burnout and turnover for freight brokers are so high. To avoid the stress that eventually causes freight brokers to burn out before reaching their goals it is important to realize what’s important and what isn’t. Here are five tips for freight brokers to avoid burnout while you are building your book of business.
Working toward concrete goals keeps your eye on the prize, especially when things aren’t going your way. While it’s important to set long-term goals, it’s more important to worry about your shorter-term targets. Your daily activity is what really achieves freight broker sales success. After all, the only way to reach your ultimate goals is to be obsessed with the activities it takes each day to be successful.
The more dedicated you are to your ultimate goal, the easier it is to keep your activity levels up. The higher your activity levels, the less time you have to worry about any single outcome. It lets you hear “no” over and over again without it getting to you. Burnout usually happens when our goals become further and further out of reach, because we aren’t doing those activities to get a little closer each day.
The most successful freight brokers are always up for a challenge. It’s an opportunity to learn new skills and build value for current and future customers. If you think about it, success is built on solving problems. So, the next time a truck misses a delivery, a cargo claim lands on your desk, or a shipper says your freight rates are too high, don’t let it be a stressful situation. Smile and welcome the challenge.
If you know how to solve it, then practice makes perfect. If not, then you learn from your mistakes. Either way, in the long run the more challenges you overcome, the more excited you’ll be to face each and every one.
The best athletes are the ones who are the first to practice and the last to leave. Practice makes perfect in every facet of life. Freight brokers who love the daily grind of moving freight are the ones who will be the most successful. Working the process and learning new skills day in and day out is how you can start thoroughly enjoying all of the highs and lows. It is key to avoiding burnout.
In freight, the sales process includes sourcing leads, prospecting, following up, hearing “no” almost 100% of the time, and retaining customers by going the extra mile. If you can’t get to the point where this process is like a game for you, then it might be time to pursue a different career. Life is too short to spend years feeling like you have no control over your destiny.
They say patience is a virtue. Building a book of business is a long-term proposition. If you have patience and enjoy the process of learning the fundamentals it will all pay off in the end. If you are constantly trying to make everything happen today without putting in the activity needed, you will always be disappointed. This disappointment is stress and it will burn you out long before you achieve your goals.
Relax and take your time. Enjoy being in the moment and taking care of what needs to be done now. Doing this creates the activity needed to build a book of business. If you want to get there even faster, then ratchet up your activity level higher than everyone else around you. Just remember you can’t skip the fundamentals.
No one likes the mundane tasks. Figure out how to automate everything you can as quickly as possible. The more efficient you are at your non-revenue producing tasks, the more time you will have to build your book of business. It also decreases the drudgery of your work, which is a leading cause of burnout.
There are countless technology tools available now to automate your workflow. Go scout these out and start implementing as many as possible. Even if you can’t expense it with your company, it is well worth paying for most of it out of your own pocket. The return on investment you’ll see with new commissions can be astronomic and the ability to shed stress out of your day is priceless.
FreightWaves SONAR provides the fastest freight market data in the world across all major modes of traffic. SONAR can guide those seeking to be a successful freight broker or can be used in executing these freight broker prospecting freight broker tips to build a stronger freight broker book of business. The SONAR platform is the only freight forecasting and analytics platform that offers real-time freight market intelligence-driven off actual freight contract tenders.
SONAR contains proprietary data that comes from actual load tenders, electronic logging devices and transportation management systems, along with dozens of third-party global freight and logistics-related index providers like TCA Benchmarking, Freightos, ACT, Drewry and DTN.
Whether you’re working from the office or from home, SONAR can provide you the data and intelligence you need to stay ahead of your competitors.
Find out more about FreightWaves SONAR for brokers.
You can find more information on freight brokerage and carrier sales tips on the popular FreightWaves sales show, Put That Coffee Down.
