As a freight broker, the quality of your sales calls has a lot to do with the type of shippers you are calling. That’s why one of the most important skills you can master as a freight broker or freight broker agent is learning how to build a shippers list. Sadly, learning to build a list from scratch is a skill that has been lost.
A shipper’s list is a lead list for a freight broker or an agent. It is a list of potential customers for a freight broker that is used to call and email in order to solicit new freight business.
The problem that is circulating the industry right now is that there are certain people and organizations that are selling lead lists publicly to freight brokers. Buying one of these shippers list puts a freight broker at an immense disadvantage.
In this video blog we are going to go over the 3 reasons why you should never buy a shippers list from any vendor online and what you need to do to build your own shippers lists.
Because when you can build your own lists of qualified quality leads, you will never wonder where your next load is coming from ever again.
- Shipper’s list’s are saturated: Before I explain why a shipper’s list is so saturated, we have to establish how these lists work in the first place. A majority of the time, a shipper’s list is a collection of old leads that has either been scraped from the internet, taken or “donated” from another freight broker. The leads are not screened for quality about whether or not they are current.
The biggest problem with a bought shippers list is that the same brokers are all utilizing the same list. If one list is sold to 1000 brokers, and there are only 10000 names on the list, you can see very clearly that each broker only needs to call 10 of those leads in order for the entire list to be covered. If you are not an experienced broker with a strong value proposition, it is very unlikely that you will get any traction with those leads.
- Most Lists are Old and outdated: Most shippers lists are extremely old and outdated. The reason I can say this as fact is because of simple common sense. Shippers are the life blood of a brokerage. Why would a broker sell their life blood if they still had anything to gain from it? If there were still any quality shippers to be taken from a list, they would be used by the person or entity selling it.
I personally have a database of over 30,000 shippers, receivers and manufacturers from over the last 24 years that my brokerage is in business. I could very easily package that up and sell it for $30 and I would make thousands of dollars. Yet, I don’t do that because it is simply not right. Anyone selling you a shippers list is taking advantage of you and robbing you of the opportunity to build your skill set like I am going to describe in point number 3.
- Shippers’ list restricts your growth as a freight broker: Buying a shipper’s list is to a freight broker like taking steroids is for bodybuilders. Sure you get results fast, but the fact is that to a degree you are not suffering through the adversity that others have to. That adversity is ultimately what makes you better in life so I would go as far to say that if you are someone blindingly buying shippers lists you are taking away an opportunity to learn how to do it yourself.
And to make things easy for you so that you don’t have an excuse after reading this article, this video shows you my exact process for making shippers list from my thought process down to the actual actions and tools that I use as a freight broker of 15 years
Check that video out right here
Side note: It is essential as a freight broker in the 21st century that you learn how to adapt in the modern age. This means learning how to use technology to your advantage. I will never say that face to face interactions do not help foster strong relationships, but I will say that times are changing and the only broker’s who will succeed are the ones who learn how to leverage technology to their advantage.
Final Thoughts:
If you haven’t recognized by now, If I have to sum up this article in 7 words, Buying Shipper lists is a waste of time. You fair much better by learning how to do this yourself just like I teach all of my students in the Freight Skills Academy.
There is a big difference in the people who learn how to fend for themselves in the industry rather than the ones always looking for a quick way to the top.
Im curious now that we have cleared the air about all this, have you ever seen success with a shipper’s list? Have you ever bought one? Let me know in the comments about your experience.
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