An Awesome Class this April in Atlanta, GA

We had a phenomenal class this month in Atlanta, Georgia! Our instructor, Drake Sliver, provided these wonderful individuals with the valuable knowledge and skills needed to jump-start their new careers as freight brokers and agents. In their testimonials, they commended Drake for his ability to deliver a comprehensive course that was both easily understood and enjoyable. We’re so pleased to hear that our graduates had a great experience training with us. Read their full testimonials below.

“The information given was very desired. The structure of the class was very comprehensible. Drake’s delivery and knowledge of both the trucking and brokering end of the business sealed the deal for me. I will be recommending this school to others. Thanks, Drake.” - Chester Christian

“This experience was truly a “GREAT” one that I am very thankful for. Mr. Drake is awesome in every way. He answered all questions and gave out very useful resources. All the material is here. It’s just up to me to use it very wisely. I’m looking forward to being a broker and sharing this experience with others. Thank you!” - Qiana Kinchen

“Our instructor, Drake Sliver, was excellent. He was professional, well-prepared and presented a detailed comprehensive basic course in an easily understood manner. Drake used numerous practical and personal examples from his years in the transportation industry to explain various concepts that not only added value to the course - but also made it extremely enjoyable.” - Doug and Jan Tullis

“It was a great experience. The information I received was top notch. My class had Drake Sliver for our training. He was wonderful. He took his time and he explained everything.” -Garnell Wrighten

Have you ever considered starting a career as a freight broker? Join us at one of our upcoming live classes or take our online course from the comfort of your home. Feel free to call me today if you have any questions or would like to discuss your future (214) 206-1169

Moving Forward,

Jeff Roach

www.brooketraining.com

Slow and Steady

Last night I watched my daughter win her intramural volleyball game.  We were the only audience at the game.  Luckily she's fine with that.  She is an unlikely volleyball player because she is not tall.  Yet she played competitively all through high school and was a star player both on and off the court. She now plays on a non-competitive team at A&M.  She loves the game. 

I have been amazingly proud of how she kept playing the game even though she doesn't look the part.  If you asked me what makes her a good player.  Slow and steady would be my words to describe her.  When you think no one would get the ball, she'd get under it. 
When she served it seemed she didn't hit the ball hard enough, but sure enough it would clear the net, time and time again.

That is the way you win as a freight broker as well.  Slow and steady.  You have to take time to build your book of customers and your book of carriers.  Slowly you will build up a great reputation if you take care of your business with the highest level of integrity every time.

You WILL have to scramble to get loads and carriers going very often.  But consistency in how you handle the work is critical.  Build a reputation of dependability.   Of course sometimes things go hay wire but that is the time you truly build your credibility.  Handle the issues with confidence. Don't try to shift the blame to someone else.  Be honest.  We all fail.  Failures show that you are trying new things. 

Have a great weekend.

Moving forward,

Jeff Roach
www.brooketraining.com

Good to Know

DAT just posted an article on 5 new regulations that impact our industry.  I have reposted a most of that article.  To read the whole article go to: www.dot.com. 


Below are five regulations that freight brokers should be aware of—either because they apply to brokers directly, or because the rules will have an impact on truckload capacity. 

1. New food safety rules began earlier this month - These regulations apply to brokers, carriers and shippers. What makes these regulations different is that they define brokers as shippers, making them equally responsible for ensuring the safety of food during transportation. Large companies were required to comply by April 6, 2017, while other companies have one more year to comply. See if your company falls into the "large company" category.

2. Carrier Safety Fitness Determination put on hold - On March 23 the FMCSA announced that it is postponing its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would revise the method for issuing a Safety Fitness Determination (SFD) for carriers. Many carrier associations have opposed the SFD because the proposed guidelines are based on safety data they consider to be flawed. Brokers are disappointed that they still won't have clear guidelines to help them select safe carriers.

3. 2013 hours-of-service rules are gone for good - More restrictive hours-of-service restart rules that were put in place in July 2013 and suspended in December 2014 will be permanently eliminated. Those rules required that a truck driver's restart must include two rest periods between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m., and that the restart could only be used once per week. That's good news for freight brokers, as industry analysts estimated that the 2013 rules resulted in a 3-5% productivity loss when the rules were in place.

4. Final stage eliminating MC numbers suspended - In January, the FMCSA suspended the final phase of the new Unified Registration System (URS). The URS will eliminate docket numbers for carriers (MC numbers) and brokers (FF numbers, etc), identifying them solely by their DOT number. While NEW carriers and brokers are now required to use the URS, the final phase applies to EXISTING carriers and brokers.

5. ELD mandate is only 8 months away - There are only 8 more months before all heavy-duty trucks (with a few exceptions) must use electronic logging devices (ELDs) to log their hours of service. The deadline to comply is December 18, 2017. And while large carriers have been using ELDs for years, many small fleets and owner-operators have yet to make the switch from paper logs. That could be a problem because industry predictions about the reduction of capacity following the mandate vary from 3-5 percent, to 6-10 percent.



DAT offers a variety of products that help freight brokers and 3PLs increase efficiency and grow their businesses. Learn more about our tools that help you find trucks, monitor your current carriers, onboard new carriers, check current and historical freight rates, and help you run your business with transportation management software made exclusively for brokers.

Thank you DAT for this great information.  Information is powerful in finding success as a freight broker.  Learn more, earn more. 

Moving forward,

Jeff Roach
www.transportationtraining.com

Good Friday

Why is today called Good Friday?  

  

Is it called Good Friday because it is good to have a day off?  Fridays are always anticipated but when it is Friday and a holiday we have double reason to celebrate. Go ahead; enjoy the time with family and friends.  Try to put your work aside.  But don’t let the day end with truly reflecting on why it is Good Friday. 

In Germany they call this day mourning Friday.  Jesus was crucified, so the disciples mourned. But I prefer calling it good because the disciples mourning only lasted till Sunday when Jesus defeated death by rising from the dead.  It is good for all who believe because forgiveness and salvation is theirs.  Jesus lived a perfect life, died a horrific death then rose again to defeat death.  He did it all for us because of love.  We can put our trust in Him.  So it is the day of the greatest good.  The day one man sacrificed it all for the good of all mankind. 

Go out and have a good day.

Moving forward,

Jeff Roach

www.brooketraining.com

Business Among Friends

Recently I spent some time talking with Joe, a freight broker friend who has hired brokers from our freight broker school graduates.  I asked him about his experience with Brooke Transportation Training Solutions.  Here's what he said:

I started hiring graduates from Brooke's school about 2 months ago and have been very pleased the level of training they have for such a short course.  I met Jeff about 7 years ago when he came in and did training with the sales staff of the brokerage firm I was working with back then.  I started my own freight brokerage about a year and a half ago. It has been going real well.  So, I needed more agents.  That is when I started going in and interviewing Jeff's graduates.  I offer all his graduates an opportunity to work with our brokerage.

In the last few months I have hired several agents from Brooke's graduates.  It has been a great match.  The graduates come in ready to go. I would recommend BTTS to any freight broker who needs agents.  The key to success with these new agents is on going mentoring after they finish their training.  I spend time encouraging our new agents.  I am sometimes the trainer and sometimes the psychiatrist.  We handle administrative needs of our agents so they can focus on making sales, finding new customers who need our help in transporting their loads.

I love working with Veterans.  I'm a veteran myself.  Lots of vets go through Brooke's training, So finding a great agent who is a vet is easy with Brooke.

The great thing about being a freight broker is you have the ability to earn what you want based on the amount of work you want to put in.  As a broker you have to be persistent.  There will be good and bad days but if you keep at it you will be a success.  Don't give up.


Thanks Joe.  If you are a broker looking for agents, or needing some training for your agents give me a call.  If you are wanting to learn to be a freight broker come to one of our courses soon.  You can meet Joe.

Moving forward,

Jeff Roach
www.brooketraining.com
214-206-1169

Life in the Freight Industry after Graduation

One of our incredible graduates, Pamela George, shares her experience of working in the industry after training at Brooke. Reflecting back on her journey thus far, she shares valuable insight and advice for future brokers and agents. Read her full story below. You don’t want to miss this one.

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Life in the Freight Industry after Graduation

I like many other folks embarked upon my journey in the freight industry full of excitement and ready to do it all… I sold a small niche transportation company in Atlanta called Need A Ride, LLC. I picked up logistical transporters for the largest driveaway company in the country. I learned some of the lingo, I asked questions, and I learned a bit from the Owner Operators for 5 years. I thought, how difficult can this be? After all I had so many people in the industry tell me that I could do it, I didn’t need any training, they taught themselves, etc…

After much research and due diligence, I decided to attend Brooke Transportation Training Solutions. I am a hands-on person and knew what I knew, but I wanted to discover what I didn’t know. I spoke to the owners of Brooke about 4-5 times before I made my decision. I needed to be sure that I could get my questions answered and future support for questions that would come up. As I took my class online, they were kind, patient and knowledgeable each time.

I also attended Brooke’s hands-on training class. I got to make calls to real live shippers and network and interact with other students and successful graduates! I loved it!

I started my class online. It was informative, engaging and very interactive. I enjoyed it, but I soon realized that this was more than I can handle all by myself. It was a lot of moving pieces. That was my “aha” moment…. Remember, I was ready to do it all. It’s a good thing I did not listen to those who said I didn’t need training…

I am SUPERWOMAN and the best part about being SUPERWOMAN is knowing when to get other Super Friends…That’s where life in the freight industry after graduation was born.

My first set of Super Friends is the team at Brooke. They were ready to assist me with real world situations. My second set of Super Friends is the broker, which comes with other Super Friends intact. I decided to be an agent. I can sell ice to an Eskimo - sales is my strong suit, but I needed and wanted a back office.

I discovered early on that the phone was going to be a HUGE part of my day and I needed help with the back-office piece - a broker with an adequate license (more on this in a few). This can be a tricky one. I was new and didn’t really know what I needed or desired from a broker. All I knew was that I needed one and since I didn’t have a book of business, I couldn’t afford to be picky or could I? (more on this in a few).

Before you graduate, I strongly suggest deciding what your sweet spot is. By that I mean:

• Do you want to be an agent and secure shippers?
• Do you want to find rates and dispatch the carriers?
• Do you want to onboard the shippers/carriers?
• Do you want to be a Broker? This is ideal if you have a full team in place to handle all the above.

Back to the above underlined statements:

1. Know if you need a broker with asset or a non-asset broker (and know the difference).
2. It’s exciting that a broker wants you without a book of business, but I encourage you to interview the broker, just as you are being interviewed. This will aid in making a good decision opposed to moving around from broker to broker. Do your homework ahead of time and you can avoid the broker shuffle. However, if by chance you find yourself changing brokers, it’s ok as long as you learn from it. We never lose, we learn.

I have a few “Pamela-isms” for you:

1. Never ever sign a non-compete. You must grow your book of business.
2. Be disciplined and focused. Set a goal of 100 calls per day. Use a CRM to log your tasks and follow up. Here a few free CRM suggestions to try: Insightly, ZOHO, and Hubspot.
3. No gossiping.
4. Communicate with your team regularly.
5. Stay on top of your clients and get to know them.
6. If something happens with your client, APOLOGIZE quickly. There is NO passing on the blame.
7. Stay connected to peers, mentors, and others in your industry.
8. Be flexible, turn on a dime, and keep it moving.
9. DO NOT TAKE THINGS PERSONALLY… You will experience getting hung up on.
10. Love what you do and let your passion shine through.

To this day, my experience with the Brooke team has been:

• Informative
• Positive
• Encouraging
• Real unbiased  
• Knowledgeable
• Honest
• Insightful
• Pragmatic
• Full of Feedback. This is hard to find. You are not just a tuition - you become family. They truly want you to succeed and their success is tied to yours.

Written by Pamela George, 2017

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Thank you for sharing your story, Pamela. This is great advice for anyone that is interested in becoming a freight broker or agent in this exciting industry. Your hard work is paying off. You're truly a rockstar! 

Moving forward,

Jeff Roach
214-206-1169
www.brooketraining.com