I had a completely different Chalk Talk scheduled for you today but let’s just say that play was intercepted.

Have you ever played a game of flag football with one of those guys who decides to illegally stiff arm everyone in his way, just because he wants the glory of doing a touchdown dance?

He’s a big jerk right?

It’s safe to say that since you’re here, you have a burning desire to become an auto transport broker.

Maybe it’s because you want to travel the world with your family while still making money.

Or because you’re tired of your boss dictating when you leave your house, when you get to eat your lunch, when you get to go home and when and how you can spend time with your family on what they like to call “vacations”.

And last I checked, vacations mean freedom or release from duty, business, or activity not permission from your boss to live.

So I totally get why you want to become an auto transport broker.

Because after all, however you write it, rewrite it or translate it, it still means freedom.

But what if that freedom isn’t what you expected?

What if you start your auto transport broker business looking for that said sense of freedom only to find that you’re phones not ringing, your inbox is empty and your C.R.M has one name in it- probably a test quote you’ve sent to yourself.

What do you do?

You get desperate.

You start making changes and probably towards the dark side because at this point, you NEED the money.

You’re also probably regretting that you even started your auto transport brokerage and that your boss is secretly laughing at you.

So when you finally get a quote from a client, you know how desperately you need the sale, so you post the vehicle on a load board hoping a carrier will agree to take the clients vehicle.

Your logic?

If you can get a carrier to agree, you can go back to that client and tell them you already have a carrier lined up and willing to take the vehicle for their quoted price.

This makes you look like you have relationships with carriers and you’ll hopefully get brownie points for finding the client a carrier super fast.

Then it’s Cha-Ching.

Money doing the salsa right into your bank account almost as good as Victor Cruz when he scores a touchdown.

But you’ve got it all wrong and unfortunately your money is not doing the salsa- at least not yet.

See, when you post cars before you’ve got a signed contract from a client- you know, the one that says they’re choosing to do business with you exclusively?

When you do it without that piece of paper, it creates confusion and frustration for drivers and other brokers especially if that clients decides not to choose you. Talk about embarrassing.

Let’s take a look at it from carriers point of view. When a carrier see multiple listings of the same vehicle it’s a red flag. A big ugly red flag hanging right in their face.

Why?

Well sometimes a carrier will agree to take the vehicle from the broker and when they go to pick it up or confirm, the car’s no longer available. This leads to frustration. Sometimes, carriers choose certain vehicles because they run a certain route and that vehicle will be the missing piece that’ll fill their truck to capacity.

Truck drivers are out there to make money and have their own sense of freedom- just like you.

You can imagine how a mix up like this is tragic.

Let’s say you don’t care about the carrier’s feelings. There’s thousands of carriers out there so why care what one guys needs?

Well, there’s the other side of this coin. What do you think the client will think when they choose the “other guy” over you. Then that auto transport broker tells them that your company has their vehicle on a “load board” and they need to tell you to take it down?

That same client is going to look at you like you’re so desperate you’ll do anything for a quick buck. Including screwing them over.

And if you learn anything at all,

Perception is everything.

So don’t be “that” jerk who’s desperate enough to run everyone over even in a game of flag football just because you want to do a touchdown dance in the end zone or in your case, see your money do the salsa into your account.

Instead, have a clean and pure heart, be honest and give it your all the right way.

Now I want to hear from you, have you ever been so desperate for anything in life that you crossed over to the dark side? What was the outcome? Leave your thoughts below: