Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/619872
24 | Overdrive | January 2016 O ver independent owner- operator Zach Beadle's career of nearly three decades, he's amassed quite a collection of keys – more than one for every year in business. But those keys don't turn the ignitions for any big collection of trucks. Beadle's been run- ning since the late 1980s in the same 1976 Peterbilt cabover, hauling livestock, hay, heavy equipment, liquid feed and fertilizer, using trailers he owns. "Those keys go to people's ranch houses," says the Devine, Texas-based owner-operator. "They go to packing houses where they give you a key to go in at night and unload your cattle" – and more. Though Beadle doesn't use all of them today, he keeps them in his cab as a reminder of where he's been through the history of his one-truck business (see picture p. 32). They also reinforce what he believes about success: "The gut of who a person is. If they're hon- est, and they look for ways to go the extra mile" for the customer, then trust, respect and dollars will follow. To put it from the customer's perspec- tive: "Shippers have long memories," says Gail Rutkowski, executive direc- tor of the National Shippers Strategic Transportation Council (NASSTRAC), whose members work in manufacturers' transportation departments. The freight marketplace has become more of a seller's market, Rutkowski says. Though capacity hasn't been nearly as tight through the last year as it was the prior year, pressures will only continue to mount. "Now couldn't be a better time for small carriers to take that initiative and go out and approach the shipper" about doing business direct, she says. "Shippers are looking for those carriers. That's the reason they so often turn to brokers – they don't have the band- width to go out and search for those smaller carriers." Here, find avenues to take in search- ing for shippers, as well as tactics for building your customer base. 'Why you?' Charlotte, N.C.-based Henry Albert, one of the Freightliner Team Run Smart pros test-running the latest tech- nology, is also a past Overdrive Trucker of the Year. Albert garnered the dis- tinction in 2007 when he was hauling direct-shipper freight on north-south runs. His willingness to go to the Northeast became one among his many answers to a question he says owner-operators must be able to answer before bidding for direct freight: Why you? Or, as a Small Business Administration consultant in the Charlotte office put it to him as he was just starting out as an independent: "Why is anybody going to use you to ship their material?" says Albert. "I hesitated about half a second, and he said, 'I don't want to hear your answer. If it's not on the tip of your tongue, you're not ready.' "When you're going in to call on With expected long-term demand for capacity, it's a good time for independents and small fleets to work toward securing contract freight direct with shippers. BY TODD DILLS Source: OverdriveOnline.com poll Do you aspire to contract directly with shippers for freight? 16% 76% 8% No, I have great broker relationships I already work with my customers direct exclusively Yes, I would prefer not to use brokers/other middlemen For nine of every 10 independent owner-operator readers of Overdrive, direct-shipper freight is either the ideal or the reality, attractive for the higher margins that are possible when the middle- man doesn't take a cut. Brandon Wells