Let's Talk Policy and Procedure

One of the most important things we can do in business is create an operations manual. It is important to lay out the steps necessary to do your job effectively. There are so many benefits to creating a manual. It will help you identify and further develop roles within your business. It outlines what I like to refer to as steps of service which will make moving through any process, whether it's a sales call or discussing payments, more seamless and most importantly, more natural. It can be uncomfortable discussing issues or concerns without having policies in place to ensure consistency throughout your business. Particularly within a partnership, or companies where more than one person may be in contact with the same people, it is imperative that everyone is on the same page as to how things will be done. It will assign specific tasks and responsibilities to individuals in your business. It will make you more efficient in training. It will streamline every aspect of your business you choose to explore.

This is especially helpful in trucking because regardless of our role in freight, our goal is to create balance. Our goal is to find the middle ground between what a shipper has determined their costs to move a load, and the determined costs of a carrier to move it. There are so many variables that need to be factored in here to determine whether a shipper and carrier are a good fit for each other. This is why one of the most common challenges is carrier relations. While most understand the challenge of not moving freight at a cost to the carrier, a carrier also can't expect to be paid for every mile driven. It's easy to get caught up in the volume of a particular project, the rate, or even just the excitement of having business. However, a clear outline for your business as well as utilizing the data needed to make informed decisions about how to pair carriers with freight, will save you time and energy and help avoid chasing bad loads.

My philosophy is bad freight begets bad freight. For carriers and brokers. Brokers trying to find a margin will inevitably lose money the more time it takes to cover a load. For a carrier, you can be paid well to go to point A, but if there is trouble with reloads or a long deadhead, profits can disappear quickly. Likewise a load may not pay as much as you'd hope, but once you factor in time spent on the load, it can be more profitable than it appears at first glance. Not every high paying load will add up to profit, when all things are considered. Maintaining balance as it relates to time and money is essential for growth and sustainability in this, or any industry. Establishing on paper the policies and procedures under which your business will operate will only increase your comfort and confidence which will directly increase your odds of success.