Strategy #5 - Hello Third Party!
So... Your negotiation is going fairly well: it has been friendly and easy going. You have assured the broker you can do this particular load successfully, you can meet all of his needs, you're trustworthy and in the end it will be good for him and his customer. He needs reassurance at this point in the negotiation. He needs to know that you want to do this load, and you do, but you have to make sure the rate is ok with one of the following people:
Your Boss
Your Partner
Your Wife
Owner Operator who will be hauling the load
Your Father
Your Mother
Your Spiritual Advisor - Priest, Rabbi or Minister. Yes, The decision to take a load of freight is this important!
Someone other than yourself with whom you need their approval to the load. Or someone with whom you place high value on their opinion and you always run major decisions(taking a load) by them. If you don't have someone like this, you should find someone.
Feel free to introduce this third party at anytime during the load booking process. I find it most effective to introduce them midway through the negotiation. It's your call, in the beginning or the middle, but never towards the end. If the third party is introduced early, it can ease the tension with the negotiation. As the conversation goes along, you should be making statements like, "well...he isn't going to like that, it will be hard to convince him to hand unload all those pebbles, well it doesn't unload until 2pm, that's going to make it hard to pick up another load that same day..." and so on and so forth.
This also creates a camaraderie between you and the broker and can be a good thing. Always remember that you are trying to build a long term relationship. This is a good thing because you and the broker are working as a team to convince this third party(your boss, wife, owner op, mother, father, rabbi, etc.) I would strongly advise against introducing this third party late in the negotiating. This can be seen as a cheap ploy and ruin all the goodwill you have created.
Don't forget to sign up for the free email subscription! It's free and your email address is kept confidential!
>
15 Ways to Increase your Income while Negotiating for LoadsPick up Negotiating with Freight Brokers and 3PL's today
18 Wheels of Justice Copyright 2012
