When carriers ask me, “why should I factor?” I tell them, “there is nothing that says you have to factor.” Many folks don’t want to use trucking factoring services because they’ve had a bad experience or one of their peers did. The simple fact is that using Tetra’s trucking factoring services can help a new authority get to that first plateau much quicker than without us. This is due to the fact that we can help ensure you get paid as you grow. There are no magic bullets, just tried and true methods of following the process.
Building your business
Sending an invoice is not rocket science, but the follow-up becomes time-consuming. In your first month hauling, you may have 20-25 open invoices at the end of that month. I think you can make better use of those first couple of months. All you have to do is the thing everyone has to do, but no one really wants to do. That is calling around to customers and brokers and asking if you can fill out a carrier packet and get approved to run their freight. Spending a few months building up your book of business will determine your company’s trajectory for years to come.
We assist by pointing you in the most profitable direction, to direct customers rather than load boards and dispatchers. We have learned you will do best when directed to the companies that are “household names” in the industry. These companies have freight everywhere and pay their carriers. Additionally, it is essential to establish direct person-to-person relationships with your customers. Companies do business with each other, but “deals” are made person-to-person. Phone calls can work if you cannot do it in person, but you’ll never find the good loads if all you do is text. Build rapport. It takes time, but it will keep you working good freight and open the door to many other opportunities to expand and find your demographic niche.
Credit checks help ensure you get paid – and they can be FREE!
We want all our new clients to use our free credit checks often as they get started. It is essential to know if the customer is giving a new authority/new to the carrier, a load because:
- They have a legitimate need or surplus and are making an exception.
or
- Are they offering a new carrier a load because their other carriers will not haul for them because they are behind paying their carriers?
There is absolutely NO REASON to be hauling for questionable customers in this market climate. There’s a ton of good freight out there.
Trucking factoring services help you with your paperwork
The invoicing is not the trouble, it is the follow-up. You have to check your invoices bi-weekly. If there is a problem, 9 times out of 10, it is a paperwork issue that could be rectified in a few minutes. Unfortunately, you can’t expect your customers to alert you. They will use every stall tactic to delay your payments if you don’t keep following up. Tetra Capital’s team helps coach our carrier partners on how to do it right the first time. Our tips focus on sending in clear, complete, accurate scans of all paperwork associated with every load the first time. Whether you factor or not, this will be one of the single most important and pain-free things you can do to avoid problems. We let our carrier partners know if they have sent in a scan that will NOT be accepted by their customer.
Examples include:
- Page cut off at the bottom.
- Part of the page is blurry.
- “Missing page 5 of 5” when there is literally nothing on the 5th page but “5 of 5”.
- The dashboard of the truck or a finger is visible. – This is crucial.
Trucking factoring services help save you time which saves you money
Tetra’s business model is one where we only make money if our clients do. You choose which customers to factor and whom to direct-bill and can leave any time. We earn our clients business by providing value. When you break it down, how much is your time worth? How much would it cost to hire someone to do this for your company? Factoring becomes more and more attractive as you calculate those costs vs. what Tetra helps you with for no additional cost. We want to help you get a solid foundation from which to build upon. We know many of our carrier partners determine they no longer need us after a year or so. However, many stay on for years. Either way, we treat them well, and because of that, we have won numerous awards and have the best client satisfaction in the industry.
A final thought from one of our clients
So why would someone who runs 15-20 trucks, 70-90 loads a week, hundreds of thousands of dollars STILL factor? Seems almost counterintuitive. I asked one of our large clients this, and his answer was enlightening.
“I would be invoicing 20, 30+ different customers every week and trying to track all my invoices across dozens of platforms. With Tetra, I bundle my load paperwork up and send it in on Thursday. I then have my money on Friday, and I can track them all in one place. But the biggest reason I stay is because 3 times over the past few years, Tetra has saved my business. They know me, and know who I run for. Their team has given me a heads-up when a customer starts showing signs of financial distress. This has allowed me to clear out my open invoices with them before it becomes a nightmare. In one instance in particular that you helped me with, I would have been left holding the bag on about $40,000.”
If you have any additional questions about trucking factoring services and how they can help your trucking company or want to get started, give us a call today at (801) 676-0182.
