If you have a box truck business, then you should endeavor to employ all the marketing and sales strategies within your disposal to win contracts and get loads to transport.
The truth is that if you don’t have regular trucking contracts, you are going to struggle to grow the business and if you are not proactive, the business may pack up sooner than you expect.
The fact that the trucking industry plays a very important role in the economy of the world shows that there is a large market for the box truck business.
They provide essential services to the United States economy by transporting home appliances or furniture or they can be rented by individuals.
If you run a box truck business, you should know that your driving skills will not be enough to keep you in the business, you must market your services, or else you won’t get any reasonable contracts.
Your marketing and sales team must be core professionals who are on top of their game and who know how to meet their target.
Example of Companies That Offer Box Truck Contracts
1. Amazon | 2. USPS | 3. WayFair
4. IKEA | 5. Home Depot | 6. Best Buy
7. FedEx | 8. Target | 9. Walmart
10. Ashley Furniture | 11. Forward Air
12. Government Contracts | 13. JB Hunt
14. XPO Logistics
10 Steps to Find Box Truck Contracts
Here are the steps you need to take to find box truck contracts from both corporate and individual clients.
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Choose a Good Location for Your Box Truck Company
The first and perhaps one of the most important things to put in place as a box truck owner is to position your business in the right location. It cannot be over-emphasized that the success of any business lies in the location you choose for the business.
For example, you will get it all wrong to locate a pet shop or vet clinic in a location with a demography that consists of people who don’t keep pets.
In essence, if you want to continue to find box truck contracts, then you should ensure that you locate your business close to a thriving real estate market, warehouses, seaports et al. No doubt trucking companies that are located along busy routes are expected to stay busy.
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Make Use of Reliable Box Trucks
It is one thing to choose a good location for your box truck company and a different thing for you to possess the capacity to deliver on the job.
If you want to do well in the box truck business and minimize downtime, then you should ensure that you have only reliable box trucks under your fleet.
What is the point of boasting that you offer 24 hours box trucking services when your box trucks are always breaking down on the highway or spending more time than required in the mechanic garage?
Running a box truck business with reliable trucks will give you an edge over your competitors; your trucks will always be available to transport goods from one location to another and that is all you need to continue to be in business.
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Make Your Box Truck Business Superior to Your Competitors
In reality, people and organizations will always patronize a business that appears to be superior to others. So, to keep getting box trucking contracts and loads you should project your box company to be superior to others around you. Your unique selling point as a box truck company should be your vast industrial experience and solid reputation.
So also trust, honesty, good network, excellent relationship management, strong management, strong fleet operations, direct access to all Atlantic and Gulf Coast ports, your transportation network as it relates to serving some of the largest population centers in the U.S., your size advantages, cost advantages, supply chain, customer loyalty and strong reputation amongst domestic industry players will count a lot for you in this regard.
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Build Good Business Network
Networking is perhaps one of the most effective and creative marketing ideas needed to build your clientele base and you have to put plans in place to leverage on all your networks if you truly want to do well in the trucking industry.
In view of that, you should look out for gatherings where you can network with captains of industries, entrepreneurs, manufacturers and merchants et al.
As a matter of fact, your first port of call should be to connect with the nearest Chamber of Commerce; you are likely going to get your first major deal from them.
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Get Your Truck Drivers and Other Employees Involved in Marketing Your Services
As a box truck company, part of what you need to do if you want to continue to find box truck contracts is to ensure that all your employees (not only marketing and sales executives) are directly or indirectly involved in the marketing of your services.
Just ensure that you create provision for your employees to earn a commission when they bring in business for the organization.
You can as well create a business model that will enable freelancers to work with your organization especially as it relates to bringing in box trucking contracts; whenever they refer clients to your organization, they will earn a percentage of the deal.
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Build a Box Truck Business That Will Serve Both Big and Small Clients
Another idea that will help you find box truck contracts is to ensure that you designed your business in such a way that you can comfortably work with people who may want to make use of box trucks to transport goods within the city and also conglomerates who are involved in massive movements of goods from one part of the U.S. to another part.
The truth is that some box trucking companies miss out on trucking contracts simply because they are either too big to attend to smaller clients or too small to execute larger contracts.
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Form Strategic Marketing Alliance with Your Competitors in the Trucking Industry
As a box truck company owner, if you want to continue to get box trucking contracts, then you should look towards forming strategic marketing alliances with your competitors in the trucking industry.
Good enough, there are opportunities for box truck companies to form strategic marketing alliances with other competitors in the industry due to the fact that some trucking companies may lack the capacity to handle certain freight contracts.
For example, a box truck company can decide to form a strategic marketing alliance with a haulage company that deals in airlifting goods from one location to another.
What is expected of the box truck company is to be responsible for moving the items to be airlifted from one location (it could seaport or factory et al) to the airport and also from the airport to the location where the goods are supposed to be transported to.
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Creating Brand Identity for Your Box Truck Company
You will quite agree that customers go for products or service providers that are always in front of them; in the business world, it is called promotion and branding.
So, if you want to continue to find box truck contracts, then you should be ready to create a brand identity for your box truck company.
It is a fact that any business that wants to grow beyond the corner of the street they are operating from must be ready to utilize every available means (both conventional and non – conventional means) to promote the business. Boosting your brand awareness will go a long way to endear you to your market.
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Work on Your Retention Strategies (Improve Your Customer Experience)
A company that is good with marketing and winning contracts but not good with generating repeated sales from their existing customers will always struggle to maximize profits in the business.
You cannot keep welcoming customers from your front door and watch them leave via your back door and expect to generate enough revenue for your business.
As a box truck company, if you want to continue to find box truck contracts, then you should ensure that you put in place workable customer retention strategies and also continuously improve your customer experience.
Part of the retention strategies you need to adopt as a new entrant into the trucking industry is to ensure that you leverage on price to win over customers; your prices should be affordable and negotiable.
In order to improve on your customer experience, you should make provisions to give out discounts to your customers from time to time whenever they patronize your services, make available flexible payment options, make use of effective customer relationship management (CRM) software, and ensure that you carry your clients along when making decisions that directly affect them.
In conclusion
As a box truck company owner, if you can adopt the above tips when it comes to running your box truck company, then you can be sure that you will continue to find box truck contracts and loads from both corporate and individual clients within and outside your location.
Please note that there may be certain challenges unique to box truck companies in your business location; it is your duty to be creative and improvise when it comes to tackling such challenges.