Brokerage
Freight broker cold calling, the daily number and the opener
30 to 50 dials a day to the right size of company. That is the whole prescription, and almost nobody actually does it.
Every new broker asks how to get shippers. The answer has not changed and it is not clever. You call them, on the phone, during business hours, every single day.
Not emails. Cold email in freight gets filtered, ignored, or answered by someone with no authority to move freight. The phone still works in this industry because logistics runs on urgency and a voice gets an answer that an inbox does not.
The daily number
30 to 50 dials a day. That is the target, five days a week, during business hours.
Most people hear that and quietly decide fifteen is close enough. It is not, and here is why. A dial is not a conversation. Most dials reach voicemail, a gatekeeper, or the wrong department. The conversation rate is low enough that fifteen dials often produces zero real conversations, which produces the conclusion that calling does not work.
Volume is not enthusiasm, it is statistics. You need enough dials for the funnel to exist at all.
Who to call
This part matters as much as the volume.
Target small to mid-size shippers, roughly $5M to $100M in revenue. Manufacturers, distributors, food producers, building products, agricultural operations.
Do not call Fortune 500 companies. Do not chase huge projects or national accounts as a beginner. Those companies buy freight through procurement portals, bid events, and incumbent contracts. You will spend three months in a vendor onboarding process and never speak to a human who can give you a load. Beginners get shredded there.
The company you want has a shipping manager who answers his own phone and can decide something today. That company is almost never large.
The first ten seconds
You are interrupting someone. Respect that and get to the point.
Name, company, and one specific reason you are calling that relates to their freight. Then a question, and then stop talking. The most common beginner mistake is monologuing through a script because silence is uncomfortable.
Ask about lanes, not about business. "Where does most of your outbound go" gets an answer. "Do you have any freight needs" gets a no.
The brush offs and what they mean
"We already have a broker." Good, that confirms they ship. Nobody uses one carrier for everything. Ask which lanes their current setup handles worst.
"Send me an email." Often a polite exit. Send it, then call back. The email is not the follow up, the second call is.
"Not interested." Usually means not right now. Note the date and call again in a few weeks. Freight needs change constantly.
Gatekeeper stops you. Be straight about who you are and who you need. Trying to trick a receptionist is how you get remembered badly.
Tracking, so it is not guesswork
Log four things every day: dials, conversations, quotes given, loads booked. After two weeks you can see which number is your actual constraint.
- Low conversations relative to dials, your list is wrong or you are calling the wrong hours
- Conversations but no quotes, your questions are too vague
- Quotes but no loads, your pricing or your follow up is the problem
That is a diagnosis you can act on. Without the log, every bad week feels like proof you are not cut out for this.
What it actually costs to run 40 dials a day
The activity itself is nearly free, which is the point.
| Item | Monthly cost |
|---|---|
| Business phone line or VoIP | $20 to $40 |
| Public shipper research and directories | $0 |
| Spreadsheet or basic CRM | $0 to $25 |
| Your time, 3 hours a day | the real cost |
At 40 dials a day you make roughly 800 dials a month. Expect a low single-digit percentage to turn into real conversations with someone who buys freight, a fraction of those to turn into a quote, and a fraction of those to book. Run your own numbers off the log below rather than trusting any published rate, but understand the shape: the funnel only exists at volume, and $60 a month plus your mornings is the entire cost of running it.
The part nobody likes
This is boring, repetitive, and mildly unpleasant for the first two weeks. Then it stops being unpleasant and becomes a habit, and the habit is what builds the business. There is no version of this where reading replaces dialing.
Common questions
How many cold calls a day should a freight broker make?
30 to 50 dials a day, five days a week, during business hours. Most dials hit voicemail or a gatekeeper, so lower volume often produces zero real conversations, which is why people wrongly conclude that calling does not work.
What size shippers should a new freight broker call?
Small to mid-size companies, roughly $5M to $100M in revenue. Manufacturers, distributors, food producers, and building products firms. Avoid Fortune 500 companies and megaprojects, since they buy freight through procurement portals and incumbent contracts where a beginner has no path in.
Is cold email better than cold calling for freight brokers?
No. Cold email in freight gets filtered or answered by someone with no authority over freight. The phone works because logistics runs on urgency, and a voice gets a decision from a shipping manager the same day.
What do you say on a freight broker cold call?
Name, company, one specific reason you are calling that relates to their freight, then a question about their lanes, then stop talking. Ask where their outbound freight goes rather than whether they have freight needs, because the first gets an answer and the second gets a no.
How do you handle a shipper who says they already have a broker?
Treat it as confirmation that they ship. Almost nobody uses one broker for everything, so ask which lanes their current setup handles worst and position yourself as backup capacity on those.
Want the whole system instead of the summary?
The Brokerage Accelerator is the full build, from authority paperwork to the call scripts that get you your first shipper. 500+ members inside.