Trucktario! Scratch, Claw, and Win

Recently, I was standing in line at my local variety store, behind a guy who had a real serious case of lottery fever. I patiently waited and watched him buy tickets for every game available. You name it, he played it.

Personally, I’m not a fan of lotteries. They’re more a game of taxation than chance, since you have a better chance of finding the money than you do winning it.

As I watched this guy buy a stack of scratch cards for a game called Lottario, I got the idea for a new lottery. A special lottery where you win every time you play. (Guaranteed!) My lottery is only for truckers, it’s based on your total sales, you never have to buy a ticket, and you win not once, but every year. I call my lottery … “Trucktario.”

Depending on the size of your company, you can win a couple of thousand dollars to a couple of million by playing Trucktario. Imagine how much work you’d have to do every year to add that amount of cash to your bottom line.

How do you play? Easy. Implement an annual rate increase. It’s that simple. For example, if you own a trucking company that does $4 million a year in sales, raise your rates just 3% and you’ll pocket $120,000 playing Trucktario.

This industry’s reluctance to implement annual rate increases astounds me. Every January, almost every other service industry hikes prices. Some are so bold as to just add it to the first bill of the New Year.

We need to keep up. Consider this: In 1989, when I started my company, MSM, I paid carriers $300 to move a skid from Miami to Toronto-the same rate load brokers pay carriers today. If you’d played Trucktario, raising your rates 3% a year for the past 12 years, that skid would now move for $427.73. What did you pay to buy a tire 12 years ago?

I know it’s not that simple. However, none of us can afford to do nothing just to keep up with the annual cost of living increases we all incur.

So if you’re thinking about playing Trucktario, here are some inside tips to increase your odds of winning.

Do it every year. It’s a great habit to get into to. Your customers will begin to expect it and fight it less. Try to get a 5 or 6% increase but settle for 3% or 4%. If you want an increase every other year, go for a higher percentage. When it’s not prudent to implement an annual increase, let your customer know. Phone, fax, or send an e-mail. Just make sure that you get some mileage out of it.

Ask for more than you want (you’ll never get more than you are asking for). If your goal is 3%, ask for 6%. Customers will want to negotiate. Let them claim a moral victory by getting you down a couple of points. It’s good for customer relations.

Don’t let third parties off the hook. Load brokers are customers, too. In fact, they’re customers who make a lot of money on the backs of truckers. Think of the $300 skid out of Miami.

Measure the results. It’s hard to manage without measurement. Set a goal and see how much you can win playing Trucktario. Plug the additional revenue into your budget. If you don’t, it will taint any year-to-year sales comparisons.

Do it now, especially if you haven’t played for awhile. Most people think the best time to implement an annual rate increase is on Jan. 1. I don’t think it matters when you do it. Just do it at the same time every year.

Be ready with answers. Don’t be afraid to get down and dirty and explain why you need more money to haul their freight. If you can justify the increase, most reasonable people will accept it with little or no negotiating.

Get creative. Do it by lane, do it by weight break, or do it by zone. What matters is the impact the increase will have on your bottom line.

Don’t send a form letter. Don’t make a phone call, don’t send an e-mail, and don’t ever raise a rate before you’ve told the customer about it. Only the gas company can do that. Your odds of winning at Trucktario will increase if you meet face-to-face with your customer.

The better your service, the better your odds. It’s that simple. People don’t want to switch carriers. When you’re an integral and important part of their distribution strategy, customers are far more likely to accept an increase.

For the sake of every trucker out there, I hope my new lottery catches on. As I stood in line at the variety store I came up with a lot of very good reasons why all of us should begin playing Trucktario and no reasons why we should not.
Join in! I know you’ll have fun.