Lead Generation for Freight Brokers and 3PLs
We do lead gen for freight brokers and 3PLs. The buyer is a shipper: a logistics manager, a transportation manager, or a supply chain lead at a manufacturer, distributor, or retailer that moves freight. If you're a carrier looking for loads, this isn't the page for you.
Here's what we do. We watch for shippers that just opened a distribution center, hired a logistics manager, pushed into a new region, won a retail account, or went into bid season, and we email the person who books freight about that specific thing the same week. When they write back, it goes to your broker as a lane quote or a shipper onboarding. Route, a logistics company, got 117 opportunities in one month on a program like this. Starts as low as $2,999 a month, month to month.
Who you're selling to, and why the usual approach doesn't work on them
Your buyer is a logistics manager who has three brokers and two asset carriers already, gets called by a new broker every day, and answers none of them. He adds a broker when something breaks: a lane the current brokers can't cover, a new DC in a region nobody's set up for, a retail account with delivery windows the current carriers keep missing, a surge nobody planned for, or a bid season where he's obligated to look at new options.
The way most brokerages find those shippers is a room full of reps dialing a purchased list. You know the numbers. Eighty dials, six conversations, one quote request, and the rep who's good at it leaves in eighteen months for a competitor that pays more. The shipper who opened a DC in March gets a cold call in September from a rep who doesn't know about the DC.
The lead vendors sell the same list to every brokerage in the country. "Transportation managers" at every manufacturer over 100 employees, and an email about "reliable capacity and competitive rates." The logistics manager gets that email from ten brokers a week and deletes all ten.
The shipper that'll onboard a new broker this quarter just did something public. We find it that week, and your rep's first call is about the DC instead of about your company.
What we watch for
There are five signals. They are all public and dated, and they all indicate that a shipper is about to need capacity it doesn't have set up.
A new warehouse, DC, or plant. Permits, lease announcements, and business press. A new DC means new outbound lanes from a location none of the current brokers have rates for. We email the logistics manager and offer rates on the lanes out of the new building before it ships its first load.
A logistics, transportation, or supply chain manager gets hired. LinkedIn and job posts. A new logistics manager reviews every broker in the first quarter and usually has two from the last job. We land in the first 60 days and offer a lane review, which he was about to run anyway.
Expansion into a new region or channel. Press releases, new retail listings, and new e-commerce launches. A brand going into a new region needs freight into it. A brand that just got into a big-box retailer needs someone who can hit that retailer's delivery windows without chargebacks. We email the logistics manager and ask who's covering the new lanes.
A product launch or a retail account win. Press releases and retail listings. A launch means volume that wasn't in last year's plan. We ask whether the current capacity was set up for it.
Bid season. Most mid-size and large shippers run annual freight bids, and the timing is visible in job posts, in RFP platforms, and in the calendar, which clusters in the fall. We email six to eight weeks before the bid opens and ask to be included. That's a conversation a logistics manager has to have, and most brokers never ask.
What the email looks like
Subject: Outbound lanes from the Reno DC
Hi Tom,
Saw the lease on the Reno distribution center. If the outbound lanes into the Pacific Northwest and Southern California haven't been set up with a broker yet, we can put rates on them this week and have capacity ready for your first outbound.
We run those lanes for two distributors that ship out of Reno now, both with dedicated capacity on the I-80 and I-5 corridors.
Want rates on the top five lanes before the building goes live?
Marcus
Marcus is your broker. The DC, the city, and the lanes came from the lease announcement. The email offers rates on specific lanes. Tom has to figure that out before the building ships. And it asks for a quote conversation, because that's what your rep wants.
Want to know how many shippers in your lanes opened a DC, hired a logistics manager, or went into bid season last quarter? Book a 15-minute call and we'll pull the count before you get on it.
What we mean by "lead"
A logistics manager or supply chain lead at a shipper that fits your line wrote back, and it's a lane quote request, a bid invitation, or a call booked with your broker. We don't count a shipper saying "send us your carrier packet." We don't count a carrier who replied looking for loads.
Before anything sends we write down the line with you: modes and equipment you run, lanes and regions, minimum freight spend, industries you want, and whether you want spot, contract, or both.
You see every reply, including the ones that say no.
How it runs
Week one we set up sending domains and mailboxes in your name, agree the line, and turn on the five signals across your lanes and regions.
Week two the first emails go out under your broker's name.
Replies go to the broker the same day with the signal attached, so the first call starts from "you're opening a DC in Reno" and not from "are you the person who handles freight?"
Every morning we look at yesterday's quote requests and calls against the target. If we hit it, we send more. If we missed it, it's one of four things: wrong shippers, not enough of them, the email was off, or it didn't land. We find which, fix it, and that's what goes out today. You can follow it in the log.
When you leave, the domains and mailboxes are yours.
What it costs
Starts as low as $2,999 a month, month to month. No setup fee, no minimum term.
That covers domains, mailboxes, warmup, the list, the signals, the copy, sending, replies, handoff to your brokers, and the daily log.
It doesn't cover a caller. If you want phone and LinkedIn on top, that's the outbound program, linked below. Most brokerages already have the phones covered and take the email from us.
Results
Route is a logistics company, and the case study has the detail on how the 117 were counted.
Book a 15-minute fit call
Tell us your modes, your lanes, and how your brokers are set up. We'll tell you whether we'd take the account, which signals fire most in your lanes, and, if it shouldn't be us, who to call instead.
Other ways we work with Freight Brokers and 3PLs
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if you just want the email and your brokers will do the calling, which they probably already do.
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if you want email plus LinkedIn and calling with our team on the phones.
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if you want to retarget the same shipper list with paid social.
Lead Generation for other industries
Questions people ask us
Our reps cold call shippers all day. What does email add?
A reason for the call. Right now the rep dials a list and says "do you have any freight moving." With this, the rep dials a shipper who got an email Tuesday about the DC they just leased, and says "I sent a note about the Reno building." Same rep, same phone, different conversation. Eighty dials becomes forty, and one quote request becomes three.
How is this different from buying shipper leads?
A purchased shipper lead is a company name sold to every brokerage that bought the list, with no reason attached. What your rep gets from us is one shipper, one thing that just changed in how they move freight, and a lane to quote. No other brokerage is sending that email.
Do shippers actually reply to email? Freight is a phone business.
Logistics managers reply to email about their DC or their bid. They don't reply to email about your capacity. Route's 117 opportunities in a month came from email about what changed at each shipper, and the reps followed up by phone. That's the model.
Can you target by lane?
Yes. The line we write down with you includes lanes and regions, and the signals are matched against them. A DC opening in Reno only goes to you if you run lanes out of Reno.
Do you email carriers too?
No. Shippers only. Carriers reply to broker emails looking for loads, and we filter them out before they reach your reps.
How long until the first quote request?
Usually weeks three to five. New DCs and bid season go fastest, because both come with a date. Route's program produced 117 opportunities inside one month, which is faster than most industries we work in, and freight is like that.