FM Relationships

I had a cool thing happen this week. I hope it’s the start of becoming that top tier driver I hear so much about.

I’ve been working hard the last few months to build rapport with my FM. She and I are both new to the business. Every time I run into a load with too much time in it I send a message or call to say I can be there at xx time. Can we move up the appointment or relay the load to keep moving. About 1/2 the time I’m able to work something out.

This week I had a load that I’d be a full day early on. We were able to relay the load and I was assigned a 1200 mile load with a tight timeframe. That beat the heck out of sitting on a load for a day. On my way to Atlanta with that load I was given a preplan for a 650 mile load for Friday (today) but, because of the holiday weekend, that load didn’t Deliver until Tuesday morning. Disappointing, but i figured with the holiday, I was probably stuck with it.

Shortly after getting the preplan I had to call my FM about something else. While we were on the phone she told me “ I saw that preplan and I’m already working on turning that into a relay for you so you can keep moving.” I was thrilled that she was on it before I could even mention it.

Today after sending in my loaded call, before I could even send an eta and reminder about a possible relay, I got my revised workflow for a relay at 600 miles and a preplan for my next load of 430 miles. I called to thank her and told her it was good to know she has my back. She said “You have me trained now. I know you’ll run hard to get it there and I’ll keep poking the planners to tight up the delivery times for you.”

It felt really good to know that the relationship building and communication are finally starting to pay off.

Feels like nothing but net from the three point line

Those relationships are money. Your doing very well. Keep up the great work. Just remember to watch your clock.

Sounds like the hard work payed off. Tight schedules help you prove yourself knock those out flawlessly and the miles and money will keep rolling. Good show. I have already made more so far this year than I did last year total. What you got going is how it started getting good.