Pick Up the Phone and Have the Conversation
This past week, I was having a conversation with my oldest son who will be beginning his first year of law school in the fall. He was explaining to me all of the things he was doing to prepare for this transition in his life as a result of me riding his butt to get this stuff done. It was either prepare for law school or get a real job. Many of his efforts in either regard require him to go to some website and submit some type of information on line. It seems that the more he does on line… the more questions it generates in his brain about this new chapter in his life. Many of these questions seem to find their way back to me and while it may come as a surprise to some… I do not have all the answers. During one of these exchanges, I finally asked him the question… ”Have you picked up your iPhone and called the school, asked the questions and had a conversation with someone about this?” I believe his response was… Huh? To make a long story short… he did make the phone call and got answers to his questions plus he learned a bunch more information that will be useful to him in his new endeavor. It really made me think. Just pick up the phone and call somebody. How simple.
More and more frequently these days I come across articles that speak in reference to the seemingly lost art/skill of communication. In the high tech world we find ourselves, a new gizmo or application seems to be forthcoming every week, if not daily, that facilitates the transfer of information between us as human beings and specifically, business people, and the companies we represent.
If the past couple of years in an extremely challenging economic environment have taught us anything at all about business, the importance of great customer relationships seems to stand out in my mind more than anything else. They are the one thing that seems to get us over more hurdles and obstacles than anything else. It is the common thread that weaves through every long-term business relationship. Someone within the organization owns the relationship and takes responsibility for it. Someone within the organization picks up the phone and calls somebody. With all the e-mail, text messaging, voicemail, Tweeting, Linked In and all the other forms of electronic communication that take place, it seem that picking up the phone and actually calling someone in an effort to have a business conversation is becoming more and more a lost art and/or skill. Technology certainly has its place in the business world and will continue to do so — for many good reasons. When it comes to generating new sales from new accounts and also generating new business from existing accounts, nothing takes the place of picking up the phone and calling your customer or prospect and having a conversation. It is the key ingredient to building the trust and confidence that is needed to build a long lasting and mutually beneficial business relationship.
~Russ Caudell, CFO
June 30, 2010
New Legislation S. 3483
On June 17, 2010, the Transportation Intermediaries Association put out a press release announcing support for recently introduced legislation in Washington, DC that will fight fraud in the trucking industry. The legislation is found in S. 3483 was introduced on June 11, 2010 by Senators Snowe (R-ME) and Klobuchar (D-MN). The proposed bill was referred to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation for consideration.
C. L. Services, Inc. is an active member of the TIA and supports this proposed legislation to get the crooks and scammers out of our industry. The legislation is a broad package of reforms to address issues of fraud that plague the transportation marketplace. Of course, the item that has caught the most attention is raising the broker bond to $100,000 from the current $10,000 requirement. C. L. Services, Inc. acquired a $100,000 surety bond quite some time ago to provide shippers and carriers an added level of trust and confidence in doing business with us.
The legislation places strict regulation on the companies that offer broker bonds and trust funds. In short, the surety company will be liable for $100,000 and will not be able to duck and dodge like they do today when they issue trusts without proper collateral or by deducting their costs instead of paying legitimate claims.
Other provisions of the legislation include:
*Requiring every licensed company to renew its authority every year and requiring DOT to cancel any authorities not renewed. This will let us know who is actually still in business. In many ways, this is what the Unified Carrier Registration Agreement (UCRA) is supposed to do, but the dots have not been connected. Every carrier, broker, and forwarder is supposed to pay an annual UCRA fee. The Snowe – Klobuchar requirement will tie renewal of operating authority to payment of the annual fee.
*Distinctive authority numbers will be issued for each authority (motor carrier, broker, freight forwarder), and for each shipment the parties will have to declare under which authority they are participating in the transaction. In other words, a motor carrier taking the load takes it as a motor carrier for the rest of the transaction.
Motor carriers will be prohibited from re-brokering freight no matter what they call it, without having a proper broker license and bond. The legislation places unlimited liability for valid claims on companies that knowingly broker without a license or bond.
*Impose new requirements for licensing including the requirement for at least one corporate officer who has met minimum experience or training requirements (a qualified individual). This will make tracking the companies that come in and out of the industry easier, and improve the service quality and professionalism of the industry.
*Impose the bond requirement on forwarders making it a level playing field for anyone who operates as an intermediary.
This legislation will bring an end to bad bonding companies, carriers brokering without a license or bond, scam artists that come in and out of the market to rip people off, and it will create a competitive playing field for the legitimate industry.
June 23, 2010
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