Short answer
Freight brokers find shippers by picking a niche, building a list of companies that ship in it, and calling the person who books freight until they win a trial load. Loads also come from load boards, shipper RFPs, procurement platforms and government freight programs. Most first customers take weeks of steady follow-up before the first tender.
Start with a niche you can explain in one sentence
“We move freight” gets you hung up on. “We run flatbed building materials out of the Gulf Coast into Texas and Oklahoma” gets you a second question.
Pick a niche along one or two of these lines:
- Equipment: reefer, flatbed, step deck, power only, box truck.
- Commodity: produce, building materials, paper, beverages, retail replenishment.
- Geography: a region, a port, a border crossing, your own metro.
- Service: expedited, team runs, hazmat, cross-border, trade show freight.
A niche does three things. Your pitch gets specific. Your carrier list gets deep in the lanes you sell. And your pricing gets sharper, because you see the same lanes every week.
Build a prospect list that fits the niche
You want companies that ship the freight you know, in lanes you can cover, and the name of the person who books it.
Where to find them
- Industrial parks near you. Drive them. Count dock doors and trailers. Write down names.
- State manufacturer directories and chamber of commerce lists. Filter by industry and size.
- Trade association member lists and trade show exhibitor lists for your commodity.
- LinkedIn searches for titles like transportation manager, logistics manager, shipping supervisor and traffic manager.
- Job postings for shipping clerks or logistics coordinators. A company hiring for the dock ships enough to need help.
- Consignees on loads you already run. The receiver of one shipper’s freight often ships outbound freight of its own.
Qualify before you call
Does the company ship truckload or LTL? Which direction does its freight go? Does it run its own fleet, use an asset carrier, or buy from brokers? Ten qualified prospects beat a hundred random ones.
The first call: what to ask and what to offer
Call the person who books freight, not the front desk. Keep it short and about their freight.
- “Which lanes give you the most trouble right now?”
- “What happens when your main carrier can’t cover a load on a Friday?”
- “Can I quote one lane so you can see how we work?”
Ask for one trial load on one lane. Don’t criticize their current broker. Most shippers keep a backup list, and your goal is to get on it.
After the call, send a short email with the lane you discussed, your MC number, your insurance certificate and one sentence on how you’ll communicate on the load. A shipper checking you out should find a real company: a website, a business email domain, and an FMCSA record that matches.
Watch the gift rules
Federal broker rules bar you from giving anything of value to a shipper, consignor or consignee, or their employees, except inexpensive advertising items given for promotional purposes (49 CFR 371.9). Pens and a calendar are fine. Tickets, dinners and cash for loads are a problem. The same section bars brokers from charging a carrier for brokerage when the broker owns or controls the shipment.
Where brokers find loads and bid on freight
Each channel brings different freight, margin and risk. Descriptions of third-party platforms reflect their own pages as of September 10, 2026.
| Channel | How it works | Good for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Direct shipper prospecting | Calls, emails and visits to companies in your niche | Margin and repeat lanes | Slow to start, and you carry the credit risk |
| Load boards (DAT, Truckstop and others) | Brokers post loads and search trucks, and carriers search loads | Finding capacity and reading market rates | Most posted loads belong to other brokers |
| Shipper RFPs and mini-bids | A shipper sends a lane list and you bid rates for a contract period | Volume and a foot in the door | Awarded volume isn’t guaranteed, and rates run tight |
| Freight procurement platforms (such as Emerge) | Shippers run contract and spot bids with a vetted provider network | Reaching shippers who are actively buying | Competitive, and you have to be accepted into the network |
| Government freight (GSA Freight Management Program) | Approved providers file rates and receive tenders from federal civilian agencies | Steady tenders once approved | Registration and invoicing requirements |
| Referrals and agents | Carriers, customers and agents introduce shippers | Warm conversations | Low volume at first, and agent contracts need clear customer ownership |
Sources below.
Where do brokers bid on freight?
Shipper RFPs
Larger shippers run annual bids and shorter mini-bids. You get a lane file with origins, destinations, equipment and estimated volume, and you return rates, usually with fuel and accessorials spelled out. Bid the lanes you can actually cover at that price. A won lane you can’t cover costs you the account.
After the award, the work starts. Tenders often arrive by email, portal or EDI. Our load tender glossary entry explains how tenders work and what accepting one commits you to. Ask for feedback on lanes you lost. Shippers often tell you how far off you were.
Procurement platforms
Some shippers run their bids through procurement software. Emerge, for example, describes contract procurement “from complex annual events to short mini bids,” plus spot procurement with a marketplace of pre-vetted carriers (Emerge). Expect vetting before you can bid.
Government freight
The GSA Freight Management Program moves freight for federal civilian agencies. Transportation service providers must hold appropriate licensing, operating authority and insurance, register on SAM.gov, register with U.S. Bank’s Syncada payment system for invoicing, and file rates in GSA’s TMSS 2.0 system (GSA).
Load boards: good for trucks, weak for customers
Load boards are where brokers post loads and find carriers. DAT says its broker plans start at $159/mo, and its Select plan adds visibility into shipper-to-carrier contract rates (DAT pricing, as of September 10, 2026). That rate data helps you price bids and quotes.
As a source of customers, boards are weak. Most loads on them are posted by other brokers. Re-brokering another broker’s load without its written consent is double brokering, and it breaks most broker agreements. Use boards to cover your own freight and to learn lanes. Build customers directly.
A follow-up cadence that doesn't burn the lead
One call rarely wins freight. This is a starting cadence for a qualified prospect. Adjust it to how they respond, and stop when they clearly say no.
Day 1: call and a short email
Reference the lane or pain point you discussed. Include your MC number and one line on what you’d do differently.
Day 3: second call
Ask if they have a load this week you can quote. Keep it under two minutes.
Day 7: something useful
Send a short note on what you’re seeing in their lanes, like tighter reefer capacity or a rate move. No attachments.
Day 14: call with a specific offer
Offer to cover one hard lane or a backup load for a week. Give them an easy yes.
Day 30: check in
Ask whether anything changed with their carriers or volume. Shippers switch when a provider fails, so timing matters.
Every month after: stay visible
A brief call or email each month keeps you on the backup list. Log every touch so nobody on your team calls them twice in a day.
Win the first load, then earn the lane
The first load is an audition. Run it better than their current provider does.
- Run a credit check before you book it.
- Send pickup, in-transit and delivery updates before they ask.
- Get the POD to them fast, and send an invoice with no surprises.
- If something goes wrong, call them first with the problem and the fix.
- After a few clean loads, ask for a second lane.
Each new customer brings its own rules: required documents, reference numbers, appointment habits. Put them where your whole team can see them. In the FreightVero broker TMS, customer records import from a spreadsheet, and each customer’s billing rules are copied onto every load at booking. The billing queue checks delivered loads against those rules before they’re billed. If you’re still setting up, start with how to start a freight brokerage.