Freight Brokers are used by the industry to arrange for the transportation required by the shipping company. They act as a link between the shippers and the carrier companies or individual drivers. Most who start in the freight brokerage business think that brokering is trucking. This is common mistake that new brokers make. A freight broker derives a commission for their matchmaking skills. Freight brokers are also known as "truck" brokers, "transportation" brokers and "property " brokers. And the brokerage industry can span not only with trucks, but air, rail ( train) and ocean liners. Freight brokers then search for business, looking for distributors, manufactures, farmers and shippers who use freight broker services to ship their cargo and products through trusted motor carriers. A freight broker job is to approach them and try to identify their budget and delivery needs. Proving yourself as a trustworthy freight broker will create ongoing business with them, as a freight broker all you have is your integrity to market yourself to your clients. A freight broker needs to use good negotiation skills to complete a " competitive" transaction whereby everyone is satisfied.
There are database of transportation profiles where freight brokers can search for new clients. To facilitate this process, the freight broker should have a strong relationship with the motor carriers. In other words, he collect from shippers and pay carriers, less his commission. Motor carriers can be the carrier company which run a large number of truck by hiring truck drivers or can be an independent truck driver knows as an owner operator running his own truck driving business. A freight broker works for commission that he gets for efficiently matching the shipper's load with the right carrier, who will charge a fair price for delivery.