How do freight brokers find shippers?

Through cold calls, cold email, load boards, trade shows and referrals. For outbound, the best shippers to contact are the ones adding capacity: new facilities, new products or new distribution deals.

Where can I get shipper leads for free?

Manufacturer directories, trade show exhibitor lists and company websites are all public. ManyPI's free plan lets the agent find up to 50 shippers with contacts from those sources, no card needed.

Should I buy shipper lists?

Bought shipper lists are usually sold to many brokers, so the same logistics managers hear from dozens of them. A list built for your lanes and equipment is smaller and far more relevant.

What should a freight broker's first email say?

Name one lane or shipment type you can handle well, say why you noticed them, and ask whether they'd like a rate on it. Short, specific and easy to answer.

Freight broker leads

Find the manufacturers, distributors and importers that move freight on your lanes, and the person who books it.

Find shipper leads

Join 1.700+ growing companies

Describe the shipper

Say what they make, where they ship from and the equipment it needs. The agent finds the shippers that fit.

Describe yours

Food manufacturers in Georgia shipping refrigerated freight

1,284

companies match

Northwind TradersSavannah

Coho FoodsAtlanta

Where shippers are listed

Manufacturers publish what they make and where. Trade shows publish who exhibits. The agent reads both.

Search the web

Searched live, every run

Manufacturer directories

Company sites

Trade show exhibitor lists

Google Maps

Trade news

Growth means freight

A new plant, a new product line or a new distribution deal means new lanes, and a shipper looking at carriers again.

See the signals

Northwind Traders

“New distribution centre opening in Q1”

News, 1w ago

“Hiring: Logistics Coordinator”

Job board, 3d ago

Suggested angle

Capacity for the new DC lanes

Your first email

Offer one lane you can cover well, not your whole network.

Start sending

Your new DC lanesDay 0Sent

A rate on one laneDay 3Sent

Last noteDay 8Queued

Northwind Traders replied2h ago

How to find shippers as a freight broker

Brokers live on shipper relationships, and the hardest part of starting out is finding shippers who aren't already locked in. The ones worth writing to are growing, adding lanes or short of capacity.

Start from your lanes and equipment

Reefer, flatbed and dry van freight come from different shippers. Brief for the products that ride on the equipment and lanes you cover best.

Find the person who books freight

Usually a logistics, transportation or supply chain manager. At smaller manufacturers it's often the operations manager or the owner. Ask for the role, and the agent looks for the named person.

Use growth as the signal

New facilities, product launches, distribution deals and logistics hiring all mean more freight. Those show up in news, on company sites and in job posts, weeks before the first load.

Check the email rules where you sell

In the US, CAN-SPAM allows B2B cold email with a working opt-out. In the UK, limited companies can be emailed with an opt-out, but sole traders and partnerships are treated like individuals. In Germany, commercial email usually needs prior consent even between businesses. This isn't legal advice, so check the market you're contacting.

Hiring Signal Finder, free Cold email outreach

Questions

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