Free · 5-minute audit

How much of the business do you actually control?

Owning the truck gives you operating responsibility. Commercial control comes from having usable choices about freight, lanes, records, and relationships.

No perfect score.No anti-broker lecture.No invented benchmark.

Commercial Control framework

Control is the ability to make a considered choice before urgency makes it for you.

Brokers, direct customers, dispatchers, and spot platforms can all be useful. The risk is not using any one channel. The risk is having no practical alternative when that channel changes. If lane-cycle economics are the exposed area, compare the full movement in the Lane Economics Calculator or isolate an empty reposition in the Deadhead Cost Calculator.

0 of 8 answered

01How much of your freight comes from your single largest source?

A source can be a broker, direct customer, dispatcher, or platform.

More than halfAbout one-third to one-halfLess than one-third

02If that source stopped calling tomorrow, what would happen?

Answer based on options you could actually use, not leads you have never qualified.

The truck would likely sit or take anything availableWe could replace some volume, but not cleanlyWe have multiple usable ways to replace it

03How do you judge whether a lane is working?

The useful unit is the complete cycle, not only the loaded rate.

Mostly the loaded rate per mileLoaded rate plus obvious deadheadFull cycle: miles, time, deadhead, delays, and next market

04Do detention, appointment reliability, and accessorial outcomes affect future lane decisions?

A good rate can still be a weak cycle when the facility repeatedly consumes time.

Rarely or only when the problem is severeSometimes, but the record is informalYes, we track and use them

05Where do quotes, contacts, lane notes, and follow-up dates live?

The tool matters less than whether the history is findable and reused.

Mostly in texts, inboxes, or someone’s headIn a shared place, but inconsistently updatedIn a shared system the team actively uses

06For your most important recurring freight, who owns the shipper conversation?

Brokered freight can be strategically useful. This asks whether any buyer path also belongs to you.

We usually only know the intermediaryWe know some facilities or names, but access is inconsistentWe directly maintain several buyer/customer relationships

07Could another person on your team continue your key freight conversations?

Relationship ownership is stronger when the context belongs to the business, not one inbox.

No, the context sits with one personPartly, with some handoff gapsYes, contacts, history, and next steps are visible

08Before a truck enters a weak return market, how many realistic options have you usually developed?

A realistic option fits the equipment and geography and has a credible path to freight.

Usually none; we search after deliveryOne likely source plus spot-market backupSeveral qualified options with follow-up underway

Which market most often leaves the truck with weak options?City, metro, or region. This does not change the outcome; it makes the next step useful.

Answer every question to see a directional outcome.