Chas:
Qu’ 1. The 2 worst culprits in my area to spam the jobsites are posting upwards of 30-40 non jobs a day each. What demographic is a potential recruit that they need to see 30+ adverts when only 1 is needed?
That’s just plain ridiculous if it genuinely is that amount of ads. In a competitive area I would imagine they’re just doing their best to monopolise the market, so to speak. If all you see is (I’m making this up) Drive4Us and when you’re speaking to other drivers, their marketing material is being used in transport offices etc - it’s hard to avoid subconsciously contacting them over anyone else, especially the lesser known ones. Chances are they’ve also got a certain degree of pulling power with the larger firms in the area because of just how established they are.
I think you know the answer to your question in relation to ‘what demographic’. For every 10 drivers they attract on the back of their 30-40 daily ads, they’ll probably use 2-3. Sorry state of affairs entirely.
Stanley Knife:
Agency’s are already supplying drivers into these companies, so what leverage would you use with the prospective client to enable your office to supply drivers?
Stan
This is more of a sales orientated question based on the hypothetical, which, isn’t the avenue I’d really look to discuss. In short, previous experience and thus a track record (most TM’s will follow the consultant they trust as opposed to the agency they’re supplying from), testimonials to back this up and genuinely? Creating a strong first impression. Sales are sales and ‘customers’ will almost always buy from the person as opposed to having a genuine need for a product most of the time, because a good sales person will identify what their issues are and how they can adapt their service specifically to that client.
animal:
Why do agencies phone you book confirm then within 30 min call back saying the job cancelled It is not cancelled they have another driver or even agency to cover it
If you’re speaking from experience, is this something that happens often? I tend to find that TM’s have a preferred list of suppliers and for non-urgent, will certainly call in order and give them a reasonable timescale. Problems often arise when the agency aren’t being honest in the first place. If a TM was ringing me to say “Need a Class 1 tomorrow morning, 6am”, I should and will have a genuine idea of if I’m going to have someone available to cover it. I might ask for 5-10 minutes if it’s going to be a case of double checking and calling back to confirm I haven’t got anyone, else I’ll ask for up to an hour if I can supply but I know the guys I have in mind are out on the road and can’t always get to their phone; that way I have a realistic timescale and exclusivity to the vacancy.
Following that, it’s often a case of ■■■■ just hit the fan, someone’s gone sick / not turned up and rather than go in order of preference, the TM and anyone else with a free 5 minutes in the office is ringing every agency they use and in some cases, agencies they’ve never used before, for a driver. There’s fewer firms that will ring back to say “No worries, we’ve found someone” than there are ones that will. In that case its first come, first served - so there can be a genuine “Call driver, book driver, call client, book… oh ■■■■”. Although in that situation you should hear back straight away, not in half hour.
I’d also hope that you always hear from your consultant on the phone, other than via text or similar which just causes insurmountable problems.
As a night driver that’s exactly my biggest gripe with agencies - ringing me up with start times and other questions instead of just texting the relevant info to me. None of you clowns get it. When you ring me at noon with my start time and start chatting with “do you know any good drivers?” that’s the equivalent of me doing the same to you at 3am. A text with client and start time is all that’s required. Also a text message is hard proof should any ■■■■ ups occur later, such as “oh no you were booked for x time instead, or no you were cancelled” etc.
. The agency had told them I was doing it even though they hadn’t had any confirmation or acknowledgement back from me. Unsurprisingly, one or two words were exchanged about that.
. Never a good idea to ring night drivers between 6am and 6pm - you’re bound to catch some asleep and probably get your head bitten off in the process 
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. Remember : without us you’re out of business in an instant, but without you we just carry on with the next agency in line. (PS. nothing personal against you Freddie; you sound a decent enough bloke).