Did you have a chance to attend our recent webinar, “Driver Lead Generator Panel – Best Practices to Improve Results”? We received more questions than we had time to answer in the allotted time, so one of our presenters, Beth Potratz, Founder, President, and CEO of Drive My Way, answered them below in this Q&A-style blog post.
If you weren’t able to join the webinar live, don’t worry – you can watch it on-demand anytime!
Interested in learning more about any of the companies that were featured in the webinar? We encourage you to request further information – just click on the links below:
- Travis Overton, Chief Executive Officer and President, CDLLife
- Beth Potratz, President & CEO, Drive My Way
- Bruno Stanziale, CEO and Chairman, GoToro, Inc.
- Wendy Bartz, Vice President of Customer Experience, DriverReach
Question: Do you define or narrow the CDL search to those CDL holders that also have a Passenger Endorsement?
Answer: Yes, Drive My Way’s patented matching technology will match drivers to the minimum qualifications for each job, including required endorsements. So if having a passenger endorsement is set as a requirement, you’d only be sent drivers that have one.
Question: How do you gather playing field information?
Answer: There are lots of different resources you can access to evaluate your offering in the markets in which you compete. If you want to compare your total compensation package (pay, benefits, and perks) to your peer groups in specific geographies, The National Transportation Institute (NTI) is the best source - driverwages.com. For more than 25 years, NTI has been the authority on driver pay. Unlike the research you might find on the internet trying to gauge what companies are paying, NTI has actual pay data reported directly from other carriers (private or for-hire) in your peer group and reported in aggregate fashion. It’s the only data that you can trust is accurate and truly comparable. Their survey data includes driver wages and the competitiveness of all the components of your pay and benefits package.
In addition, The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) also produces reports on a number of different topics, including operational costs, detention, critical issues in trucking, etc.
Question: What are your thoughts on Tik Tok?
Answer: I believe Tik Tok is a great tool for building brand awareness and begin to organically develop a following of people who resonate with your brand promise, culture and values. It’s not for job specific advertising. It’s more of a long game tool.
Question: Instead of Top Pay, should we be focusing on the Starting Mileage pay only?
Answers: In my opinion, it’s never about one single aspect of pay, but rather how you portray your total comp package, including bonuses, benefits and perks. Be specific about a driver’s earning potential. If it’s mileage pay, how many miles will they average in a week? Be clear about what they are eligible for, when they become eligible for it and what they specifically need to do to get it. Don’t just focus on what top earners make, but also the average as that is typically more attainable. I personally like clearly defined pay for performance pay models.
Question: What are some of the best resources to gather pay information?
Answers: If you want to compare your total compensation package (pay, benefits, and perks) to your peer groups in specific geographies, The National Transportation Institute (NTI) is the best source - driverwages.com. For more than 25 years, NTI has been the authority on driver pay. Unlike the research you might find on the internet trying to gauge what companies are paying, NTI has actual pay data reported directly from other carriers (private or for-hire) in your peer group and reported in aggregate fashion. It’s the only data that you can trust is accurate and truly comparable. Their survey data includes driver wages and the competitiveness of all the components of your pay and benefits package. The biggest mistake people make when doing a pay study is comparing data points that are not congruent. It must be an apples-to-apple comparison.
Question: As a marketing specialist new to the transportation industry, what is the foundational message I should keep in mind when positioning our company?
Answer: Stay away from messaging that is cliche, i.e. “we’re a family”, “you are not just a number”, etc. Pick 1-3 tangible things that truly set you apart from others that can be demonstrated through behaviors / actions. Create a picture for the driver of what it looks and feels like to work in your company. Tell your story.
Question: When is the best time, Q1-Q4, to spend more to recruit drivers? If I had only one quarter to hit it hard and recruit, when should I focus my efforts, the most?
Answer: I personally don’t believe in one and done recruiting efforts. You should always be recruiting, even when you are not currently hiring. There is no point in increasing your spend to hit one period really hard, if you are not going to be able to engage with all the drivers that express interest and act upon them now. It will backfire on you and potentially create the opposite effect of creating a bad company reputation. It shouldn’t be just about filling up your database. You will have the greatest success when you can attract people that are ready now and you are prepared to hire them now. Rather than throwing extra spend into one quarter, I’d split that up throughout the year and use those funds to experiment with new solutions.
Question: Do you see companies giving second chances for criminals that have a CDL?
Answer: Absolutely. Drive My Way encourages carriers to declare whether or not they are willing to hire a driver with a criminal background. Of course, it all depends on the nature of the offense and time period, but there are quite a few carriers willing to work with driver that has a criminal history.
Question: Do you know of carriers that provide company phones and allow their drivers to download apps such as fantasy football on to the company phone?
Answer: I have seen carriers that have incorporated ‘gamification’ of initiatives as a way to get their driver community engaged in achieving desired goals. One example would and downloading an app to track progress on a wellness challenge. I don’t know anyone specifically doing fantasy football, but I like the idea of offering a set of company approved apps that can be downloaded for fun, such as wellness apps, podcasts, books on tape, entertainment games that encourage community, etc.
Question: Do any of these trucking companies use 3rd party recruiters?
Answer: Sure. While there is no silver bullet, every good recruiting strategy includes several different types of solutions. I have typically seen this solution used for the much more difficult or highly differentiated roles, such as team drivers, owner operators, or those with certain specialty skills or endorsements. It’s one option out of many.
Question: Does the data show what is on the top of the list of importance to drivers?
Answer: Absolutely! Here is a link to Drive My Way’s Driver Happiness Survey with detailed information on what’s most and least important to drivers: https://hiring.drivemyway.com/truck-driver-lifestyle-and-job-happiness-survey/
Stay up to date on CDL trucking trends! Be sure to check out the DriverReach blog for other relevant articles and head over to our webinars page for an up-to-date list of upcoming events and on-demand recordings.
Interested in seeing DriverReach’s modern Recruiting and Compliance Management System in action? Request a demo!
