What it takes and what I do to find operators / clients for transport manager services consistently

Actively and effectively looking for clients is a lot of work in itself that takes a lot of time, effort and requires specialised Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), computer, sales and marketing knowledge which is different from the skills normally required to be a TM. If you are a transport manager considering an offer from us, that part of work has already been done for you. That frees up your time that you can use to rest or to work somewhere else and earn money there, probably where you are better qualified than in online and phone marketing that we do and which is described in detail below.

The vast majority of people that I deal with understand the value of my services because of the reasons listed below, but on a rare occasion someone would think that I ask for too much for supposedly only "one phone call", so let me explain. Before I can make that one phone call to you, the following long process has to happen in order to make that phone call possible:

1. You are not just getting a "referral" which is usually when someone just passes you a phone number and a name. In this case, you are getting a practically guaranteed client who has gone through all the stages starting from initial enquiries, questions, discussions, negotiations, who has agreed on the price and has everything else ready and completed. There's a small chance that they might cancel mid-process but it's very rare.
2. Websites have to be created, maintained and filled with useful content that will rank high enough on Google and that people will click on to read and send enquiries to. This is called Search Engine Optimisation or SEO.
3. Creating, updating, managing the TM Map App that you can see at the top of this page and every other page on this website where operators can find transport managers on a map in their area and contact them directly without intermediaries. If you are a TM, you can add yourself the TM Map App for free at this link: TransportForum.com/map
4. Hundreds of ads per week have to be posted online to promote this service, some are paid, others free that still take a lot of time and efforts to post which costs money. Check out these links for example: TransportForum.com (the website you are on right now, here's its sitemap with 30,000+ pages), hirett.com (here's its sitemap with tens of thousands of pages). Or just look at this list of 85,000 operating centres - how much time and money does that cost to create? There are also lots of Google and Bing pay-per-click ads that appear in search results.
5. In response to the posted ads, I have to receive and reply to hundreds of enquiries by phone, emails, text messages, WhatsApp, Facebook messenger that go nowhere until I get that one client that commits to hire a transport manager though me. I provide free consultations about O-licenses by phone to anyone 7 days a week in order to find customers for transport manager services. Taking phone calls from anyone on the internet, you will sometimes encounter and have to deal with all kinds of deranged individuals like Crazy Kovacs – Kovacs Group Ltd.
6. Additional thousands of adverts have to be posted online to find transport managers or I personally have to ask people that when they obtain their CPC to let me know so that I can refer an operator to them. That database has to be constantly organised and maintained in order to be able to find the right TM at the right time and place.
7. A lot of other promotional work has to be done that doesn't pay immediately such as creating YouTube videos and managing my Facebook and WhatsApp groups and Transport Forum posts with tens of thousands of members in total (join them here: viewtopic.php?t=16271), as well as posting here on TransportForum.com mostly in response to questions I get, here are my 450+ posts. These forums and Facebook groups require ongoing and constant moderation of posts and comments, otherwise they will be quickly overrun by spammers and real users will not visit them anymore.
8. The website software has to be constantly maintained and updated. Here's what it takes to update the software called phpBB on the website you are on right now. I regularly update my websites at 2am when there are less visitors. Without regular updates, your website (if you have it) will sooner or later stop working or Google will stop placing it at the top of search results and you won't be able to find clients effectively .
9. Once applications have been submitted, operators receive requests from the Traffic Commissioner for additional information. They expect me to help them with replying to those requests and that's what I do.
10. Some clients, even if you manage to find them on your own, may insist on paying you only when they get their O-licence which might take 2-4 months, so, with these clients, you will have to wait before you start getting paid the same or even longer time.
11. When I contact you to be a TM on a licence, it usually means that the application is ready and will be submitted in a day or two and the clock will start straight away. But when you find a client on your own, usually they don't have anything ready and it may take them weeks or even months to get everything ready and you'll still be waiting for them but in that case the clock has not started for you. Plus, they can change their mind altogether.
12. In order to justify a refusal of my offer financially (not emotionally), you need to be 100% sure that all 4 spaces on your CPC will be filled before you start getting paid by our operator. If you still have at least one space available on your CPC at that time, you will likely be at a loss because by accepting my offer now, you would've started getting paid for it by that time.
13. If the operators wanted to recruit transport managers directly, they could post a free ad in the Facebook group that I created: Transport Managers CPC UK but many of them choose to work through me because I provide additional services that are important to them.
14. Just think about the number of clients that you've been able to find on your own since you got your TM CPC, I'm pretty sure it wasn't that many. How is that better than what I'm offering you?

These things took me years to implement and even if you start doing all that work yourself right now (provided you have the technical knowledge required for that), it will take you far more time to start finding clients on your own. During that time, not only will you simply have to wait, but you will actually have to do all that sales and marketing work yourself or pay someone to do it for you plus incur marketing and other expenses.

One last point, often transport managers who don't have existing clients start out with me by getting a few operators and then those clients start recommending them to their friends and colleagues. So word gets out and you start getting your own clients. Obviously, I'm not involved in those transactions so that's all yours. But this is a good way to get a word-of-mouth going about your services and start finding your own clients.

 

I see it's been a while since you've posted, but I just want to ask if anyone had success fitting that air intake mod without needing to cut anything? I’m considering giving it a shot, but I’d rather avoid messing with the original parts too much. Would love to hear any updates from those who tried it—did the gains make the effort worth it?

 

I’ve been in a similar situation and found that using aeo helped speed things up quite a bit. It made the customs checks smoother, especially when dealing with multiple shipments across borders. If your business handles regular imports and exports, it’s definitely worth checking if you can apply. It cut down delays a lot for us once we got certified.