Would you pay for a mobile phone contract and never turn your phone on?

Of course not – you’d be wasting your money!

So why would you pay good money to a courier exchange site, then never use it? To get good value from your freight exchange and make it work for you, you have to ‘work’ the site and get every penny’s worth of value from your membership.

Here are my top five tips to make sure you make the most of your favourite courier work exchange site:

1. Fill in your profile
Fill in all the details about you and your business, your vans, your services, insurance, contact numbers.

2. Say hello
Say hello on the site’s forum/chat pages, let people know you are there and tell them something about yourself so they will remember you. Most of the work on exchanges sites is direct between members, and you stand a much better chance of getting courier work if other members feel they know you and can trust you.

3. Set up your alert options
Check all your options are set – so you will get the right alerts for the right type of work in the right area. If there is an option to receive SMS alerts to your mobile phone use that so you get the alerts quickly and beat the other members to the work!

4. Bid bid bid!
Keep an eye on your alerts and check the loads/GTMs page on the freight exchange, and contact the posters for every job you are interested in. If you don’t get the work you will still get to know the other members and they will remember you.

5. List your van
Most freight exchange sites have a list of “return journeys” or “vehicles available” where you can tell members you are available for work. Every time you go out on a job, post your details on the list – even if you don’t get a backload that time it will put your name in front of other members.

So when you join an exchange site you know what to do – and if you’ve already joined, do it now!