If you recruit drivers for a living and went into work tomorrow and told everyone you figured out a way to recruit more drivers for less money, you wouldn’t find yourself carried around on your co-workers’ shoulders like you just hit the winning home run in the championship game? Of course.
But it isn’t quite that simple, is it? Everyone in your position at every fleet in the country is trying to figure out a way to do the same thing. Recruiting truck drivers is expensive, competitive, and stressful. Your fleet loses thousands of dollars every day a truck sits idle on your lot, and every day those trucks sit there . . . silently mocking your attempts to get them back on the road.
No, there isn’t an easy way to recruit more drivers for less money. If that was what you were hoping for, here is a picture of a baby hedgehog to salve your disappointment.
I’m an owner-operator with 10 years of OTR experience but I’m not really looking to make a change right now.
If it isn’t easy, it must be hard. But don’t despair; with a little know-how and a fair amount of patience, you can be the hero of this story.
Track everything.
Consider using a marketing automation platform to nurture leads and create a vibrant community around your fleet. Reach out to drivers through one new channel every month and then see how that channel performed.
Don’t just track where your applications come from, track where your hires come from.
Maybe your PPC campaign ended up being expensive, but it was worth the money. Double down on channels that pay off and pretty soon your budget will be allocated only towards the methods of recruiting that are the most effective at getting you the qualified drivers your fleet needs.
Find your “hook.”
Maybe your fleet doesn’t have the nicest trucks on the road, but your signing bonuses are highly competitive. Emphasize that for a while, and see what the data tells you. Does your fleet have smaller signing bonuses but pays more per mile to owner-operators? Show drivers that they will make more money in the long run.
Tell potential applicants about fuel discount plans, highly trained dispatchers, or whatever it is that makes your fleet such a great place to work.
Don’t despair if your initial attempts at standing out from the crowd aren’t successful. Keep experimenting until you figure out what works.
Leverage technology.
Tracking all of these numbers and using them to make decisions might seem like a daunting task.
If you use a marketing automation platform or a tool like Google Analytics, a lot of the heavy lifting can be done for you. Even if no one is going to read them, generate reports every month in an excel spreadsheet that show how well all of your recruiting efforts worked. Constantly research new ways to advertise on and offline.
Generate content campaigns that will provide value to drivers. Leverage mobile platforms with touch-to-call ads. In an online world that is constantly changing, there are an infinite number of ways to reach out to drivers who are looking to make a change. Over time you’ll be able to track trends and get one step closer to getting every truck your company can buy on the road.
