5 Tips for Freight Salespeople to Prospect When Everyone Is Getting Ignored

If you are prospecting in freight right now and hearing “not interested” even when you have buying signals, the problem usually is not effort. It is approach.

Here are five tactics that help you prospect smarter and get to real conversations faster.

1. Stop working the default list. Build a targeted feed that cuts noise.

Broad feeds pull in everything: brokers, carriers, services companies, and industries that barely ship. Tighten your industry filters and be honest about what actually fits your operation. The goal is not more names. The goal is fewer wrong ones.

2. Finding shippers in need doesn’t have to be random.

Cold calling assumes that if you make enough dials, someone will eventually need help. Intent signals flip that logic. Instead of guessing, you focus on shippers who are actively searching, pricing, or evaluating options right now. That does not guarantee a win, but it dramatically improves your odds by putting you in front of shippers who actually have a reason to talk.

3. Use AI for pre-call research, not gimmicks.

Paste the signal and ask a few practical questions: what might be driving this need, what do they ship, and who inside the company likely owns the decision. Then generate a short call opener and a simple email cadence. Relevance beats clever.

4. Getting around gatekeepers

Logistics teams get hammered all day. Sales reps, territory managers, estimators, and project managers often have more context and fewer spam calls. Ask about projects in a region, new facilities, or where their customers are. They will often point you straight to the right person.

5. Treat profile views and reviews like a warm intro.

If someone viewed your profile, do not overthink it. Assume they were doing due diligence for a reason. Lead with familiarity: you might have seen our profile or a review, is there anything I can help with. Simple usually works better than sneaky.

Prospecting is not dead. Blind prospecting is. The teams that win get more precise, move faster, and stop assuming the logistics manager is the only door into the building.