Being the owner of a small trucking company, you know how hard it is to compete with the big boys. They have front of mind space, a massive fleet of trucks, and seemingly endless resources. You are fighting for every load you can get with a handful of trucks and plenty of hard work. How can you compete? Growth is the best way to carve out more market share for your business. Here’s what you can do to grow your trucking fleet.

Keep Up With Tech

Being an owner-operator and driving all day can make it tough to manage your business. There are ways to make that part of the job easier, though. Keep an eye on the other drivers’ tech and install GPS devices in the other trucks. Invest in hands-free phone technology so that you can take orders and direct the other drivers from the road. Utilize bookkeeping programs to manage the books and take appointments. Find what you need to make the job easier.

Anticipate Regulations

The trucking and transportation industries are full of government regulations that oversee daily operations. They are changing year to year and tightening up, making it harder to stay up to date on the latest rules. Environmental regulations on the trucks, rules of how long drivers can operate, and rules on how to manage logbooks are just a small sampling of the rules shipping companies must follow.

Pace the Growth

Explosive growth in any business is dangerous. A well-run business can grow quickly; however, if it’s not kept in check, it can grow out of control. Growth is good if it’s manageable. If you grow too quickly, however, the business won’t be able to keep up with the new demand; then, that demand will go away as fast as it came. Grow your trucking fleet by setting growth plateaus and, when you reach one, stay there for a while before climbing to the next one.

Take the Shorter Routes

Instead of expanding your service area, shrink it. That might seem counterintuitive but it’s a smart strategy. Stay away from loads that are further away and require more miles to get them. Find loads that require less driving but pay the same amount of money. It will mean more money in your pocket and less stress on the fleet and minimal consumption of resources.

When your fleet is ready to expand, buy a new Isuzu diesel truck from HFI Truck Center. It’s what you’ve got to do to grow your trucking fleet. We have many different sizes and styles of trucks to add to your fleet.