I've been reflecting on the week just past. No, make that the nine days just past - specifically 10/1 thru 10/9.
We've already registered 393 carriers (revenue - $28,481) in October. There have been only seven business days so far in October, which gives us an average of 56+ registrations a day at an average of over $70 per registration - and that's with no registrations over $231. At this rate, we'll do over 1,000 registrations of Illinois carriers this month and generate over $70,000 - with no special mailings or heroic efforts.
This past week, I made an informal presentation to Bill Leonard using a Webinar tool called Live Meeting. With Live Meeting, a person in New York (Bill) can be looking at the desktop of a person in Illinois (Me) while the person in Illinois (Me) demonstrates different stuff to the person in New York (Bill) - and, potentially, a dozen of their closest associates (You). We're just getting started with the tool, but I can already foresee the ability to demonstrate (and maybe even record) some UCR "best practice" tools and techniques for groups of State folks. It's pretty exciting stuff. Stay tuned for more on that subject.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Friday, October 9, 2009
Tools of the UCR Trade - Part 6
Unregistered Carriers on 10/08/2009 - 1881
Unregistered Carriers on 10/09/2009 - 1868
New USDOT Carrier Solicitation
------------------------------
I know that people are tired of hearing me talk about this, but I still believe that States that monitor, solicit and CAUSE new USDOT carriers do better at UCR. Wait a minute, Dave, did you say "cause" new USDOT carriers? Yep, that's what I said! Let's talk about that for a minute. Some UCR agencies are really lousy - at least if you look at the registration percentages - at registering new USDOT carriers. Other UCR agencies are very good. Others still have very small numbers of new USDOT carriers.
Consider these factors:
If your state doesn't enforce UCR on the road, I'm betting that you are not going to discover a lot of carriers who need, but don't have, USDOT numbers. What's the connection to UCR? You've got me - there are thousands of guys who should have USDOT numbers who have been running around for years without being asked for one. That's not a new law - mid-1980's to be exact. This is particularly true for carriers who are exempt from interstate authority. If you do actively enforce the UCR program, for whatever reasons, you will "cause" plenty of new USDOT numbers.
Who looks at carriers between 10K and 26K pounds? IRP and IFTA don't. But if your state does road enforcement, you know there are lots of those guys who need USDOT numbers in that group. You're just not going to find them if you're sitting in the IRP or IFTA office, that's all. But a little road enforcement - and a little word of mouth - will "cause" lots of new USDOT numbers.
And, after you "cause" them to get a DOT number, you register them right on the spot! As I've mentioned in other posts, we actually help carriers get USDOT numbers here in our office because we know that they will also register for UCR before they leave. I need to point out here that we are not restricted to waiting for their USDOT number to show up on SAFER or in the Indiana system as your state may be, but that's just a formality anyway. It just means that you can't finish the registration/upload process until the next day. I can't remember a single instance where we proactively registered a guy and they were stopped before SAFER knew about it. We would, of course, vouch for the guy if that ever happened.
On another note: we are now only 555 registrations behind CA and closing fast!
Have a great weekend!
Unregistered Carriers on 10/09/2009 - 1868
New USDOT Carrier Solicitation
------------------------------
I know that people are tired of hearing me talk about this, but I still believe that States that monitor, solicit and CAUSE new USDOT carriers do better at UCR. Wait a minute, Dave, did you say "cause" new USDOT carriers? Yep, that's what I said! Let's talk about that for a minute. Some UCR agencies are really lousy - at least if you look at the registration percentages - at registering new USDOT carriers. Other UCR agencies are very good. Others still have very small numbers of new USDOT carriers.
Consider these factors:
If your state doesn't enforce UCR on the road, I'm betting that you are not going to discover a lot of carriers who need, but don't have, USDOT numbers. What's the connection to UCR? You've got me - there are thousands of guys who should have USDOT numbers who have been running around for years without being asked for one. That's not a new law - mid-1980's to be exact. This is particularly true for carriers who are exempt from interstate authority. If you do actively enforce the UCR program, for whatever reasons, you will "cause" plenty of new USDOT numbers.
Who looks at carriers between 10K and 26K pounds? IRP and IFTA don't. But if your state does road enforcement, you know there are lots of those guys who need USDOT numbers in that group. You're just not going to find them if you're sitting in the IRP or IFTA office, that's all. But a little road enforcement - and a little word of mouth - will "cause" lots of new USDOT numbers.
And, after you "cause" them to get a DOT number, you register them right on the spot! As I've mentioned in other posts, we actually help carriers get USDOT numbers here in our office because we know that they will also register for UCR before they leave. I need to point out here that we are not restricted to waiting for their USDOT number to show up on SAFER or in the Indiana system as your state may be, but that's just a formality anyway. It just means that you can't finish the registration/upload process until the next day. I can't remember a single instance where we proactively registered a guy and they were stopped before SAFER knew about it. We would, of course, vouch for the guy if that ever happened.
On another note: we are now only 555 registrations behind CA and closing fast!
Have a great weekend!
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Tools of The UCR Trade - Part 5
Unregistered Carriers on 10/07/2009 - 1873
Unregistered Carriers on 10/08/2009 - 1881
Working The Phone ... Proactively
---------------------------------
As mundane as "working the phone" sounds, it is vital for somebody to be contacting carriers - particularly the larger carriers - to make sure they get registered. Why? It's not necessarily what you might think - more revenue. In many cases, the UCR registration form gets sent to "somebody" in the organization, but frequently,it's not the right "somebody". Usually, a follow-up phone call can establish who "manages the trucks" and the real contact work can begin.
While all of us in Illinois talk on the phone all day long, one of our staff members, Bill, has the specific assignment of contacting the largest unregistered carriers to make sure they get the message. Every week or so, we sort the current Unregistered List to see who's still on the list and to see if new larger carriers have been added via a "sideways" addition ... or for any other reason why a carrier with 30 power units would just "pop up" on our list. Over time, Bill has also deactivated a lot of carriers as a result of trying to contact them and then subsequently researching them and finding that there is no sign of life.
Nothing highlights the fact that these listings are merely MCMIS records - and not necessarily "real live carriers" - than this "working the phone" process. We've deactivated hundreds of these "carriers". And remember - a deactivation is as good as a registration when it comes to the Unregistered List!
Unregistered Carriers on 10/08/2009 - 1881
Working The Phone ... Proactively
---------------------------------
As mundane as "working the phone" sounds, it is vital for somebody to be contacting carriers - particularly the larger carriers - to make sure they get registered. Why? It's not necessarily what you might think - more revenue. In many cases, the UCR registration form gets sent to "somebody" in the organization, but frequently,it's not the right "somebody". Usually, a follow-up phone call can establish who "manages the trucks" and the real contact work can begin.
While all of us in Illinois talk on the phone all day long, one of our staff members, Bill, has the specific assignment of contacting the largest unregistered carriers to make sure they get the message. Every week or so, we sort the current Unregistered List to see who's still on the list and to see if new larger carriers have been added via a "sideways" addition ... or for any other reason why a carrier with 30 power units would just "pop up" on our list. Over time, Bill has also deactivated a lot of carriers as a result of trying to contact them and then subsequently researching them and finding that there is no sign of life.
Nothing highlights the fact that these listings are merely MCMIS records - and not necessarily "real live carriers" - than this "working the phone" process. We've deactivated hundreds of these "carriers". And remember - a deactivation is as good as a registration when it comes to the Unregistered List!
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Tools of the UCR Trade - Part 4
Unregistered Carriers on 10/06/2009 - 1907
Unregistered Carriers on 10/07/2009 - 1873
OK - back to the Tools of the UCR Trade.
Today, I'd like to talk about the eMailer. You have already heard me talk about how we're using the eMailer during the current registration year. But that's during the tail end of a registration year.
Think about this: we are coming up on a new registration year. As you know, we have 20,000+ carriers here in Illinois. About 40% - or 8,000 of them - have email addresses. What if we could email 8,000 of our 20,000 carriers and direct them to the Indiana site to register? First, we figure that saves us about $8,000 in renewal mailing costs. Eight thousand dollars!!! Next, some of them will self-register as a result of the link that's in the email. More savings. Finally, we can regulate how many emails go out every day. This means that we can send, for example, 500 emails a day for 16 days - the eMailer works Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays without complaining (unlike Kathy, who whines about working Monday through Friday) - so we can effortlessly control the flow of emails and mitigate the work load a little.
What's not to like about that? Oh, and I forgot to mention the most important thing about the emailer: if the carrier doesn't register within 15 days, we send them another email every 15 days until they DO register! Is that a thing of beauty, or what??? Thank you Chris and Cody!!
Unregistered Carriers on 10/07/2009 - 1873
OK - back to the Tools of the UCR Trade.
Today, I'd like to talk about the eMailer. You have already heard me talk about how we're using the eMailer during the current registration year. But that's during the tail end of a registration year.
Think about this: we are coming up on a new registration year. As you know, we have 20,000+ carriers here in Illinois. About 40% - or 8,000 of them - have email addresses. What if we could email 8,000 of our 20,000 carriers and direct them to the Indiana site to register? First, we figure that saves us about $8,000 in renewal mailing costs. Eight thousand dollars!!! Next, some of them will self-register as a result of the link that's in the email. More savings. Finally, we can regulate how many emails go out every day. This means that we can send, for example, 500 emails a day for 16 days - the eMailer works Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays without complaining (unlike Kathy, who whines about working Monday through Friday) - so we can effortlessly control the flow of emails and mitigate the work load a little.
What's not to like about that? Oh, and I forgot to mention the most important thing about the emailer: if the carrier doesn't register within 15 days, we send them another email every 15 days until they DO register! Is that a thing of beauty, or what??? Thank you Chris and Cody!!
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
"We Interrupt This Discussion of UCR Tools ..."
Unregistered Carriers on 10/05/2009 - 1918
Unregistered Carriers on 10/06/2009 - 1907
I know you were anxiously awaiting my discussion of UCR Tool #4 - the Emailer - and I will get to that discussion in my next post.
In this post, however, I would like to share with you a couple of observations about Registration Numbers and Registration Percentages.
Sometimes, it is evident that different states are fighting different battles in the area of registration numbers and percentages - and yet we treat the discussion as one. Take, for example, the situation where I am trying (in my juvenile, competitive way) to overtake Maine as the highest registration percentage state.
Let's compare the numbers and percentages for the last month:
In the last month, Maine has registered 28 carriers and reduced their unregistered carrier list by 6. Their percentage has increased from 92.5% to 92.76
Meanwhile, we have registered 1,150 carriers and reduced our unregistered list by 263 (remember all those new USDOT number we issued???) and increased our registration percentage from 88.85% to 90.63%.
As I said, with all due respect to Maine, we are not fighting the same battle.
Please understand that I am not being critical of Maine. One could argue, however, that they have done a better overall job of registering their carriers because their percentage is higher - and that would mask what I believe is one heck of an effort going on here in Illinois.
By the way, speaking of my juvenile, competitive spirit, we only trail California by 659 registrations as of this morning! The dream lives on!!
Unregistered Carriers on 10/06/2009 - 1907
I know you were anxiously awaiting my discussion of UCR Tool #4 - the Emailer - and I will get to that discussion in my next post.
In this post, however, I would like to share with you a couple of observations about Registration Numbers and Registration Percentages.
Sometimes, it is evident that different states are fighting different battles in the area of registration numbers and percentages - and yet we treat the discussion as one. Take, for example, the situation where I am trying (in my juvenile, competitive way) to overtake Maine as the highest registration percentage state.
Let's compare the numbers and percentages for the last month:
In the last month, Maine has registered 28 carriers and reduced their unregistered carrier list by 6. Their percentage has increased from 92.5% to 92.76
Meanwhile, we have registered 1,150 carriers and reduced our unregistered list by 263 (remember all those new USDOT number we issued???) and increased our registration percentage from 88.85% to 90.63%.
As I said, with all due respect to Maine, we are not fighting the same battle.
Please understand that I am not being critical of Maine. One could argue, however, that they have done a better overall job of registering their carriers because their percentage is higher - and that would mask what I believe is one heck of an effort going on here in Illinois.
By the way, speaking of my juvenile, competitive spirit, we only trail California by 659 registrations as of this morning! The dream lives on!!
Monday, October 5, 2009
Tools of the UCR Trade - Part 3
Unregistered Carriers on 10/02/2009 - 1930
Unregistered Carriers on 10/05/2009 - 1918
Tool #3 - The "Troll List"
Today's UCR tool is what we lovingly call the "Troll List". Not the kind of troll that lives under the bridge and jumps out at unsuspecting travelers, but more like "trolling", or searching, for stuff.
Essentially, the Troll List generates UCR applications out of our system every day to potential UCR carriers that have been added to or changed in our system since the last time we "trolled" for them - usually the day before.
The Troll List is important because it relieves us of the burden of trying to figure out who has been contacted about UCR and who hasn't. At the same time, the Troll List ensures that everybody gets contacted at least once. This is particularly crucial for "sideways" additions which are much harder to keep track of than new USDOT number additions.
The Troll List criteria is fairly simple: if there's been a change to the DOT number field - usually a DOT number added - and they haven't registered for UCR (we sometimes do both at the same time: get them a DOT number and register them for UCR), we send them a letter and an application.
This tool has evolved - and is still evolving - from the days when we were using the Troll List to look for people who were likely candidates for UCR - exempt carriers, etc. It's also a great follow-up tool for solicitation emails that didn't result in a UCR registration.
Speaking of UCR emails, tomorrow I will discuss the UCR-Link Emailer - one of our favorite UCR tools here in Illinois.
Unregistered Carriers on 10/05/2009 - 1918
Tool #3 - The "Troll List"
Today's UCR tool is what we lovingly call the "Troll List". Not the kind of troll that lives under the bridge and jumps out at unsuspecting travelers, but more like "trolling", or searching, for stuff.
Essentially, the Troll List generates UCR applications out of our system every day to potential UCR carriers that have been added to or changed in our system since the last time we "trolled" for them - usually the day before.
The Troll List is important because it relieves us of the burden of trying to figure out who has been contacted about UCR and who hasn't. At the same time, the Troll List ensures that everybody gets contacted at least once. This is particularly crucial for "sideways" additions which are much harder to keep track of than new USDOT number additions.
The Troll List criteria is fairly simple: if there's been a change to the DOT number field - usually a DOT number added - and they haven't registered for UCR (we sometimes do both at the same time: get them a DOT number and register them for UCR), we send them a letter and an application.
This tool has evolved - and is still evolving - from the days when we were using the Troll List to look for people who were likely candidates for UCR - exempt carriers, etc. It's also a great follow-up tool for solicitation emails that didn't result in a UCR registration.
Speaking of UCR emails, tomorrow I will discuss the UCR-Link Emailer - one of our favorite UCR tools here in Illinois.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Tools of the UCR Trade - Part 2
Unregistered Carriers on 10/01/2009 - 1933
Unregistered Carriers on 10/02/2009 - 1930
Tool #2 - Daily Change List
---------------------------
You may recall that a few months ago, we purchased an inexpensive software tool (the name escapes me at the moment but it cost us $39, I think) that compares two Excel spreadsheets. Why did we buy that? Because if we run the UCR-Link Unregistered List for today, save it, then run the Unregistered List tomorrow and save it, we can compare the two lists and create the Daily Change List. Actually, you can run lists anytime and compare them (we sometimes do a couple lists a day), but the main point is that we create a change list for two different points in time and compare them. Because we run our own system, we make sure that everybody that has been "added" to in the change list is in our system. We try to make sure that everybody who was "deleted" in the change list can be accounted for through the reconciliation process and we try to make sure that everybody whose information is "different" from the last list is modified in our system.
The Daily Change List helps us to keep track of every single carrier who comes and goes from our Unregistered List and helps us feed the Troll List, which we'll talk about in the next post.
Unregistered Carriers on 10/02/2009 - 1930
Tool #2 - Daily Change List
---------------------------
You may recall that a few months ago, we purchased an inexpensive software tool (the name escapes me at the moment but it cost us $39, I think) that compares two Excel spreadsheets. Why did we buy that? Because if we run the UCR-Link Unregistered List for today, save it, then run the Unregistered List tomorrow and save it, we can compare the two lists and create the Daily Change List. Actually, you can run lists anytime and compare them (we sometimes do a couple lists a day), but the main point is that we create a change list for two different points in time and compare them. Because we run our own system, we make sure that everybody that has been "added" to in the change list is in our system. We try to make sure that everybody who was "deleted" in the change list can be accounted for through the reconciliation process and we try to make sure that everybody whose information is "different" from the last list is modified in our system.
The Daily Change List helps us to keep track of every single carrier who comes and goes from our Unregistered List and helps us feed the Troll List, which we'll talk about in the next post.
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