The Power – and Responsibility – of CTB
In the logistics industry, legitimacy and recognized excellence are keystones to long-term success. Any broker worth their salt knows that reputation is all they have. Carriers and shippers need to know they can rely on the people slinging freight, and building that trust is a years-long process that can be broken in an instant.
With the post-pandemic broker expansion, it’s never been more difficult to stand out from the crowd, or more important. When a TIA member takes that next step though, and pursues their Certified Transportation Broker classification, the world opens up. People recognize an innate reliability. And success soon follows.
“Knowledge is power,” said David Reigner of RunFreight. “Being certified, it almost brings a different level of expectation. You can’t ignore it. You see how things are running within your company or within other companies.”
Reigner is a recent graduate of the program and one of many who saw the opportunity to stand out from his peers as just one piece of what made the CTB experience valuable. While it might just look like a couple of letters after your name on a business card or LinkedIn profile, the CTB designation is shorthand for exactly what Reigner describes – a deep understanding of the freight business, new skills you can only learn from the experts, and an innate trust given to you with that badge next to your name.
Along with the knowledge and trust comes the expectation a CTB grad is given. Once you earn your CTB, graduates realize that there’s a new responsibility attached to the certification. It’s not just letters, it’s a promise that you’ll do what you say and you know what you’re doing. Beyond that, it’s showing others that you care about what you’re doing; you want the shipper, the carrier, and the brokerage to all flourish. AM Transport’s David Abell has been a longtime proponent of continuing to learn and grow professionally, and the CTB is a huge part of that for him and his company.
“I think in a lot of companies that CTB is kind of that next rung up on the ladder,” said Abell. “What’s your commitment? You may be a really good producer but what’s your kind of commitment to the industry? I think that’s what the CTB shows.”
Shippers and carriers want to know that the core piece of the supply chain that they work with every day (3PLs, in case you didn’t already guess) is committed – to the work, to their success, and the success of their partners. And top performing freight brokers are focusing on boosting their own employees, as well as themselves.
“I think the CTB course can help employees enter into that understanding of freight a little bit better,” said Daniel Ilg of ILG Logistics. “The same way as just not making the mistakes that have maybe been made in the past.”
Ilg is one of many 3PL execs who make an effort to educate and certify as many of their employees as possible, which means not only is he up on the latest needs and challenges in the industry, he’s got a team of highly educated and experienced people backing him up. This level of knowledge and ability to show that he’s not employing some Joe Schmoe off the street to sling freight (his words, paraphrased) means he is trusted by his partners and known as a leader in the industry. That’s value. One of Ilg’s employees, Ed Johnson, just recently passed the course as his own career grows, and sees it as a key to professionalism, legitimacy, and just the goal of lifelong learning we all should have.
“As a leader in this industry, you kind of always want to set yourself apart, and I think this course helps you get that,” Johnson said of his experience. “Put those letters behind your name. Why would you not go ahead and expand your knowledge on certain key points in the industry to make yourself better and put yourself a little bit further ahead of the competition.”
Freight brokerage is a tough, complex industry. A good broker needs to know how to negotiate like a captain of industry, argue like a lawyer, read contracts like a CEO, and manage dozens if not hundreds of relationships like a politician. It’s no small thing to be able to shorthand much of the “is this guy trustworthy” part in building a relationship. Knowing that CTB can do that, but recognizing that with this great power comes that great responsibility (as a wise Uncle once said) is what sets recipients apart.
If you’re interested in exploring what’s possible in TIA certifications, click here.