How to Grow Your Roll-Off Business with Brokers

Kais: All right, thank you, everybody, for taking the time. My name is Kais. I’m with Dumpsters.com, and we’re actually out of Westlake, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. I’m here with a couple of colleagues. I’ll let them briefly introduce themselves.

Mike: I’m Mike Bman. I just ran up the stairs, so I’m catching my breath. I’m the partnership manager for the Midwest. I manage all of our hauling relationships from Ohio all the way over to the Dakotas.

Chris: Chris Kowski, also from Cleveland, Ohio. I am the Northeast territory manager for our partnerships at Dumpsters.com.

Kais: So, yeah, we’re essentially a broker in the waste industry, and we do a little bit more than just dumpsters like roll-off dumpsters, although that’s the core of our business. We also do portable sanitation, storage containers, and fencing, kind of like the whole suite of site services. Obviously, in doing so, we rely on a network of haulers like yourselves to do the work all across the country. We cover coast to coast.

Really, I think the crux of our business is our sales, marketing, and customer service practice. We go out and find customers, and those customers range from residential homeowners to big construction companies. You’ll hear names like Turner Construction, Whiting-Turner, etc. So, in essence, finding that demand and those leads and customers, and then ultimately, those orders and services get fulfilled by hauling partners like yourselves.

One of the things that makes us different from some of the brokers you might be familiar with is that we actually have our own hauling operation in Cleveland. We’ve got 22 trucks and 1,200 dumpsters. We’re not just a broker; we understand the industry, your daily headaches, and we’re doing our best to eliminate those when working with brokers.

Mike: Why a broker? I think for a handful of reasons. We’re an extension of your team from a sales and marketing perspective. We have a team of almost 150 sales reps making phone calls, finding customers, and qualifying them. That provides a predictable revenue stream at the scale we operate in. For many of our hauling partners, we’re effectively one of their biggest customers. Everything around customer communication and service is handled by us. Once we acquire the customer, all questions and customer requests funnel through us, so you won’t have to deal with them.

On our side, the hauling partnership team provides a single point of contact for you. You won’t have to deal with hundreds of customers, making it easier from that perspective.

How many of you have had trouble collecting money from a customer? That’s something we hear a lot when talking with haulers. The one thing we do really well is we pay our bills. If someone throws a tire in the box or light bulbs or paint cans, we’re going to pay for that. We then have to chase the customer down, but that’s one of the biggest pain points we address.

Kais: No, that’s good. To highlight, we have a relatively established technology and data team supporting the whole operation. This means identifying untapped opportunities within your market. For example, if an area is seeing growth, your strategic partnership manager will reach out and suggest expanding your service area. It’s a win-win, as we’re successful if our haulers are successful.

We view hauling partnerships almost at the same level as customer partnerships. Questions about payments are at the top of what we do day in and day out. And this partnership is free; there’s no cost associated with working with us. There’s an onboarding process and mutual vetting, but once established, you can expect to start receiving orders from us.

Mike: Here at the Docket Summit, we’ve recently launched what we’re calling the Docket integration. For you as a Docket user working with us as Dumpsters.com, a sold service will appear in your Docket screen and workflow automatically. No phone calls, no texts, no emails. It will appear for your dispatch team to schedule the service. The workflow is simple: we sell a service, and you get all the specifications for container size and delivery instructions. From the hauler’s perspective, you just accept or deny the service. Once accepted, we’ll get all the typical updates as you fulfill that service.

This is something we launched with the Docket team about a month ago, and so far, so good. We’re here because we think you as Docket users would be a great fit for our business model.

How many people love getting phone calls all day with ETA requests? Nobody. We don’t like reaching out for ETA requests either. This Docket integration eliminates those touchpoints that frustrate our hauling partners.

We have success stories, like a partner in Texas who started with one truck and 30 dumpsters. After partnering with us, they stabilized revenue streams and grew to 10 trucks and 300 dumpsters in three years. I’ve been with the company for seven years, and this is just one of many examples.

Kais: Once again, a large portion of our business is driven by our B2B customers, midsize to very large construction companies operating across the country. The odds of us having work in an area that you service are relatively high. We believe we can help you grow and be a sizable account and customer for you.

That’s ultimately our business.

FAQ

What services does Dumpsters.com offer?

Dumpsters.com offers a variety of site services, including roll-off dumpsters, portable sanitation, storage containers, and fencing. These are supported by a nationwide network of haulers.

How does Dumpsters.com support its hauling partners?

Dumpsters.com provides a single point of contact for haulers, handles all customer communications, ensures timely payments, and offers technology integration like Docket to streamline operations.

What is the Docket integration by Dumpsters.com?

The Docket integration is a system that automatically updates haulers’ workflows with service details, eliminating the need for phone calls or emails and simplifying service acceptance.

How does Dumpsters.com ensure payment reliability?

Dumpsters.com addresses common issues like collecting payments by ensuring timely payments to haulers, even handling problematic waste disposal cases, which eliminates a major pain point for haulers.

How does Dumpsters.com help haulers grow their business?

By providing a steady stream of orders and helping haulers expand into new markets, Dumpsters.com has enabled partners to scale significantly, as demonstrated by a partner growing from one truck to ten in three years.