In the current world of transportation, using traditional, manual methods for sourcing capacity can put you at a competitive disadvantage. That being said, there are a dizzying array of technology-based capacity tools available to freight brokerage and logistics businesses like yours.
In this blog, you’ll find out which capacity tools are must-haves for your freight brokerage or logistics business. These important technologies do more than just help you cover a single load. They’re built to help businesses like yours operate more efficiently and lower operating costs by reducing manual tasks. These capacity tools make your team more productive and can increase carrier rep commissions. Perhaps most importantly, these vital capacity sourcing technologies help you build a carrier network that can see you through whatever ups and downs the future might bring.
Here are three must-have capacity tools for freight brokers and 3PLs.
1. Digital Freight Matching
In contrast with load boards, digital freight matching technology uses data from freight brokers and carriers to match freight with available truck capacity in real-time. With digital freight matching software platforms, truck availability data and load availability data of your choosing streams back and forth between freight brokers like you and carriers and drivers of your choosing. Digital freight matching is a game changer because it is a tremendous time-saver for you and your team and for the drivers and carriers with whom you work.
Instead of calling or emailing carriers or using load boards to source capacity, you can rely on the artificial intelligence and automation of digital freight matching platforms like Trucker Tools’ Smart Capacity to tell you where truck capacity is available now and where it will be in the future. When you search for capacity with Smart Capacity, you can search from among your in-network carriers or Trucker Tools’ entire carrier network, which includes nearly 2 million drivers and 250,000 carriers. Trucker Tools’ digital freight matching allows carriers to submit rate quotes to you via our driver app and carrier platform, while your team members can send digital messages to owner operators and carriers through the platform, a major efficiency-booster.
2. Book It Now®
In a survey conducted last October, we asked carriers and owner operators about how they find and book broker loads. Of the 164 fleets and owner ops who responded to our survey, 40 percent reported that they’d booked 16 loads or more with an app or website over the previous 60 days. Only 16 percent of those surveyed told us that they don’t use apps or websites to book loads. It’s clear that app-based and web-based digital load booking have become somewhat commonplace for today’s owner operators and trucking companies. For carriers, the benefits of digital load booking tools like Book It Now® include fewer phone calls, 24/7 access to broker loads and time-savings.
In your freight broker operations, offering digital load booking to carriers and drivers increases efficiency. When you post a load to Trucker Tools’ Smart Capacity platform as a Book It Now® load and a carrier dispatcher or owner operator books that load in Trucker Tools’ driver app or carrier platform, the booking is automatically recorded in your TMS. Using Book It Now® greatly reduces the time associated with finalizing rates and confirming appointments with carriers. Load booking automation technology like Book It Now® also provides you with the chance to scale up your business. You can increase your freight volume without necessarily increasing your head count thanks to the automation provided by Book It Now®.
3. Carrier Relationship Management
If you talk to anyone who works in logistics, they’ll tell you that this is a relationship-based business. Despite this, not every capacity tool is built to cultivate relationships with carriers for the long-term. When you’re considering capacity tools for your freight brokerage or logistics business, you want software that helps you draw carriers into your network and keeps them there. Software platforms like Trucker Tools’ Smart Capacity are built as carrier relationship platforms to do precisely that.
With a carrier relationship-focused platform like Smart Capacity, you can first search for available capacity from among your preferred carriers or among those with whom you’d like to cultivate long-term relationships. You also can use Smart Capacity to offer perks like automated load booking and driver loyalty programs to entice high-performing drivers and carriers to stay in your network. The carrier components of our Smart Capacity platform, Trucker Tools’ driver app and carrier software platform, offer owner operators and carriers true time and money savings. They can use Trucker Tools’ tech to find the cheapest fuel, find and book loads, and even insure their loads. Using technology that saves drivers and fleets time can help keep them in your network instead of jumping from broker to broker.
Want to grow your profit margins? Be sure to read “Five Ways To Grow Gross Margins with Trucker Tools’ Capacity Tools.”
Schedule a free demo of Trucker Tools’ Smart Capacity.
