Before the COVID-19 pandemic began, real-time visibility of freight was already a top ask for shippers. Since then, labor shortages and volatile supply and demand have made real-time visibility a true must-have for manufacturers and distributors. It’s such a priority for shippers that your ability to provide real-time visibility can have a significant impact on whether or not a customer continues or begins doing business with your freight brokerage or logistics company. Access to real-time load tracking data gives shippers crucial information about their supply chains and helps them provide higher service levels to their customers. Your ability to provide that data to shippers can elevate your status with shippers and make you a more attractive partner.
Check out these five ways that real-time visibility can improve your shipper relationships.
1. Automatically Share Visibility Data with Shippers in Real-time
Freight brokers like Surge Transportation are using Trucker Tools’ Smart Capacity software platform to share visibility data with shippers in real-time. Thanks to a software integration between Smart Capacity and shipper visibility platforms MacroPoint, Project44, 10/4 and FourKites, your team won’t have to manually communicate load location updates to shippers. Instead, the data can automatically be shared through the integration. The result is that your customers get access to load tracking data faster, which helps strengthen your relationships with your customers.
2. Empowers Shippers To Provide Higher Level of Service to Their Customers, Identify Bottlenecks in Operations
Real-time visibility is valuable because it can function as a business intelligence tool for shippers. Real-time visibility helps shippers better manage costs, identify inefficiencies, better manage warehouse and distribution staffing, and provide real-time delivery updates to the customers buying or distributing the shipper’s products. If you can provide your customers with consistent and accurate real-time visibility data, you become that much of a better partner to your current shippers while building a reputation as a service-first freight broker/3PL.
3. Helps You Respond To and Address Delays Faster
Real-time visibility ultimately helps you provide a higher level of service to your shippers. When you use check calls or unreliable load tracking technology for load tracking, there often is a significant time delay between when the delay occurs and when you/your shipper find out that the truck will be late. Real-time digital load tracking technology eliminates the time delay that is common with check calls. When you use Trucker Tools’ Smart Capacity for load tracking, you receive real-time updates on the location of the truck and freight every five minutes. When you see that a truck is delayed in real-time, you can immediately reach out to the driver, shipper and/or receiver to find out what’s happening and try to resolve the delay.
4. Easier To Document Digital Load Tracking Performance for RFPs/New Customers
Many shippers now require that you submit data on your company’s on-time pickup and delivery, delivery on time in full, and load acceptance and rejection rates when you submit a bid or respond to an RFP. With digital load tracking technology like Trucker Tools’ Smart Capacity, it’s easy to provide prospective customers with all of this information. The same certainly isn’t true with manual check calls. It’s worth noting that many of the freight brokers and 3PLs that use Smart Capacity are able to meet or surpass the visibility and delivery KPIs of even the largest shippers.
5. Greater Efficiency Provides More Time To Focus on Customer Support, Carrier Development
Using digital load tracking technology also increases the operational efficiency of your business. When team members are spending less time manually tracking loads with check calls, they have more time to concentrate on carrier development and providing outstanding service to shippers. Greater efficiency also frees up time and resources that can be used to move additional loads for your current shippers or to develop and expand your customer base.
If you’re still using phone calls and load boards to source capacity, be sure to read “Why Now Is the Time To Ditch Load Boards and Embrace Digital Freight Matching.”
Schedule a free demo of Trucker Tools’ Smart Capacity.
