Whether you’re a freight broker, logistics provider, carrier or owner-operator, it’s crucial to use tools that automate your daily activities, speed up your manual processes and reduce person-to-person interactions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Doing so keeps your business operational and profitable, reduces overhead and protects you, your colleagues and employees from potential exposure to the virus. Maintaining your productivity also ensures that doctors, hospitals, grocery stores, and consumers get the supplies they urgently need.
Check out our top three tips on how to maintain efficiency, reduce overhead and stay healthy during these challenging times.
Use Document Upload Tools To Speed Up Payments, Reduce Person-to-Person Contact
As an owner-operator or trucking company, cash flow is more important than ever. Using document upload tools to send BOLs and PODs to brokers helps you get the right paperwork to brokers as quickly as possible, which means you get paid faster. Faster payments mean you can spend more time making money and making payroll instead of trying to manually submit BOLs and PODs to brokers, whose staff members may be working remotely. When you track a broker load using the free Trucker Tools driver app, at the end of each load, you can instantly upload BOLs and PODs directly through the app at no additional cost.
If you’re a broker or 3PL, you may have recently transitioned the bulk of your workforce to work remotely. Most of your employees probably don’t have fully functional offices at home. Using tools such as the document scanning capabilities included in Trucker Tools’ digital load tracking will simplify your process for receiving BOLs and PODs from carriers. Trucker Tools’ doc upload time stamps the photo that the carrier takes of the BOL/POD in real-time, which reduces the potential for fraud.
Using the document upload feature included in the Trucker Tools driver app/digital load tracking platform also minimizes contact between brokerage/3PL staff and truckers, which helps everyone remain healthy and able to work.
Digital Freight Matching
You can further enhance productivity by using digital freight matching services, which reduce the time you spend on finding open loads. Truckers can, in a matter of seconds, search for open loads with specific brokers and 3PLs using the free Trucker Tools driver app. Rather than spending time chasing stale leads on load boards or calling/emailing brokers to inquire about open loads, you can view open loads with your favorite brokers on your schedule. Each load that you see listed in the Trucker Tools driver app is a live load, so you never have to worry about old load data. All of the details that you need are included in the load listing, including the lane, pickup and drop off details, proposed rate, weight, required equipment and deadhead miles. Using the Trucker Tools driver app reduces the time that you spend on finding high-quality loads, which leaves you more time for driving and making money — and that’s always a good thing.
With Trucker Tools’ digital freight matching platform, brokers and 3PLs can make open loads viewable only to specific carriers. Instead of spending time on posting open loads to load boards, and/or fielding dozens of phone calls and emails from carriers each day, simply upload your open broker/3PL loads to our digital freight matching platform. Trucker Tools digital freight platform is a private network, so you don’t face the same level of competition from other brokers that you do on load boards and with other digital freight marketplaces. Our digital freight matching platform also includes predictive load matching capabilities that let you view and book truck capacity before it’s ever posted publicly.
Automate Load Booking To Increase Productivity, Maintain Profit Margins
You can reduce inefficiencies and increase profit margins further by automating your process for booking loads/capacity. Book-It-Now, Trucker Tools’ in-app load booking automation tool, allows carriers to book broker and 3PL loads directly in Trucker Tools’ driver app in a matter of seconds. This automation reduces the time that both carriers and brokers need to devote to load/capacity bookings.
As an owner-operator or dispatcher, when you see a Book-It-Now load in Trucker Tools’ driver app, simply tap on the yellow Book-It-Now button and the load will automatically be scheduled in the broker’s transportation management system — no phone calls needed. Within minutes, you (and your carrier dispatcher) will receive an automated email confirming the load booking. The email confirmation also includes suggestions for reloads based on the load you just booked, as well as suggestions for future loads based on your load search and booking history. Book-It-Now allows you to book loads at times that are convenient for you and greatly reduces the amount of time you have to spend on finalizing load bookings. You can even propose an alternate rate to the broker/3PL directly through the app.
Just as it does for carriers booking loads, Book-It-Now simplifies how brokers and 3PLs secure truck capacity. When you upload your open loads to Trucker Tools’ digital freight matching platform and enable Book-It-Now, carriers have all the information that they need to make an informed decision on the spot. Instead of spending precious time on the phone negotiating rates with carriers, you can digitize the load bidding and load booking process within your preferred carrier networks. With less time needed to find and secure truck capacity, your brokerage has more time to devote to business development and shipper service.
Read about the two initiatives that Trucker Tools has launched to help freight brokers and truckers on the front lines of COVID-19. Carriers, visit https://www.truckertools.com/carriers/ to download the free Trucker Tools driver app. Brokers and 3PLs, schedule a demo to learn more about Trucker Tools’ document upload, load tracking, digital freight matching and Book-It-Now.
