When freight volume surges and available capacity can’t match volume, it can be very difficult to grow your freight broker or logistics business — unless you harness the power of technology like Trucker Tools’. With freight volumes at all-time highs and many drivers getting their own MC numbers to take advantage of spot market rates, we’re in exactly that situation right now. The good news is that you can grow even in the current market without increasing your employee headcount. Trucker Tools’ digital platform connects you with small and micro carriers in ways that are most convenient for them, automates many of the repetitive tasks in your operations and offers you opportunities to grow without hiring additional staff.
Read on to learn how Trucker Tools empowers brokers and 3PLs like you to grow, even when demand is unpredictable and markets are volatile.
Access to Small Carrier, Owner Operator Capacity
If you’re in the freight broker or 3PL business, you know that your ability to source capacity is everything — because you can’t provide transportation services to shippers if you can’t get them trucks. The American Trucking Association’s Trucking Trends 2020 report found that 91 percent of all carriers operate six trucks or fewer and that 97 percent of carriers run 20 trucks or fewer. Clearly, small and micro carriers offer the lion’s share of capacity to freight brokers, 3PLs and shippers. It may be difficult, however, for you to easily tap into small carrier capacity because each small carrier uses different kinds of technology and runs a little bit differently.
Many of the brokers and 3PLs that migrate to Trucker Tools’ technology platform do so because so many small carriers and owner operators are already using Trucker Tools’ technology. The Trucker Tools mobile app has been downloaded by more than 1.3 million truckers. Trucker Tools also provides a free software platform for carriers that is currently used by more than 165,000 carriers, most of whom run fewer than 10 trucks.
Implementing Trucker Tools’ digital platform for brokers and 3PLs connects you with all of the truckers and small carriers who are already active in Trucker Tools’ digital marketplace.
Greater Efficiency: The Ability To Move More Freight
Another way that Trucker Tools empowers freight broker and 3PL companies to grow is by increasing operational efficiency. All three core elements of Trucker Tools’ comprehensive digital platform offer significant increases in productivity. With the digital freight matching component of Trucker Tools’ platform, you’ll eliminate the manual processes often used for finding capacity (load boards, phone calls, emails) and, instead, locate capacity with a few mouse clicks. Trucker Tools’ Book-It-Now® adds another level of efficiency. When you post your loads to our platform as Book-It-Now® loads, rate negotiations and appointment-setting with carriers becomes automated, while Trucker Tools’ real-time load tracking reduces or eliminates check calls. By digitizing and automating these core business activities, you “get back” some of the time and staffing resources that you’d previously devoted to manual tasks, time and resources that can be used to move more freight volume.
“Trucker Tools’ freight tracking has truly increased our efficiency, which not only helps with reducing those tracking and tracing calls, but it actually has turned into more loads per day for our reps,” says Jeff Henderson, Senior VP of Operations for Ryan Transportation. “Those 20 to 30 calls can be used to cover current loads or future loads, so it also has been a big win with our customer base…Trucker Tools’ load tracking has been a really big game changer for us.”
“Trucker Tools’ freight tracking has truly increased our efficiency, which not only helps with reducing those tracking and tracing calls, but it actually has turned into more loads per day for our reps,” says Jeff Henderson, Senior VP of Operations for Ryan Transportation. “Those 20 to 30 calls can be used to cover current loads or future loads, so it also has been a big win with our customer base…Trucker Tools’ load tracking has been a really big game changer for us.”
Scalability: Increase Revenue Without Hiring Additional Staff or Restructuring
The Trucker Tools platform also offers scalability, i.e. the ability to increase your customer base, load count and/or revenue without adding new employees or restructuring. Scalability is a huge advantage because it means you can keep overhead low while increasing volume. If you’re thinking that the scalability provided by Trucker Tools’ technology can only be enjoyed by mega brokers and 3PLs, think again. Smaller brokerages and 3PLs also are empowered to grow with Trucker Tools, as well.
“We’re a fast-growing company,” said Omar Singh, Surge Transportation’s Founder and CEO. “With Trucker Tools’ load tracking and Book-It-Now®, we won’t have to hire more people to grow. We will be able to double the freight we broker with the team that we have in place now. As we grow in 2021 and beyond, if we can keep the same number of employees, that will have a huge impact on the company and our profitability.”
“We’re a fast-growing company,” said Omar Singh, Surge Transportation’s Founder and CEO. “With Trucker Tools’ load tracking and Book-It-Now®, we won’t have to hire more people to grow. We will be able to double the freight we broker with the team that we have in place now. As we grow in 2021 and beyond, if we can keep the same number of employees, that will have a huge impact on the company and our profitability.”
Be sure to check out How To Grow Rapidly with Technology for more insights into how you can scale your business with technology.
Schedule a free demo of Trucker Tools’ comprehensive digital platform that includes digital freight matching, real-time load tracking and Book-It-Now®.
