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Time is money. That’s why a freight brokerage needs to conduct every part of its operation quickly, efficiently and correctly. Laborious manual processes tie up your staff and eat into your profits. So do errors that people need to go back and correct – essentially performing the same work twice. Also, faulty communications can add hours – or days – to the time it takes to move a customer’s freight, not only incurring extra costs but also, perhaps risking the loss new business from that customer in the future.

Let’s take a look at how to avoid wasted time in three phases of a freight broker’s business – acquiring and keeping customers, matching loads with the right carriers, and monitoring freight in transit.

Just how much freight do 3PLs or brokers move for tens of thousands of shippers every day? Here’s an interesting fact: The $166 billion third-party logistics industry is 1.5 times the size of the beer market and four times larger than the market for candy.

Leading brokerages are using technology to achieve the ideal balance between personalized service and more aggressive growth.

Transportation brokerage is all about relationships—and that means it’s also about communications. To match loads with the right capacity and make sure all the details of a shipment go well, you must find out as much as you can about the needs of both your shippers and your carriers.

“Hang on, we’re in for a bumpy ride.”

Our guest blogger has vast experience in trucking management. His focus includes optimizing clients’ freight networks and operations strategies.

In the course of our consulting practice, we review and analyze many carriers’ freight networks. This consultation includes reviewing clients’ strengths and weaknesses when it comes to managing transportation services. While every carrier we visit uses transportation brokers, most do not have a strategy for those relationships. Carrier/broker relationships are largely transactional in nature, and are typically handled at a low level in the carrier’s organization. Carriers should have a strategy for managing brokers and should treat brokers as valued sales agents, not as the enemy. A good relationship with a broker that pays your bills timely and acts like a customer to help keep your trucks moving productively can be a valuable partner.