Experts across the transportation industry agree that the current capacity shortage isn’t likely to abate in the near future. In fact, most are predicting that the capacity crunch will continue well into 2022. The pressure is on freight brokerage and logistics companies like yours to not only retain your current carrier network, but also to continue to expand and grow your network to meet your shippers’ needs. The most effective way to strengthen your carrier network is to use real-time digital technology like Trucker Tools’ Smart Capacity carrier management platform in your operations. Smart Capacity includes powerful tools and features that make you an attractive partner to carriers, while boosting the operational efficiency of your business.
Here are six ways to improve your carrier management relationship game with Trucker Tools’ Smart Capacity.
1. Reduce Cold Calls to Carriers
When you search for available trucks in specific lanes in Smart Capacity, the results that you’re shown are based on the real-time, real-world movement of trucks. With Smart Capacity, when you do contact a carrier, you already know based on the information in the platform that the carrier is likely to have a truck when and where you need it. As a result, you can target your communications only to those carriers that are likely to have capacity available instead of cold-calling every carrier on your list.
2. Book Loads/Reloads in a Single Conversation
Once you have the carrier’s dispatcher on the phone, it’s easy to see within Smart Capacity what reload opportunities your company has available and to immediately offer those to the dispatcher. Booking reloads in the same conversation saves the dispatcher time because they don’t have to search for a load to reduce deadheading. Offering loads and reloads in a single conversation helps keep the carrier running your loads and can be used to build long-term relationships with carriers.
3. Offer Convenient Digital Load Booking to Build Carrier Loyalty
In a recent Trucker Tools survey, 76 percent of the trucking companies and owner operators we surveyed told us that they’d used an app to book at least one load within the last 60 days. As a freight broker or 3PL, offering app and web-based load booking does more than save your team and your carrier/owner op partners time. It also helps you build a reputation for being easy to work with. Digital load booking tools such as Trucker Tools’ Book It Now® eliminate long rate confirmations and can incentivize owner operators and carriers to work with you again and again.
4. Locate Future Capacity with Predictive Load Matching
Trucker Tools’ Smart Capacity also includes predictive load matching, which provides you with information on where truck capacity will be available in the future. To use Smart Capacity’s predictive load matching, simply enter the date on which you’ll need the truck(s) and the origin and destination locations. Smart Capacity uses transaction data from Trucker Tools’ platforms to predict where and when capacity will be available in the future. Predictive load matching offers you a competitive advantage because it allows you to locate and secure capacity via Trucker Tools’ private network before it’s ever posted to a public load board.
5. Increase Carrier Utilization
Even though onboarding a new carrier may only require 10 minutes, when you’re onboarding a new carrier every time you need capacity, those 10 minute increments add up and impact productivity. One of the easiest ways to improve your carrier relationship management game is to re-use carriers and owner operators that have already been onboarded with your company. Trucker Tools’ Smart Capacity lets you search for capacity from your customized list of already onboarded carriers first, allowing you to increase carrier utilization and reduce new carrier onboarding.
6. Access to a Robust Carrier/Owner Operator Network
Trucker Tools’ market share with owner operators and small- to mid-sized carriers is substantial. To date, more than 1.5 million truckers have downloaded the Trucker Tools app and 175,000 carriers are actively using the Trucker Tools platform. In fact, many of your core drivers and carriers may already be on Trucker Tools’ platform. As a Smart Capacity user, you can tap into Trucker Tools’ robust network when and where you need it, ensuring that you have access to the capacity your shippers require. Learn more about How Leonard’s Express Is Increasing Carrier Visibility Compliance with Trucker Tools.
Schedule a free demo of Trucker Tools’ Smart Capacity carrier relationship management platform, which includes digital freight matching, real-time visibility and Book It Now®.
