Freight Management Company Benefits for Smarter Shipping

Have you considered working with a freight management company but haven’t yet given the idea the green light? In this blog post, we’ll explore five business-boosting freight management benefits thatmight just convince you.

Let’s imagine a scenario for a moment, shall we? You’re in the middle of yet another busy week trying to maintain the efficiency and productivity of your business when you realize that you don’t ever remember receiving confirmation that the large shipment you sent out the week before arrived at its destination—and it most definitely should have. Suddenly, you’re scrambling—checking through emails, asking your warehouse supervisor if she received the confirmation, and preparing yourself to receive a call from your customer that you really dread having to take.

Wouldn’t it be nice if scenarios like that didn’t have to happen? If making sure your freight shipped out (and actually delivered!) on time was one of the simplest and most pleasant parts of your day? Well, lucky for you, working with a freight management company can help give you that peace of mind.

When you partner with a freight management company, your business will experience five essential benefits that you won’t know how you ever lived without:

• Happier, more satisfied customers
• Cost effectiveness
• Time savings and increased efficiency
• Intelligent data tracking and reporting
• Personalized shipping strategy

Happier, More Satisfied Customers

When you work with a company whose sole purpose is to ensure freight is delivered to customers on time, situations like the one we mentioned above are far less likely to occur.

When you’re attempting to manage freight on your own, it can be easy to fall into the habit of simply choosing the lowest-cost carrier. And unless you have someone dedicated to tracking the deliveries of every shipment that goes out the door, you may not realize that the low-cost shipper you’ve chosen is low-cost for a reason—a track record of slow-to-arrive shipments.

But when you work with a freight management company, they’ll have all the time and resources necessary to help you track your shipments and make sure they’re arriving on time—and making customers happy.

Cost Effectiveness

If you work with a freight management company, you can rest easy knowing that the shipping rates you receive are going to be cost effective for your business.

Because freight management companies work with such a large number of shippers, they are able to help you negotiate rates and even set up contracts that lock in rates for a given period of time. This eliminates the need to worry about surprise rate increases or spending too much time trying to find the most economical carriers.

Working with a freight management company will also help you consolidate your shipments, giving you even greater savings as you no longer pay for one-off shipments. See how businesses have benefited from these partnerships in our case studies.

Time Savings and Increased Efficiency

Depending on the size of your business, you simply may not have the resources to handle all the aspects of freight efficiently. Your workforce may be stretched thin, struggling to take control of all the moving parts and pieces, or you may find that you’ve had to take a “good enough” stance on getting your product out the door so that other areas of the business don’t fall behind.

Neither of those options is ideal, but without a freight management team, you may find yourself having to make that difficult decision.

However, working with a dedicated freight management company will eliminate that headache. Instead, they will streamline your supply chain, ensuring that shipping becomes one of the most efficient aspects of your company by putting their knowledge and resources to work for you.

A freight management company covers everything, including:

• Initial selection of a carrier (that’s both cost effective and dependable)
• Tracking and data reporting
• Final delivery

And because you’ll no longer have to spend time managing all the minute details of shipping, you’ll be able to free up time and resources for other departments.

Intelligent Data Tracking and Reporting

Depending on your current shipping strategy, you may have limited data to review about:

• Rates
• Delivery times
• Lead times

This could mean that you’re missing significant insight that could help you:

• Set yourself apart from the competition
• Provide better customer support
• Better control costs

A freight management company can provide you with the tools you need to track and report on data that will help you intelligently answer questions about your supply chain to make sure you’re doing all you can to maximize efficiency.

Personalized Shipping Strategy

To put it simply, an effective freight management company will work to fit your business—NOT attempt to fit your business into a predesigned shipping strategy.

After all, they know that every company’s shipping needs are specific to their:

• Company
• Product
• Location
• And more

That means they’ll create a customized approach for shipping your product that gives you the greatest return on your investment. They take away the guesswork in shipping by providing a streamlined process designed to work with your business model, keeping it in line with your business objectives.

Final Thoughts

If your company is struggling to manage shipping effectively enough, don’t continue with the status quo. Consider working with a freight management company to make shipping more efficient, keep shipping costs low, and improve customer service. Learn more about our approach to third-party logistics for LTL shipping, or contact us today to see how we create innovative LTL solutions.