Five Ways to Level-Up Your RFP Process

Have you noticed it’s become harder to get the precise results you’re looking for from your carrier procurement processes? In more predictable times, truckload shippers could launch an RFP with confidence about who would respond, and what constituted a fair rate.  

Everything’s changed today, thanks to ongoing and extreme demand shifts. Long-term carrier partnerships have largely become a thing of the past—not only are rates uncertain, but capacity is too. 

It’s hard for shippers to achieve consistent cost and service results in this volatile market. And it’s even harder for shippers with special needs like seasonal peaks, perishable products, stringent route guide requirements, and specific handling needs. Forget choosing an optimal carrier—it might be hard to find any carrier, at any price. 

As one of North America’s top freight brokers, Redwood understands the challenges faced by truckload shippers today. We’ve seen the evolution of procurement firsthand, right along with you. Based on our own procurement experience, spanning two decades and hundreds of customers, here are five tips to consistently attain better results from your RFP process. 

1. Share the data, and details, around your freight needs.  

Your RFP probably contains basic information like freight origin, destination, shipment volume, handling requirements, and equipment needs -but what else can you tell your potential carriers? You have access to volumes of data about your freight footprint. Why not share it? The more complete your freight data, the higher the bid quality, and the better you’ll be able to ultimately measure carrier performance and value. If you’re not sure how to successfully share relevant data and details, partner with an expert broker like Redwood to improve your freight profile—so you can find the right carrier, with the right capacity, service, and price.

2. Go beyond the numbers. What really matters?

Data is critical, but it doesn’t tell your whole story. Every shipper sending out an RFP has sky-high hopes for incredible service at an incredible price. But what really matters to your organization? Do you have special handling needs, regulatory guidelines, or accessorial requirements? Are your products seasonal or perishable? Is your dock space constrained? Do you require real-time tracking or EDI transactions? Quantitative facts are great, but don’t forget to add qualitative insights. Being transparent about your needs matches you with a carrier that can meet those exact needs. Redwood can help you intelligently customize your RFPs for the characteristics and constraints of every single load. By telling a more complete story, you’ll be happier—and your carriers will be happier, as well as more compliant. 

3. Don't forget: Transparency works both ways. 

If you’re being transparent about your needs, expect your carriers to be equally transparent about their past performance and service metrics. Don’t blindly trust your critical freight to a carrier without looking at metrics like on-time service, tender acceptance, and responsiveness to communication. In today’s digital world, this performance data is readily available. As a modern 4PL, Redwood has the technical expertise to help you access key performance data and carrier ratings in real time. You’ll minimize your risk exposure and maximize your confidence every time you tender a load. 

4. Contract? Spot? Why not a flexible approach? 

Under more predictable conditions, shippers used to characterize themselves as contract or spot shippers. Today’s volatile freight market has made a flexible, hybrid approach the gold standard. As market conditions, rates, and capacities shift, it only makes sense for your procurement approach to shift too. Instead of thinking of your organization as a spot or contract shipper, make the right choice on a load-by-load basis. If you lack the internal expertise to analyze market conditions and your shipping patterns, reach out to an expert like Redwood. We know how to implement a more flexible, dynamic approach that helps you achieve more consistent cost and service results.   

5. One bidding cycle no longer fits all. 

Maybe you’ve always used quarterly bidding cycles to take advantage of long-term rates that seem more competitive, but, as we’ve already noted, everything’s changed today. As freight markets continue to shift rapidly, the rate that seems good today might not look so good a month from now. The procurement experts at Redwood can help you manage rate and capacity fluctuations with intelligent, flexible bidding cycles and digital solutions that monitor rates in real time. You’ll be able to cover your lanes as the market evolves, while also covering your cost and service bases. 

You're One Step Away from Next-Level RFP Results

At Redwood, our procurement team has seen it all. The best advice we can give shippers is to be open to change and embrace the more dynamic nature of freight procurement today. Hanging on to traditional RFP approaches leads to frustration and stress, not to mention suboptimal cost and service results.  

Reach out to Redwood and we’ll help you roll with the changes—making your carrier selection both more reliable and more profitable.