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4 Ways to Become a Shipper of Choice - Even if You're a Small Shipper

Ryan Keepman

30 May 2018

These creative strategies for winning over carriers can help even smaller organizations become a shipper of choice — reducing shipping rates and finding capacity in the process.

In a recent blog post, we talked about how an awareness of carrier profitability can help you work with carriers to find capacity and reduced LTL shipping rates. Here I want to dive into this topic in a little more depth, focusing on more specific ways you can improve your carrier relationships and, therefore, optimize your transportation.

By thinking creatively, even small shippers can earn shipper-of-choice status. Really, it’s all about focusing on your carrier partners and how you can make life easier (and more profitable) for them. Try these four tips for winning over your carriers and becoming a shipper of choice.

4 ways to become a shipper of choice

1. Provide amenities to carriers

Providing amenities to your drivers — just common courtesies that you’d appreciate in their position — offers an often-overlooked way to be an attractive partner to carriers.

Drivers work long, tough hours to transport your goods safely. Recognizing their efforts in small ways will boost their morale and keep you in their favor.

Break rooms, bathrooms, even a hot cup of coffee — all are welcomed by your hard-working drivers. With that in mind, mark

2. Respect your drivers' time

Time is money, so when you waste your carriers' time, you're also wasting their money.

Eliminate driver detention to increase your carriers' profitability and decrease your transportation cost by avoiding costly detention fees.

Consider ship-smart strategies like pool distribution and consolidation. Expand your pickup and delivery windows. And plan ahead to increase your lead time.

Shifting to a more holistic mentality about your shipping needs requires thinking about how to keep drivers on the road making money, rather than stuck at your dock.

With automated invoicing, paying your carriers on-time becomes a literal no-brainer.

3. Use logistics technology (especially a TMS!)

Everyone wants to get paid on time — including carriers. But staying on top of hundreds of invoices from various carrier companies makes quick (and accurate) payments difficult.

Enter a good TMS. With automated invoicing, paying your carriers on-time becomes a literal no-brainer. And with real-time data analytics, your team can review and resolve any billing discrepancies quickly. That means accurate payments will happen on time, with less work for everybody.

Need more motivation? Shippers with a TMS reduce their freight costs by as much as 10%, due to the ability to make better, faster decisions and to optimize workflows, like invoicing.

4. Partner with a strategic 3PL

This one offers major benefits to shippers, large or small.

Carriers prefer to work with shippers who have good reputations and large volumes of freight. By partnering with a credible, high-volume 3PL, smaller shippers can mitigate this issue.

On the other hand, large freight networks can lead to a lack of control. Especially with inbound transportation. But a strategic 3PL can audit and streamline transportation processes, helping to eliminate inefficiencies like carrier detention and incorrect freight documents.

You’ve heard “be flexible.” But, let’s be honest… No one really likes change.

The good news? A 3PL takes the pain out of experimenting with new business practices. As experts in freight management, a 3PL can help you pool your product safely and strategically, using factors like weight, dimensions, and volatility. They can also advise on shipment consolidation and coordinate delivery schedules across multiple carriers and plants.

Many strategic 3PLs also offer a TMS solution, helping you to eliminate inefficiencies.

No matter your organization’s size, working with an experienced, strategic 3PL offers you the security of proven solutions, tailored to your unique inbound and outbound shipping needs. It’s an effective way to become a shipper of choice, ultimately helping you reduce shipping rates and find capacity.

Ryan Keepman

Ryan is the President of Evans Transportation.

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