No one wants to call a freight broker, wait as the phone rings six times, and then hear an out-of-breath person answer with: “It is absolute chaos here.”
You can picture the scene. It’s messy, with soda cans and coffee cups — and piles of paperwork — covering desks. It’s loud, with phones ringing and ringing while at the same time pinging and pinging with text messages. A red-faced young man (who probably should be checking his blood pressure) is yelling, “Does anyone know where my truck is?” His colleagues don’t even respond. Their faces are inches from their computer screens as they try to dig out from their own messes.
What Causes Load Chaos?
In most cases, we humans are responsible for our own chaotic situations. We can get overwhelmed by the mounds of paperwork, by the phones that never stop ringing, by the requests for rates, status updates, and delivery confirmation.
Rate Requests
You put the customer on hold to search for the going spot rate for a load out of Dallas. You’ve got to log into another system and wait for the spinning ball to stop spinning to look up the lane. The customer gets annoyed by the hold music and hangs up to call another freight broker.
Load Updates
Calling out to the brokerage floor for help locating a truck accomplishes nothing — except for an opportunity for the freight broker to stand up and stretch after hours in his chair. Without technology, he might as well have one of those impossible-to-refold paper maps and a rotary dial phone on his desk.
Time-Consuming Tasks
Manually matching shipments to carriers is inefficient. Constantly sending emails can be prone to mistakes. Manually entering data from various sources into multiple systems can lead to inaccuracies and duplication. You also can be easily distracted by the co-worker who keeps yelling about a truck.
How Can You Achieve Load Control?
Automation is the key to load control. Automation harnesses the freight brokerage processes — like quoting, scheduling, tracking, and communicating — that can easily get out of control if performed manually.
Quick Quotes and Load Scheduling
Automation enables freight brokers to provide instant and accurate quotes for any load. Lane and shipment information can be loaded in just a matter of seconds and then sent to a TMS with a click. Thanks to automation, human freight brokers only have to confirm an appointment secured through a search of the TMS. All the relevant load information has already been filled out.
Load Management
Automation can build loads, eliminating manual data entry errors, and then quickly and accurately match those loads to the most appropriate carriers. An Intelligent Sidebar then enables freight brokers to quickly access all load information across platforms in one place.
Communication
AI-powered Smart Autoreplies ensure no customer emails are missed and dramatically reduce response times. Real-Time Shipment Updates garnered from AI-powered tracking replace constant human check-ins. And importantly, Inbox Triage Automation prioritizes communications for immediate action if needed.
From Chaos to Control With Drumkit
Brokers gain control as soon as they implement Drumkit’s freight broker software, which integrates seamlessly with existing TMSs, quoting tools, appointment scheduling tools, and CRM platforms. We eliminate the chaos with our Quick Quotes, Intelligent Sidebar, Real-Time Shipment Updates, Inbox Triage Automation, and other AI-powered tools.
We love getting the chance to help businesses gain efficiencies, and we’re getting recognized for it. Drumkit was named the Descartes MyCarrierPortal Partner of the Month for May.
“Drumkit helps freight brokers work smarter — automating load creation, scheduling, and tracking straight from their inbox,” Descartes MyCarrierPortal said. “With all the key tools integrated into a single sidebar, operations and sales teams can move faster and manage 30-40% more loads per headcount each month.
“Fewer clicks. More coverage. Stronger results.”
We can’t guarantee that the red-faced freight broker will always remain calm and always use an inside voice. But we can guarantee we can bring control to your entire freight brokerage operation. Book a Drumkit demo today.
