Those of us who outsource our holiday meals do so for a variety of reasons, from a lack of cooking skills to time restraints. There are many steps, including menu planning and grocery shopping, before you even get to cooking. It’s a whole lot easier to make restaurant reservations or order a prepared feast.
When you think about it, LTL shipping is much like hosting Thanksgiving. It’s messy and complex, and you need to deliver a satisfying experience to avoid leaving visitors with a bad taste in their mouths.
Freight brokers who master LTL shipping differentiate themselves from those who fall flat by successfully combining all the ingredients (i.e., rate quoting, load scheduling, carrier selection, real-time tracking, and on-time delivery).
Think of Drumkit as your sous chef — your back-of-the-house secret weapon to LTL freight brokerage success. Our freight broker software handles all of the prep work, and you get to take all the credit for serving up a satisfying customer experience.
Complexity as a Differentiator
LTL shipping — and handling that freight — is inherently complex:
- Multiple shippers, pickups, and deliveries — and multiple chances for missteps.
- Multiple freight classifications — and multiple chances for mistakes.
- Multiple opportunities to mess everything up by relying on manual processes.
Customers who are served unanticipated costs, hit with unexpected delays, and prevented from having real-time visibility into the whereabouts of their LTL shipments won’t be coming back to do business with you again.
When LTL freight brokers have every stage nailed, their customers don’t even have to think about the individual pieces of their supply chain. While the broker skillfully links all the complex steps, the shipper thinks the freight moved seemingly effortlessly.
Industry-specific software equips freight brokers with the utensils they need to gain a competitive advantage in complex LTL shipping.
The Role of Automation in Simplifying LTL
Drumkit simplifies LTL shipping with our AI-empowered automation tools.
- Smart Autoreplies drastically reduce response times.
- Automated Load Building eliminates manual data entry errors.
- Load Matching enables quick and accurate carrier selection.
- Intelligent Sidebar empowers freight brokers to see all load information across platforms in one place.
- Automatic Status Updates keep all parties informed from the time a shipment is scheduled until it is delivered.
Automation not only dramatically reduces manual effort and human error, but it also improves the customer experience and increases the chances of winning a customer for life. Automation with Drumkit’s freight broker software achieves that by integrating with users’ email inboxes or transportation management systems to eliminate such formerly manual tasks as document generation, carrier recommendations, and load alerts.
The LTL customer wants one-click load shipment booking. The LTL customer wants automated updates — without asking for them through countless emails. The LTL customer wants to select from a simple menu of shipping options — and then forget about it and go about their day.
Drumkit enables freight brokers to consistently deliver exceptional customer experiences. In fact, the lack of effort required on the customer’s part likely will make them forget that LTL shipping was ever a pain to handle.
Serve a Superior LTL Shipping Experience With Drumkit
Yes, LTL shipping is complex. But it’s also a vehicle for differentiation — if you have the right tools. Drumkit’s software was built specifically for freight brokers — and provides all the tools needed for superior customer experiences.
With Drumkit, freight brokers can master complex LTL shipping with the help of automation and deepen customer relationships. Those customers may even express how thankful they are for having the complexities of LTL shipping taken off their plates.
And at Drumkit, we are thankful for the dozens of opportunities we’ve had this year to connect with freight brokers and learn their pain points and hear their success stories at such industry gatherings as the Journal of Commerce’s Inland Distribution Conference, the McLeod Software User Conference, and the Broker-Carrier Summit.
“The future of freight is about connection, and we’re showing how automation and AI make that connection smarter,” Drumkit CEO Dhruv Gupta says. “From quoting and scheduling to carrier communication, Drumkit helps brokers work faster, cleaner, and with fewer clicks.”
Book an introductory call to connect with us and learn how Drumkit’s freight broker software can become the centerpiece of your operation in 2026.
