Shipping & Transportation News
How Using a 3rd Party Freight Partner Can Help Your Business
In the multifaceted world of transportation and logistics, the business of moving freight can be a confusing and costly venture. Which carrier is the best for your desired shipping route? Which carrier is the most cost-effective, and offers the customer service level that you need? Are you getting a competitive rate? Many companies turn to a third-party freight provider to help navigate the maze of carriers, rates, routes, and freight classifications.
How Does a 3rd Party Freight Partner Work?
Most freight partners have formed direct relationships with an array of regional and national carriers. With the collective freight volume of many small-to-medium sized businesses, they are able to negotiate better discount rates and terms than some businesses may be able to establish on their own.
In addition to providing significant discounts off of carrier base rates, a freight partner can provide additional value-added services designed to lower your overall logistics expenses. At no additional cost, these features include routing management to find you the best carrier for your needs, bill auditing, and invoice consolidation.
Finding the Right Freight Partner for Your Needs
There are many companies to choose from once you’ve decided to work with a freight partner. When evaluating your options, a good freight partner will work with your organization to analyze your transportation needs and present you with a no-obligation cost comparison. Make sure the program they offer you has access to carriers that are well known and have a good reputation for on-time delivery and customer service.
Most importantly – find a freight partner that provides you with a dedicated account representative who can answer all of your questions, from invoicing to tracking, as well as web tools that can further streamline your shipping and billing processes.
The advantages of using a freight partner are clear, and creating and maintaining a good relationship with a reputable freight partner can result in increased efficiencies throughout your entire operations department, saving your company significant staff time and money.
Ignite Selling Productivity by Using a Creative-Problem-Solving Selling Method: Building Rapport and Defining the Customer’s Needs
One of the most effective ways for sales professionals to ignite selling productivity is to use a Creative-Problem-Solving Selling Method. In using a Creative-Problem-Solving Selling Method, the sales professional looks at interests and needs through the lens of the customer, and not through a self-serving lens. In last month’s edition of The PartnerShip Connection we went over the four steps to using a Creative-Problem-Solving Selling Method. Here we will discuss the first two steps more in-depth ... MORE
What’s in a freight rate?
Have you ever heard “I can offer you a 90% discount off of carrier base rates for all of your shipments” or “I can save you 30% to 40% off of what you paid for freight last year?”
Here are a few tips to give you insight into what’s really in a freight rate...
MOREWhat’s in a freight rate?
Q: What are the benefits of receiving a volume quote if my shipment is more than 5,000lbs.?
A. Many times, volume quotes will give you a spot price that is better than your normal discounted rate. These spot prices will depend on how much volume a carrier has going in your particular lane on that day. These larger shipments are very desirable to most carriers, because they take up a lot of space in the trailer but require a lot less handling.
Q: When looking at a freight quote from a carrier or freight partner, how do I know if the liftgate charge is included?
A. Accessorial charges should be listed separately on a quote as an additional charge. If it’s not broken out or listed they probably didn’t include the charge.
What’s in a freight rate?
PartnerShip routinely saves us hundreds of dollars on individual freight shipments. This ends up being a huge annual cost saving especially considering freight is one of our bookstore’s biggest expenses. I’ve found PartnerShip to be easy to use and the level of service we get from our rep is unparalleled. We were walked through the PartnerShip website and now our receiving manager can easily price out freight vendors, set up shipments, and track those shipments in one easy place. PartnerShip is what its name implies: a true partner to the college store.
Abbie Shellist
UT Bookstore
What’s in a freight rate?
Have you ever heard “I can offer you a 90% discount off of carrier base rates for all of your shipments” or “I can save you 30% to 40% off of what you paid for freight last year?”
Here are a few tips to give you insight into what’s really in a freight rate...MORE