6 Key Features Your Freight Quote Software Needs to Win More Lanes

What is a Freight Quote Software?

A freight quote software is designed for freight brokers, freight forwarders, and 3PLs to streamline and automate generating quotations for logistics services. It simplifies and expedites the quoting process by providing a centralized hub where logistics companies can create and send quotations for their logistics services to their leads and customers.

Importance of Freight Quote Software

By using a freight quote software, you can significantly boost your logistics sales. The time between a customer requesting a quote and receiving it can make all the difference between winning or losing a quote.

A freight quoting software ensures you can create a detailed and accurate quote immediately after a customer requests it. Hence, this improves your sales productivity and boosts customer retention.

Using a quoting software for the logistics industry offers the following benefits:

1. Winning More Lanes.

   Freight quote software streamlines your quoting processes and access to diverse carrier networks, allowing quick and accurate responses to inquiries. With real-time information, it enhances the effectiveness of quotes which contributes to winning more lanes for your logistics business.

2. Efficient Pricing Process.

   A freight quote software streamlines the pricing process by providing real-time market rates, enabling you to send effective quotes to your customers. This helps you, the logistics experts, determine the most competitive prices for your customers. Moreover, access to real-time rate updates reduces the time spent calling carriers or searching for updated information.

3. Enhanced Accuracy.

   Manual calculation errors can lead to inaccurate quotes, which can create disputes and negatively impact your company's reputation. A freight quote software eliminates such errors, producing accurate and reliable quotes, which builds trust and eliminates unnecessary negotiations.

4. Streamlined Communication.

   When a freight quote software is integrated into a logistics CRM, it enables seamless customer communication for quote generation and tracking. This integration consolidates all communication regarding quotes, negotiations, or any updates. As a result, it enhances clarity in conversations, leading to faster decision-making.

5. Competitive Advantage.

   To stay ahead of your competition, you must quickly respond and give accurate pricing. With a freight quote software, you can provide your customers with a superior experience, setting you apart from competitors who rely on slower and less reliable manual processes.

6. Improved Profitability.

   With a freight quote software, you can optimize your pricing strategies and maximize margins, ultimately contributing to the overall financial health of your business.

If you create and send a quote within the same day of request, there's a 75% chance of winning it.

Now that you have understood the importance of a freight quoting software, let's look at the six must-have features of a quotation tool.

Must-Have Features of a Freight Quote Software

1. Creation of Aggregated Quote for Multiple Services

An aggregated quote in logistics refers to a single comprehensive quotation encompassing multiple services or transportation modes requested by a client. Instead of providing separate quotes for each service or mode of transportation (such as inland, ocean, air, and warehousing), you can consolidate all the requested services into one unified quote.

To do this, you need a freight quote software that can create one aggregated quote with all transport modes and logistics services, including inland, ocean, air, and warehousing, requested by your customer.

Having this feature allows you to reap the following benefits:

• Convenience for Customers.

  If you can provide a single, comprehensive quote for multiple services, you can simplify the decision-making process for your customer. All you need to do is present all logistics options in one place, making it easier for them to compare costs and services across different modes (inland, ocean, air).

• Enhanced Sales Conversion.

  Simplifying the quoting process often leads to increased sales conversion. A comprehensive quote that meets your customer's needs can make your business more appealing and competitive, resulting in a higher likelihood of securing more shipments.

By offering a consolidated quote that includes all requested services, you can significantly increase the chances of securing business, and establish yourself as an efficient and customer-focused partner in the logistics industry.

2. Inclusion of Multiple Lanes Per Mode of Transportation

In the logistics industry, multiple lanes per mode of transportation refers to the various routes or paths along which goods or shipments can be transported using a specific mode of transport. Each mode of transportation, such as Full Truckload (FTL), Less Than Truckload (LTL), and Intermodal (IM), can have multiple lanes representing different shipping routes or specific transportation paths.

To fulfill your customers' requirements, you need a freight quote software that allows you to create multiple lanes for a mode of transportation. Creating multiple lanes for FTL, LTL, IM, etc., in a single quote enables you to:

• provide your customers with comprehensive solutions
• allow you and your customers to save time in the decision-making process
• specify all the details of each lane within the quote, like equipment, commodity, cargo value, and total distance.

3. Option to Add Complete Details

The option to add complete details in a freight quote software allows you to specify all relevant information for every lane. This feature provides you with comprehensive and detailed data within the quotation tool, which ensures accuracy, clarity, and transparency in the quoting process.

Below are the details that are included in a freight quote software:

a. Cargo Details

It includes essential details of your cargo, such as equipment, the type of commodity (paper, food, beverages, etc.), temperature requirements, number of pieces, package types, weight, etc.

b. Routing

It allows you to enter the details of the routes to complete the shipment. It includes complete addresses of the origin and destination, the number of stops, and the entire shipping schedule (shipping date, estimated transit time, etc.)

c. Accessorial

This section allows you to add specific services required by a customer. Accessorial examples are 2nd-day delivery, 3-5 days delivery, advance, etc.

d. Charges

This section lets you define all the charges and margins related to your logistics services. Moreover, it will be helpful if your logistics quoting tool has an additional feature that allows you to check historical profit margin data of won lanes per customer. This enables you to create lanes with the right margins that can help increase your chances of winning.

e. Comments

A freight quote software should have a comment section to leave additional comments for your customers.

The option to add the mentioned details above ensures thorough communication between you and your customers regarding all the specifics of the quote. This proactive approach minimizes potential disputes by offering transparency ahead of service execution.

4. Easy Tracking of Activities

Easy tracking of activities after creating a quote refers to your ability to monitor the activities under that quote created. A freight quote software allows you to track emails, calls, and meetings relevant to that quote.

An activity tracking feature enables access to a quote's current status and history. Additionally, the progress is not confined to a salesperson’s inbox since freight quote software centralizes communication and records all activities in one centralized application.

A feature like this in your freight quoting tool leads to:

• a clear view of the progress of activities within a certain quoting process
• promotion of accountability among the members of your sales team
• reduced need for multiple emails or disjointed communication activities regarding a quote
• timely follow-ups and actions on pending tasks related to a quoting process

It would also be helpful if this feature allows you to create tasks that will be reflected on your logistics sales dashboard, so you don't miss critical follow-ups.

5. Intelligent Quoting Assistant

An intelligent quoting assistant will make a tool for logistics services stand out among others. This feature should provide you with real-time market prices and historical rates according to the lane information entered. This tool helps you understand your current cost structure that might change daily/hourly depending on market dynamics.

This information within your quoting tool saves time since you are not switching between apps. Moreover, this feature offers the following advantages:

• It provides automated pricing suggestions based on historical data, market trends, and specific customer preferences.
• It utilizes current market rates, which ensures that quotes for a specific lane reflect current market conditions and is competitive.

An intelligent quoting assistant will also be helpful if it provides the right margins that let you win lanes at the highest possible profit.

6. Generation of Professional Quote

An excellent freight quoting tool should be able to generate a professional quote. It should be an appropriately formatted document with all the detailed information your customer needs. It will also be helpful if it allows you to create a summary of the detailed quote, so your customer can get crucial details upfront when requested.

A professional quote provides the following benefits:

• Professional quotes establish your reliability and credibility
• Well-structured and thorough quotes portray the provider's dedication to quality and precision.
• Detailed and professional quotes mitigate misunderstandings by defining services, terms, and costs, minimizing the potential for disputes or misinterpretations.

Conclusion

When selecting a freight quote software, it's imperative to consider the features highlighted in this article so you can win more lanes. A proper freight quote software offers a multitude of advantages. It serves as a catalyst in securing more lanes, fostering revenue growth, and sustaining customer loyalty. This tool simplifies the process, allowing you to send professional and detailed logistics quotes in a few minutes.

If you want to have these quoting features readily available on your CRM, look at this CRM + quoting tool for 3PLs.

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