Many shippers underestimate the value a freight broker can bring to their transportation strategy. These professionals can significantly increase the performance of your freight shipments and save you costs. While there are many benefits of using a good freight broker, you somehow have to assess their effectiveness for your company. To get the best out of the freight broker, you have to make sure you are receiving high-quality services from a legitimate specialist.
How to measure your freight broker’s effectiveness?
Carrier network and expertise
First, your freight broker must be able to provide quality services to you and have the buying power to fulfill your business needs. It is crucial to first check your broker’s credentials and assess their experience and expertise in the industry. Do they work for the company or individually? What businesses do they serve? How many years have they been on the market? All these questions should be considered to help understand the level of freight broker’s competence.
Communication
A whole idea of a freight broker is that this person has to be your one point of contact for all your transportation needs. Clear and timely communication is the cornerstone of successful cooperation between you and your freight broker. If you are constantly left with a bunch of unanswered questions, don’t have enough visibility and updates, and communication in general, is poor, you may consider changing your broker.
Insurance and claims
The ability to handle problems and deal with difficult situations is a primary marker of a good freight broker. Sometimes, freight gets damaged or lost, and those situations can’t be avoided. But the process of handling claims and painlessly resolving the issue should be the standard for a good freight broker. Apart from service, you should also be provided with an option to purchase additional freight insurance.
Generally, there are many other factors that make a professional freight broker. These professionals have to be able to quickly resolve your arising issues, timely respond and give updates, deal with unpredictable situations, and generally simplify your transportation process as much as possible. Keep in mind that the lowest price isn’t always the best deal. Before making a final decision, and find a perfect freight broker to work with, you might want to take all the above factors into account.
