Why Do Modern Brokers Need Capacity Management?

Recent Market Volatility Highlighted the Need for Capacity Management

During the height of the pandemic, extremely tight capacity left a lot of brokerages in hot water. Many either paid exorbitant rates for trucks or struggled to get their shippers’ freight moved at all due to the high demand for trucks and the low supply of them available. There was a ton of opportunity to make money for brokers during that time, but many feel they left money on the table due to an inability to secure enough capacity. It highlighted the need for technology that could help brokers cope in a capacity crisis like the pandemic imposed.

Brokers turned to Parade’s capacity management solution during the volatile market, but it’s more than a crisis management tool. Capacity management helps brokers find the best rates for each load while they build better relationships with their carrier base, which helps improve the bottom line in both lean and flush times.

Relationships Matter in the Freight Industry

Even as the industry becomes more tech-savvy and many of the tasks that used to be done over the phone, by fax, or by email are being handled digitally, the relationships between shippers, brokers, and carriers are as important as ever. Old school or new school, almost every broker in the industry would agree with that statement.

Despite that tools like digital booking and quoting oftentimes mean less back and forth between brokers and carriers, Parade capacity management helps facilitate stronger relationships. Instead of spending an hour calling 20 carriers to ask if they have a truck because the system is already anticipating which carriers have capacity and reaching out to them automatically, the rep can have real conversations with a few carriers about their capacity and needs. 

Connectivity is Key

In modern freight tech stacks, connectivity is the key to every piece of the stack functioning at its peak. Each system needs data from all the others to do its job, and Parade helps tie them all together.

Parade has developed partnerships with some of the top freight tech providers around to provide our customers with seamless data flow and top-notch experiences across their tech stack. Don’t see one of your technology providers amongst our current integrations? Reach out to our team. We may be able to facilitate integration, and it may even help future Parade customers build the freight tech stack of their dreams.

It Makes Reps’ Jobs Easier

Retention and training are huge issues in every industry right now, but the talent shortage is hitting freight brokerages hard. What if you could make training new reps easier, giving them a leg up by providing them with knowledge that often takes years to acquire at the click of a mouse?

Capacity management does just that. Parade allows brokers to streamline the booking process, automating much of the busy work and giving even the greenest of reps access to capacity knowledge. Digital tools allow carriers to book their own loads and send quotes digitally, letting reps spend their time on the important things: building relationships with carriers and making the most of each load. 

Capacity Management Helps Brokers Grow at Scale

Because capacity management allows reps to get more done each day, therefore booking more loads, it helps brokerages grow with the team they have on hand. Parade’s tools also allow brokerages to earn more on loads, particularly loads with digital interaction (whether the load is booked digitally or the carrier found the load via Parade’s automated carrier outreach and every level of digital interaction in between).

When reps have more time to build better relationships with carriers and get more loads booked and brokers are earning higher gross margins on loads, it’s a recipe for growing at scale. Many Parade customers have been able to grow their businesses and have even been able to invest what they’ve saved and earned with Parade back into their operations, growing their teams and their brokerages exponentially.