When running a successful brokerage, the last thing you want is for your staff to stop selling and get bogged down in paperwork. Unfortunately, that’s the reality for most brokerages, especially those with small teams wearing many hats.
Without the right tools, staff members often spend countless hours handling documents instead of focusing on growth-driving activities. This leads to key team members spending hours downloading and re-uploading thousands of documents daily when they could spend their time elsewhere.
The following case studies demonstrate how Denim customers use our payments platform to automate their back-office, scale their brokerage, and save hours spent processing payments.
Peregrine is a lean and quickly growing brokerage focused on providing reliable services to shippers while maintaining strong, healthy, and respectful relationships with their carriers.
Peregrine’s Challenges:
Peregrine runs a tight ship with just 8 staff and knew they couldn’t have their valuable team members stuck processing paperwork.
Before working with a factoring company, documents were manually downloaded and reviewed for invoice creation and payments to carriers. This tedious and error-prone process had just one person to process over 1,200 invoices every month.
Peregrine also ran into a cash crunch every month in an attempt to pay carriers quickly, eating into their cash reserves while waiting for customers to pay their invoices.
Denim’s Solution:
Peregrine decided that manual invoicing and payments were taking far too much of their small team’s time, and decided to seek a solution through Denim. By leveraging Denim’s automated invoicing tools, TMS integrations, and factoring services, Peregrine improved invoice processing time by 3x, reduced human errors, and improved their cash flow.
Denim worked with Peregrine to create an automated workflow that seamlessly transfers jobs from their TMS automatically. These efficiency gains allowed Peregrine to scale up to $12-15 million without adding additional back-office staff, all while keeping both carriers and customers happier than ever.
Yeti Logistics, like many brokers in a post-COVID world, was forced to operate on tighter margins in recent years. Despite these economic challenges, they were determined to grow and scale their company.
Yeti Logistics’ Challenges:
The team at Yeti Logistics had the right idea - they had implemented technology solutions into their business to speed up their operation and reduce costs. Unfortunately, the freight tech solutions they were using were all siloed systems, without any interconnectivity.
This lack of communication between software systems left Yeti’s team scrambling every day to enter shipment data manually into multiple systems, spreadsheets, and platforms.
“I would have to download the carrier documents from my TMS, transcribe them into an Excel spreadsheet, upload it to our previous factoring company's dashboard, and then complete the process with exception management." - James Dockery, Yeti Logistics
With this painstaking manual process in place, it seemed almost impossible to scale their business without adding more staff, which would cut further into already shrinking margins.
How Yeti Logistics Cut Costs and Improved Efficiency:
Like most brokers, Yeti used their TMS as their central hub for everything in their brokerage. Their current inefficiencies came through a lack of integration between their TMS and outdated factoring platform - causing redundant manual entry for every load.
When Yeti switched to Denim, we quickly established an integration with their EKA TMS, cutting redundant data entry by 75% almost overnight. This new automated workflow reduced invoice processing time and nearly eliminated the need to switch between platforms.
With Denim’s flexible factoring solutions, Yeti Logistics also cut their factoring costs by 18%, saving them tens of thousands every year.
Alliance Logistix is a rapidly growing brokerage and faces the many challenges that it brings. They were swamped under a constant barrage of new paperwork, and knew there had to be a better way.
Alliance’s Challenges:
Before implementing a tech-forward factoring platform, the Alliance Logistix team was spending upwards of 266 hours every month on AP. They were struggling to keep carriers happy because this extra processing time meant payments were slowing down and eating into cash reserves.
"Ensuring my team gets their paycheck is crucial, but it is equally, if not more, vital for the drivers to receive their payment swiftly." -Natalie Schick, Alliance Logistix.
A lack of efficient payment procedures threatened their hard-earned standing among their carriers.
How Denim Streamlined Freight Paperwork and Improved Cash Flow:
With flexible factoring to manage their high load volume, seamless integration with their TMS, and new tools like carrier QuickPay, Denim’s freight payment platform gave Alliance Logistix everything they needed.
Staff went from spending 8 minutes per invoice down to just 3 minutes, cutting invoice processing time by 62%. This time savings alone allowed Alliance to reassign staff from accounting to dispatch, resulting in a 35% month-over-month increase in load volumes.
Flexible factoring services allowed Alliance to retain clients who were eating into their cash flow with extended 90-day terms. New QuickPay solutions also dramatically cut carrier calls about payments from 5+ per day down to as little as 2 calls per quarter!
These new processes gave Alliance Logistix the tools they needed to grow their business and improve customer and carrier relationships, all without adding additional staff.
Freight software and technology should enable your brokerage to grow, not bog down your operation. That’s why we emphasize seamless integrations between Denim’s world-class tech-forward freight factoring platform and the systems you’re already using.
With results like these, Denim customers have seen gains in efficiency, cut invoice processing time, reduced redundant data entry, cut costs by 18% or more, and helped brokerages like yours scale to new heights without adding additional head count.
Want to learn more about how you can be Denim’s next success story? Click here to speak with our team and get started today.
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Software has become an essential piece of every freight brokerage. In many businesses, software and technology has become integrated into almost every piece of the shipping process: pricing loads for customers, vetting carriers, identifying routes, coordinating with your team, managing documents, accounting, payments, and more.
With a greater and greater dependence on software, more brokers are getting bogged down in tech overload. Sometimes brokers are using software to automate tasks that shouldn’t be, or using it as a patchwork fix for underlying organizational issues. Others may find that they have too many systems and apps, some with overlapping functionality, and aren't sure which are essential and which can be ditched.
In this software deep dive we’ll explore the most essential pieces of freight broker software, what it should be used for (and which pieces of tech can be skipped), how some essential pieces of software can rapidly improve your brokerage’s revenue and profitability, and more. We’ll also review some of our favorite providers for today’s modern SmartBroker, so you know exactly where to go for the latest and greatest in freight tech.
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Say goodbye to wasting precious hours manually entering carrier data! Denim and MyCarrierPortal have come together to make your life easier! This integration helps freight brokers onboard carriers and contractors without hassle, saving time and reducing errors.
For freight brokers who need to add 20 or more new carriers every week, creating new profiles can be time-consuming and prone to errors. This process involves transferring data from one platform to another, which can be slow and tedious. Denim automatically imports and updates carrier profiles from MyCarrierPortal every hour including payment and factor assignment, ensuring the accuracy and timeliness of information.
Key Benefits of the Integration:
By integrating with the freight technology ecosystem, we free up our clients' time and energy so they can focus on growing their business. We are constantly working to improve our platform to meet the changing needs of freight brokers and the logistics industry.
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Does it feel like your team is constantly bouncing between one software or another to get the full picture of your brokerage? Every modern freight broker uses software and technology to enhance their operations, but sometimes it seems like these systems can cause almost as much pain as they solve when you need six different logins just to find out the status of a load.
That’s where freight software integrations come in. Integrating your tech stack so all of your software communicates with each other is no longer an option - it’s a necessity. If you feel like you or your team are getting bogged down in redundant systems that all only give one small piece of the logistics puzzle, it may be time to re-evaluate your brokerage’s software integrations.
In this article we’ll review the importance of integrating all of your brokerage’s software systems into one cohesive ecosystem. Creating these integrations makes it easy to find information at a glance, and gives you and your team the time back that they spend swapping between systems, reduces erroneous or double entries of information, and more.
All integrations aren’t created equal, though. When integrating your systems it’s important to keep in mind your brokerage’s existing workflows and systems, and ensure that these integrations work FOR you, not against you. If an integration isn’t set up correctly, you may find data is entered incorrectly, is stored in the wrong place, or isn’t updated in every system, causing confusion and bogging down your operation. Keep reading to find out exactly what needs to happen to ensure your systems are integrated correctly, efficiently, and in a way that helps your freight brokerage grow.
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Load boards have become an essential resource for freight brokers across the country. They are indispensable tools that help brokers quickly and efficiently locate carriers and connect them with new loads. The top load boards for brokers are full-service tools to find carriers, build new relationships, expand your business, and more.
Since load boards are such an essential piece of every brokerage, we thought brokers might benefit from our top 3 best load boards for freight brokers, and why we’ve chosen these boards over the many options out there.
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River City Logistics' journey from an agency to a successful independent brokerage showcases the importance of strategic partnerships and smart decision-making.
Founded by Chris Brewer, River City Logistics has found its place in a competitive market and has seen impressive growth. This case study examines how River City Logistics overcame challenges by partnering with Denim.
Key benefits from the partnership include:
Like many, Chris Brewer got his start in the freight industry by chance. A friend's recommendation to join the transportation space, was the gateway to his passion for the relationship-driven freight industry.
After working for several years as a dispatcher and then broker, Chris envisioned a logistics company where the focus on customer and employee satisfaction wasn't just a policy but the very core of the organization.
With two years of planning, Chris transitioned from an agency model to establishing River City Logistics as an independent brokerage under a new MC number.
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Maci Bormann's career followed a similar path to Chris's. She began as an entry-level accountant and, thanks to her dedication and skill, was quickly promoted to billing supervisor. Chris recognized her talent and asked her to take charge of billing at River City Logistics.
Today, River City Logistics’ team has grown to nearly 50 employees across its brokerage and asset-based sister company, River City Transportation. The company carved out its niche in eCommerce and mail fulfillment, quickly establishing a robust reputation based on reliability and exceptional service.
Transitioning from an agency model to an independent brokerage presented River City Logistics with two challenges: cash flow and labor-intensive accounts receivables and payables (AP/AR).
Chris's vision for River City Logistics was to grow the business profitably and strategically without external funding. Achieving this meant operating with minimal overhead while ensuring enough cash flow to support growth. The labor needs of AP/AR processes threatened to add unnecessary weight to their lean operation.
The solution was to partner with a factoring company that could provide the operational efficiency and financial flexibility required for this new chapter.
What set Denim apart from the more traditional factoring companies was the partnership offered. Chris strongly aligned with Denim's mission and strategy: "We liked the stage Denim was on and wanted a true partner. We felt that connection and believed they could help us achieve our goals."
Moving 2,000 to 3,000 loads monthly means accounting tasks can quickly become overwhelming.
Usually, brokerages need a large staff to handle repetitive accounting tasks. But thanks to Denim's automation and technology, River City Logistics became more efficient without additional hiring.
Maci explained, "With Denim's technology and their proactive management of manual processes, we've saved on hiring 1-2 full-time employees—a number that will only increase as we grow. The factoring fees go further than just a 'funding expense.' They're an investment covering auditing our paperwork from the start, handling customer collections, and managing payment processes."
River City Logistics also streamlined its workflow by integrating Denim with its Transportation Management System (TMS), Turvo. The integration allows River City Logistics to import job data from Turvo directly to Denim and vice versa.
For Maci, the integration “means we're not just saving time on data entry; we're also ensuring that all our load records are up to date, and maintaining our credit limits becomes much easier."
The new efficient processes have resulted in a significant cost savings for River City Logistics, reducing the company's salary expenses substantially.
Transitioning to a new authority meant River City Logistics had to establish credit from scratch. The age of its MC number led to factoring companies limiting credit.
Denim recognized the potential in River City Logistics and offered its factoring services along with free QuickPay for carriers, which proved pivotal for River City's growth.
River City Logistics had developed strong relationships with its carriers. By providing the option of Denim's QuickPay, carriers were more inclined to work with the company's new authority. Furthermore, many of the carriers' factoring companies were willing to accept QuickPay, which raised RCL’s credit limits thanks to quick days to pay.
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Maci highlighted the added value of Denim's carrier portal, which offers real-time load updates, payment dates, and more. "Our carriers appreciate the transparency and convenience of logging in to see the status of their loads and when they can expect payments. This level of accessibility often eliminates the need for them to contact us directly, significantly reducing our call volume."
This use of Denim's QuickPay services enabled River City Logistics to navigate the initial hurdles of credit establishment, fostering stronger carrier relationships and streamlining communication.
Chris chose Denim because he recognized that a factoring company that partners closely with its clients would best support his ambitious growth plans. "The most important aspect of our partnership with Denim is their willingness to learn and grow with us," said Chris.
Denim was the enthusiastic partner that River City Logistics was looking for, and together, they formed a genuine partnership based on feedback.
Maci had been receiving a high volume of calls from carriers who were not part of Denim's system, asking for payment updates. She gave this feedback to Denim's product team, who quickly came up with a solution to send remittance information to the email on file. This helped to reduce the number of calls Maci received significantly.
"Denim is incredibly responsive to our suggestions on improving workflows and features. Their willingness to incorporate our feedback and show us new developments based on our input makes this partnership feel collaborative," Maci added.
According to Chris, River City Logistics' success is due to the collective effort of everyone involved, including Denim. With technology-driven factoring solutions, Denim is fueling the logistics business with cash flow and operations tools.
Choosing the right partners has been essential for River City's success.
"Bringing a business doing over $50 million in annual revenue and asking for credit overnight wasn't easy. But Denim made it happen, and we're immensely grateful for their trust and support,” said Chris.
Maci reinforces the impact of this partnership on their daily operations, stating, "Denim alleviates the stress of factoring for us. Their support allows us to be more flexible with payments and reduces the burden of managing accounts receivable/accounts payable." Flexibility has been crucial for River City to effectively navigate the complexities of the logistics industry with agility and confidence.
River City's success story shows the importance of selecting partners who understand your business goals and actively help you achieve them.
If you're looking to streamline your financial processes and transform your operations, consider reaching out to our team for a demo.
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Sales representatives should be selling. Not spending hours on administrative work. The lack of synchronization between your TMS (transportation management system) and full technology stack causes unnecessary friction between your billing department and reps. TMS integrations can save your reps hours that they can use to hit the phones.
A TMS is an essential part of every brokerage. Most brokers spend a significant amount of time inside their TMS, but don’t realize it could be providing even more to their business through third-party software integrations.
When a broker’s TMS is integrated with the rest of their tech stack, brokers and their staff can gain new insights, instantly access information across their organization, and improve efficiency significantly.
Below we’ll cover some of the most important TMS integrations, how your TMS can integrate with payments and factoring even if there isn’t an “official” integration, and what to do if your TMS doesn’t integrate with these essential systems.
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The logistics industry faces a growing menace - double brokering.
This deceptive practice involves fraudulent intermediaries, posing as genuine carriers or brokers, who subcontract jobs without the shipper's awareness or approval. The repercussions of this fraud include delayed deliveries, lost revenue, and potential legal complications.
Recent reports indicate a concerning trend: TIA has reported a staggering 200% increase in double brokering cases last year. As noted by Anne Reinke, TIA's President and CEO, in an interview with Vishnu Rajamanickam, an oversaturated market has led to "too many carriers chasing less freight," contributing to double brokering.
The stakes are high.
Double brokering is not just deceitful - it's illegal. The practice can cost your freight brokerage time and money and tarnish your reputation.
This article aims to arm you with crucial information to identify and prevent this industry menace. We'll explore the mechanics and consequences of double brokering, equipping you with the knowledge to safeguard your operations and maintain the industry's integrity.
A double broker is a fraudulent intermediary who claims to be able to arrange transportation services but instead subcontracts the job to another carrier or broker without the shipper's knowledge.
There are two common instances:
There are instances of double brokering when a broker, who has already agreed to transport a shipment, gives the job to another broker without the permission or knowledge of the shipper. The result is a long chain of intermediaries, each taking a cut of the profits, ultimately reducing the carrier's earnings and increasing the shipper's costs.
Double brokering can also occur when a broker arranges for a "carrier" to transport a load, but that "carrier" then outsources the task to another carrier for a reduced rate. The first carrier keeps the price difference without informing the initiating broker about the change. As a result, the broker remains unaware of the second carrier's safety record, insurance coverage, and other potential legal issues until problems arise.
In some cases, the carrier that transports the cargo doesn't receive payment from the carrier involved in double brokering. If the shipper who initiated the shipment receives complaints about non-payment, it can result in a complicated dispute involving three or four parties, including the broker.
Spotting and preventing double brokering is an essential skill for all stakeholders at every level of a company. By being watchful and proactive, industry participants can foster an environment of trust and fairness, safeguarding the industry's future and reinforcing its reputation for excellence.
To avoid double brokering, working within your established carrier network is preferable. However, sometimes new clients require carriers out of network with specific equipment. It is crucial to evaluate new carriers thoroughly.
There isn't a single tell-tale sign of a double broker, but certain key factors can help differentiate between potential double brokers and reputable carriers.
Suggested Vetting Criteria:
Though not exhaustive, this list serves as a solid foundation. Freight brokers should consider using tools like Carrier 411, Highway, TIA Watchdog, RMIS and Freight Validate. Each brokerage should develop a specific vetting process for new carriers. We can help eliminate double brokers and foster collaboration with authentic, industrious logistics companies by remaining diligent.
Navigating the logistics industry requires keen attention to potential red flags that might signify the presence of double brokers. Here are some warning signs to watch out for and the appropriate steps to take if you encounter them:
You're talking to a carrier or dispatcher about a load, and the background noise sounds like a call center. For carriers that claim only 1 or 2 trucks in their fleet, it's even more suspicious if it sounds like a call center.
What to do: Do your research. Look for inconsistencies in their authority length, number of power units registered, number of inspections, or reports on Highway, Carrier 411, or TIA Watchdog.
Negotiating rates is a common practice in the logistics industry. If a carrier does not negotiate, particularly when offered a low rate, it's important to be skeptical, even during a freight recession.
What to do: Run the lane in DAT or your preferred load board to see if somebody reposted it.
The driver requested you send the carrier packet to a random Gmail instead of a company email. Be more suspicious when the driver is part of a larger trucking company or fleet.
What to do: Call the carrier's company to verify the driver is associated with them and that the email is correct.
Verifying the driver and carrier before a load is good form. However, if the driver refuses to talk on the phone or a dispatcher refuses to give you driver information, you might have a double broker. Texting and email ONLY are big red flags.
What to do: Call the driver's phone number and see if a voicemail is set up. Many double brokers use free texting apps like TextNow or Google Voice for their drivers' numbers. Calling those will send you straight to voicemail or won't have a voicemail created.
Double brokering presents a significant challenge within the freight and logistics industry. It undermines trust between carriers and brokers and can lead to a host of issues. Double brokers add an unnecessary layer of complication, often leading to inefficiencies and disruptions that harm service providers and clients.
However, it is essential to remember that the burden of combating double brokering does not lie solely with individual businesses. Double brokering is an industry-wide issue that calls for an industry-wide response. We urge all players in the freight and logistics sector to take a stand against double brokering by investing in practical tools and resources, developing strict vetting criteria, and maintaining a culture of transparency and ethical practice. Together, we can make strides in eradicating double brokering and fostering a more trustworthy and efficient logistics industry.
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Brokers from all over the country are beginning to experience shrinking margins. With the uncertainty of the economy, margins have been declining for the last several years, and brokers are struggling.
On top of these recent declines, a recent sentiment analysis by Freight Waves shows broker confidence in near-term profitability approaching all-time lows.
(Image courtesy Freight Waves)
This lack of confidence can be attributed to a myriad of issues in the freight industry, such as overcapacity, carriers passing increased costs along to brokers, declining spot rates, and more.
Below we’ll review four ways brokers can stay lean by cutting costs and improving efficiency, adding new revenue sources, and expanding their business to maximize margins.
It’s impossible to ignore employee inefficiencies when speaking about shrinking margins. Most brokerage employees spend significant time on mundane tasks that distract from more important activities that drive revenue.
This is especially true when personnel who could be finding new business are instead bogged down with automatable tasks such as data entry or document organization.
Action: How to Improve Employee Efficiency
Result: By reducing, automating, and eliminating time-sucking tasks like these, you can ensure your best employees are spending more time focused on sales and client engagement, directly contributing to improving your brokerage’s margins.
Brokers aren’t the only ones experiencing tight margins - carriers are starting to feel the pain too. These increased carrier costs are then passed back to brokers, making the problem even worse.
With these increased costs, brokers should consider adding a new revenue stream through a QuickPay fee - allowing carriers to choose between faster payments and lower fees.
Action: How can brokers counteract shrinking margins caused by increased carrier costs?
Brokers can counteract increased carrier costs by monetizing quickpay. This gives your brokerage a new revenue stream by charging a fee for faster payments.
Carriers who are increasing their prices are given a choice: cut into that margin to receive payment faster, or maintain their margins and stick with an extended payment schedule.
Note: Some factoring companies such as Denim, don’t charge brokers a fee for making QuickPay available to carriers, meaning brokers get to take home 100% of the proceeds for any QuickPay revenue.
Result: Adding a QuickPay fee helps brokers improve their margins by adding a new revenue stream that is 100% profit. Many carriers are used to QuickPay fees, and will often choose to pay a small fee to receive payments in days instead of weeks. This new revenue stream can be essential in combating shrinking margins for brokerages.
Rates are only one piece of the puzzle when it comes to negotiating contracts with your shippers. Negotiating payment terms can be just as lucrative as negotiating rates for your business.
If your shipper’s payment terms are over 30+ days, you have some negotiating to do. Money in the bank better serves your brokerage instead of money held up by a client. Borrowing money against these shippers through invoice factoring is also more costly the longer the payment terms. These payment terms can have a significant impact on your margins and cash flow, and only exacerbate the issues caused by outside influences.
Action: How to negotiate payment terms with customers to improve margins
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