4 Data metrics You Need to be a Successful Auto Transport Broker

In the auto transport industry, brokers are a dime a dozen. How can you build a customer base, whilst setting yourself apart from the competition?

Data is King

Auto transport brokerages are chock-full of data that is ready to track and utilize where you need it. Wait times, price quoting, distances, customers – everything can be quantified. Some of the most important data in America comes from the auto transport industry, and more brokers need to know about it.

“Data collection doesn’t have to be scary, and it can help you.

Data collection doesn’t have to be scary, and it can help you. These metrics can make or break your auto transport brokerage business. How, you might ask?

In auto transport brokering, neither the shipper nor the carrier sees you as special until you prove yourself. What is the value proposition that makes you stand out from the other brokers? The answer is in the data; leveraged in the right place, at the right time, to the right person.

These are the four metrics you need to be collecting to set yourself apart from your competitors:

1. Percent of On-Time Pickups and Deliveries

First and foremost, one of the best and easiest metrics to have is the percentage of your on-time pickups and deliveries. As a fairly easy metric to track, this is a perfect place to start in your data journey: additionally, it benefits you personally and is a sellable number to customers.

When quoting a time and a price to a customer and securing the deal, they rely on you to be accurate in your estimation of services. But if you already know that you only have 60% of on-time deliveries, you can start to evaluate why they are not up to your standards. Are your carriers unreliable? Are you underestimating the time it takes? Then try using this data to change your time quoting process and better satisfy your customers. If you do so, customers will come back to you for repeat business and recommend you to other shippers in their industry.

Beyond satisfying current customers, knowing the percentage of on-time pickups and deliveries can allow you to better sell yourself. This is information you can leverage in Google Ads, Facebook ads, cold sales calls, or on your website.

2. Average Time of Delayed Deliveries

Average time of delayed deliveries has more to do with your broker-carrier relationship than your broker-shipper relationship. How long are your deliveries delayed by on average? If your short-haul carriers seem to be late by a few hours, maybe there are logistical issues that need to be addressed. Are they going out of their way to drop off your cars? Is there more traffic than you are accounting for? Are your carriers over-estimating their delivery timeframe?

If your loads are getting delayed by days, perhaps carriers are not making your loads a priority and you need to offer more money or better incentives.

All of this can be the first step to quoting an accurate time frame to your customers, by giving you the knowledge of how much time to give yourself extra as a buffer period.

3. Average Delivery Time

While not necessarily useful for all brokers, average delivery time for cars is a metric that can definitely benefit those who broker niche auto transport routes or routes of similar length.

While average delivery time can be a useful internal metric to improve delivery times, it’s most useful on sales materials for potential customers. Niche brokers (like cross country or short-haul) can use short delivery times as selling points in cold call sales pitches or for online web advertisements.

4. On-Time Carriers and Late Carriers

A broker is only as good as his network of carriers. Learning this metric will help you build up a list of preferred carriers and have a robust network of reliable and available drivers. It can help you determine which carriers should be on your preferred list, which carriers you can offer non-time-sensitive cars to transport, and which carriers you can entrust with POV and deadline-driven loads.

“If no carrier is making your load a priority, it’s likely that your business is more trouble than it’s worth in dollars.”

This can also again help you evaluate your business model and ask some tough questions.

If you have an entire list of carriers that are late constantly – be it for a short haul, long haul, new or used – you need to re-evaluate how much you are paying or how complicated your routes are. If no carrier is making your load a priority, it’s likely that your business is more trouble than it’s worth in dollars.

But this is why collecting and leveraging data is important. Prove to your carriers and your customers that your premium brokerage is worth the price and the effort by leveraging the knowledge of your own business.

Retrieve These Metrics With a TMS Platform

Fortunately, all of these metrics can be easily tracked through the use of auto transportation software. But not all TMS platforms are created equal — if you truly want to level up your business, then you’ll need to use an advanced system that will work in tandem with carrier transportation management systems.

And out of all of the options currently available, Super Dispatch currently offers one of the more advanced, feature-rich platforms of them all with a complete end-to-end vehicle shipping platform.

If this sounds like something that your business would benefit from, then consider trying it out for yourself. You can request a demo today!

Published on August 9, 2019