RESULTS AT A GLANCE

CRST Logistics quotes thousands of lanes per hour with LoadDex.

BUSINESS CHALLENGE

The logistics and transportation industry in North America is highly competitive. Because of this, shippers have the luxury of choosing from several transportation providers—often using an RFP process to drive down costs and zero in on those best suited to meet their needs. Many shippers are looking for the best rates; but other factors like range of services, geographical coverage, fleet size, technology, etc. are also important. To gain shippers’ business, logistics providers must be able to respond to RFPs quickly and strategically.  They need to analyze multiple data sources, propose the right rates, and demonstrate the value they can add on a tight timeline.  

From September through March, CRST Logistics receives hundreds of RFPs from manufacturers and distributors interested in their services. These RFPs are passed to CRST’s pricing analysts, who are tasked with generating upwards of 4,000 quotes per week. Without a centralized pricing platform, this process is often cumbersome and time-consuming. It involves a lot of spreadsheet formatting, manual data collection, and analysis.  

Prior to using LoadDex, CRST would enter lane data from each RFP into three separate pricing tools to get all of the information they needed to make informed decisions on rates. While effective, the process was slow and repetitive. They had to enter each lane, one-by-one, multiple times. During busy weeks, there wasn’t much time for their three pricing analysts to focus on anything else, as data collection alone could take up to four full days of work. With speed and accuracy of utmost importance, CRST needed a faster way to get through the data.

SOLUTION

CRST began using LoadDex’s Bulk Rating tool to speed up their bidding process. Rather than manually entering every lane separately into disparate systems, they could now use LoadDex to run multiple searches at once and gain actionable insights faster. LoadDex search results could provide rate data for all lanes and all modes in one place, along with a breakdown of CRST’s various rate sources. Having all data in a centralized platform made the process much more streamlined and intuitive.

With the ability to see multiple scenarios at once—rather than having to look at four separate systems—CRST was able to work faster and get a better grasp on the data, which in turn allowed them to provide their customers with more transparency and context around the numbers returned. This also enabled them to maintain a lean pricing operation during their busy season; they could get the same amount of work done without having to add more analysts to the team.

Seeing how easy it was to provide pricing on multiple lanes at once, CRST began using LoadDex Bulk Rating in other scenarios outside of RFPs. For example, they now had a tool that allowed them to quickly show customers potential savings on the fly—something that would normally take multiple days of analysis.

TANGIBLE RESULTS

LoadDex Bulk Rating has enabled CRST to supercharge their bid process and gain a true competitive edge. What used to take their pricing analysts 3-4 days per week, now takes 1-2 hours—a 95% reduction in time spent generating quotes for bids and a total savings of at least $9,000 per month. With all that extra time, analysts can now focus less on data collection and more on higher level analysis.  

To win business through RFPs, transportation providers must have a full understanding of unique requirements and expectations of shippers. With LoadDex Bulk Rating in place, CRST now spends less time looking at spreadsheets, and more time making data-driven decisions on lanes that will yield profits. Today, CRST uses LoadDex for all price-based RFPs and enjoys a 74% customer conversion rate.  

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