Lonely Loadboards: How neglecting spot freight leads to lost revenue
Lonely Load Boards
Winning a new customer’s business is a moment of celebration for any company, especially in the trucking industry where competition is fierce and margins can be tight. It’s a victory not just for the sales team, but for the entire organization. Each new customer represents growth, opportunity, and the chance to make a meaningful impact on the bottom line. However, securing a new customer is just the beginning. The real challenge lies in maintaining and nurturing that relationship to ensure long-term success, and one critical area that often gets overlooked is spot freight.
The Thrill of a New Logo
The freight industry is highly transactional and as such, relationships are the cornerstone of business for successful companies. This is precisely why winning new business can be such a thrilling thing for a freight company. You have the opportunity to prove yourself through service but on the other hand, small errors can quickly erode that trust and the relationship can even dissolve if the mistakes are grave enough. Even large and sophisticated organizations have these same concerns and have to emphasize the importance of service in the early stages of that new relationship. At Convoy, we had a specialized brokerage team for new shippers that would focus on sourcing carriers with the highest on-time scores and longest tenured relationships with Convoy. We called this team ‘Cold Start’ and the core idea was that spending more time and money up front would increase the strength of that relationship and we would win more freight over time. This turned out to be effective actually in building that trust quickly and serves as a good example of the ROI achieved through strong service in trucking. The excitement of a new customer isn’t just about the immediate financial gain—it’s about the potential for long-term partnership and the growth opportunities that come with it.
Spot Freight: The Often Neglected Goldmine
Despite that rush of winning a new customer, many organizations can fall into the trap of neglecting their new customer’s spot freight. Most companies focus is traditionally spent on contract freight. The play usually looks like this: if you’re a brokerage, you will usually set up routing guides with dedicated carriers or if you’re a carrier, you set up recurring routes for your drivers and focus on securing backhauls to create consistency in your operations. These are traditionally the most consistent methods of operating. spot shipments will oftentimes get the backseat treatment, being seen as less predictable or less consistent than contract freight. This is something we saw frequently at Convoy as well. Spot boards given to us by a shipper were handed off by the account teams to the ops team for bidding and, while they did their best, these loads were frequently left to the wayside for the more pressing issues and more predictable freight. People were afraid to bid on the wrong spot freight, and because of it, Convoy missed out on a lot of that relationship building with some shippers. Ignoring or mishandling spot freight however, can lead to missed opportunities, lost revenue, and in the worst cases, a strained or damaged relationship with the customer.
Spot freight not only provides a chance to demonstrate flexibility and responsiveness to a new customer, but it also offers valuable insights into their needs and operational challenges. By effectively managing spot freight, a company can build trust, deepen the relationship, and position itself as a reliable partner capable of handling all of the customer’s freight needs—whether scheduled or ad-hoc.
The Impact of Neglecting Spot Freight
When a new customer’s spot freight is neglected, the consequences can be far-reaching. The immediate impact is often financial—missed opportunities for revenue that could have been captured with a more proactive approach. But the more significant risk is to the relationship itself. If a customer feels that their spot freight is not being given the attention it deserves, they may start to question the overall reliability and commitment of their new partner.
In a worst-case scenario, this neglect can lead to the erosion of trust and eventually the loss of the customer altogether. In contrast, a company that consistently delivers on both contract and spot freight will be seen as a true partner, increasing the likelihood of securing long-term contracts and repeat business.
Nurturing New Customer Relationships for Long-Term Success
All this is meant to illustrate the often under appreciated nature that spot freight plays in a carrier or broker's business. This means recognizing putting in place the processes, technology, and resources needed to manage it effectively.
Investing in technology that provides real-time visibility, easy workflows and good analytics can be a game-changer in managing spot freight. Additionally, fostering a company-wide culture that values every aspect of the customer relationship—whether it’s a large contract or a single spot load—ensures that new customers feel valued and supported from day one.
Winning a new customer is just the beginning of the journey. The real work begins in nurturing that relationship and ensuring that every aspect of the customer’s freight needs is met, including spot freight. By giving spot freight the attention it deserves, trucking companies can unlock new opportunities, strengthen customer relationships, and set the stage for long-term success.