Growing your trucking business isn’t a piece of cake anymore

There’s no shortage of opportunities if trucking is your life’s work. One of the best things about being a truck driver is the diversity of situations in which you can use your resourcefulness and inventiveness. Whether you’re an individual truck driver, a company owner, or part of a larger fleet, you have many technological choices. Regardless of your trucking business size, you can receive help from cutting down on downtime, raising profits, and expanding your company with the aid of technology. And since the trucking industry was estimated to be at $732 billion in 2020, it has only grown since then.

This article will look at some of the most significant technologies now accessible to the trucking sector. The digital solutions we’ve highlighted here are all designed to help you get more done in less time by automating routine but laborious processes. 

Such innovations can help you make the most of your time and resources by automating tasks like load monitoring and rate verification and presenting you with efficient routes and the locations of the cheapest and most efficient gasoline.

What involves in a trucking business

Trucking companies guarantee manufacturers get their supplies on schedule and in perfect condition. Suppliers such as mines, ranches, and other locations supply these building resources to factories to make their final product. 

After the production of a product is complete, vehicles transport it to wholesalers and retailers. Aeroplanes, trains, and ships are also practical options for long-distance shipments. 

Trucking companies are essential to manufacturing because they transport raw materials and finished goods long distances.

Why is there a need to grow your trucking business

We’ll get into how to expand your trucking company once we’ve covered why you would want to go into the industry in the first place. And what’s the most compelling argument for getting into the trucking industry? Possibility, in other words.

Business Insider reports that trucks move 80% of all goods in the United States. This is four times as much freight than is carried by air, pipeline, rail, and water combined. 

And with freight revenues expected to expand by a whopping 75% by 2026, the trucking sector is presently estimated at $726 billion, supplying a big potential for business people trying to enter the trucking business. 

The typical owner-operator in the trucking industry earns $141,000 annually, so it’s not only the company that stands to profit greatly.

Growing your trucking company is, without a doubt, a fantastic option for a small business. But how can one expand their own trucking company? Let’s find out below some of the tools that can make your trucking business flourish today.

7 tools and techniques to elevate your trucking business to the next level

• Create a website for your trucking business 

As a trucking firm, you understand the importance of having your website. A well-designed, well-maintained website is essential in the modern day. A website is an excellent medium for advertising your trucking business and the services it provides. 

Connecting with drivers, customers, and future workers is a terrific way to spread the word about your business. Ensure all information on your business and its offerings is presented clearly and concisely on your website. It’s definitely one of the easiest ways to connect with your customers.

Use professional-quality photographs for advertising your transportation company. Include an application and contact forms to make it easy for clients and drivers to contact you. 

• You can never go wrong with a truck management software 

The use of truck management software is the first useful tool you should consider including in your trucking company. Keeping tabs on your fleet of cars will be essential to your company’s success, consisting of more than one truck.

Reduce the wasteful activities of your truck fleet to the ground. Keep track of all your shipments and trucks with one piece of software. With Fleetio and your preferred ELD supplier, you can keep tabs on everything from lorry drivers to gasoline costs, service records, and more.

This truck management software can also help you manage your truck’s routine maintenance since this is essential to lowering the risk of incidents and problems. 

In addition, it will make it easier to keep track of the costs associated with repairing and supporting your vehicles. Because of the extra data it provides, you’ll have more opportunities to make choices based on the information you obtain from your fleet management program.

• Architect OCR solutions for your trucking transportation and logistics 

There is a tremendous possibility for automation because of the special nature and amount of logistics data. Automation of data collection is made possible by OCR software, which not only cuts the need for human input but also drastically reduces the number of typing mistakes. 

The question now is how this helps your transportation firm. Consider the results of a typical lift. Delivery to the drop-off site is your responsibility, so make plans to send a driver or take the items there yourself. 

At the time of loading and delivery, you and the recipient will sign a bill of lading. Here you can see the evidence that you collected and delivered the goods on time. A bill of lading is a document that confirms the terms of a contract between an importer, brokerage, and trucker. 

Your driver will get it when they pick up the shipment. Evidence proves the items are now in the custody of the trucker. If the motorist is stopped for an inspection or a traffic infringement, the bill of sale details will be useful. All this will allow you to reduce errors in accounts payable in the future.

The date, precise weight and category, price, and contact details for the truck driver and transportation company are all included. The bill of lading holds the information a police officer needs to verify that a truck driver is not carrying more weight than is allowed by law.

• How about an all-in-one driver app

No fleet, no matter how big or little can do without an all-in-one driver app. You or your drivers can get up-to-the-minute information about the location of weighing meters, rest stops, parking, service stations, food shops, truck washers, and many more with an all-in-one driver application. 

The all-in-one program can also keep tabs on and schedule broker loads. You or your drivers can save time and mental energy by using just one application rather than eight or nine days. 

In addition to reducing anxiety and the amount of information your smartphone uses, using just one driving app instead of many can be beneficial. 

Instead of switching back and forth between a dozen applications, drivers can use this one to get all the information they need with a few touches on their phones.

• Find and book loads quickly with digital load matching

You can spend more time and money using load boards to obtain freight for your truck(s) than you expected. Each loading board you use will incur an added monthly membership price. That’s why digital load matching is a trend nowadays.

Another drawback of load boards is that they aren’t updated in real-time, so you can waste time pursuing cargo already claimed by another transport company or driver. 

Not using load boards to find available loads and instead having to contact brokers through phone or email is time-consuming. 

Not losing sight of every moment of wasted time in your everyday operations is money down the drain. Instead, it would help if you thought about using computerized load-matching technology to save the time and effort spent on freight placement (s).

• A trucking CRM tool is a must-have

Regardless of what you do for a living, you could discover that Customer Relationship Management, or CRM is indispensable. It helps you strengthen your customer engagement while improving internal and external communications. 

Your trucking firm can enhance data management and speed up decision-making with the help of a customer relationship management platform. 

You can gain the patrons’ confidence in this way. Your ability to respond to client questions will also improve as a result. Finally, a customer relationship management system allows you to perfect your business per the suggestions of your clientele.

• Use the collision mitigation technology

Reducing the number of accidents that might have been prevented is crucial for fleets to support public safety and keep their profits stable. 

In the case of fleets transporting gasoline and other potentially hazardous goods, an accident can lead to extensive damage and a prohibitively costly clean-up bill. 

More and more sensors are being integrated into modern collision avoidance systems so that they can keep an eye out for collisions of all types and react quickly if necessary. Modern techniques have reduced the number of false positives produced by early items in this category. 

Collision mitigation systems, which can save lives if they function, are increasingly being installed on brand-new trucks (with an opt-out option) and are also compatible with retrofitting into older vehicles.

Waiting isn’t a choice anymore

Irrespective of your company’s business, using technology is among the most common ways to expand. This also applies to the trucking company you’re already running and want to grow. 

This step will help your company expand and stand out from the competition. We hope this list of resources will help your trucking company succeed and attract more clients. Have a great day.

Writer’s Bio

Tayyab is a diction enthusiast and an SEO buff with a CS background. He’s been serving the SAAS & PAAS world for the last five years. Let’s connect on LinkedIn.