Successful Brokers Put Carriers First

Original article posted at DAT.com

In 2014, Matt Pyatt and Eric Dunigan started Arrive Logistics with a handful of employees in Austin, Texas, managing the transportation for Nutrabolt, a sports nutrition company that was having logistical problems. Less than two years later, Arrive has more than 100 employees and feeds freight to more than 7,500 carriers. They just opened an office in downtown Chicago, where they first learned the business from Paul Loeb, legendary founder of American Backhaulers and Command Transportation.

“保罗坚持认为，没有运营商的关系，你们什么都不是.” Pyatt said in a recent interview.

That might seem like paradoxical ideology for a non-asset based broker. arrival的商业模式被称为Loeb开发的“芝加哥模式”, but Dunigan and Pyatt prefer to call it the “Split Model.” About 60% of Arrive employees work on carrier relations, while the other 40% sells and services shippers. 重点是运营商是第一位的，对这些关系的投资对于arrival的爆炸性增长非常重要.

“欧冠冠军足彩宁愿有足够的运力，努力带来更多的负载，而不是相反. In fact, 欧冠冠军足彩的运营商代表总是比客户代表多，所以随着欧冠冠军足彩的发展，欧冠冠军足彩可以立即向合格的、高质量的运营商服务新业务, rather than go scurrying for capacity when the business appears.” Dunigan said. “A lot of brokers seem to regard carriers as commodities, but our carrier reps live and die by their carrier relationships.”

Arrive的商业模式要求其承运人代表掌握每个承运人舰队的详细信息.g., equipment type, empty lanes, availability, and much, much more. Dunigan肯定地说:“欧冠冠军足彩将与欧冠冠军足彩合作的每一家欧冠冠军足彩都视为长期业务伙伴。.

“欧冠冠军足彩的经营理念很简单:客户会找拥有承运人的经纪人,” he explained. “欧冠冠军足彩与运营商只有一个联络点，这样欧冠冠军足彩就可以亲自了解他们. We take care of them on things like accessorials and detention, even when we aren’t reimbursed,” said Dunigan. “在产能过剩的时候这么做似乎有些奇怪，但市场是周期性的. 这就是为什么欧冠冠军足彩投入时间、金钱和人员来建设一个坚如磐石的航母基地.”

Talent in Austin

皮亚特和杜尼根将公司设在奥斯汀有几个原因:德克萨斯大学有超过51所大学,000 students, and a reputation for academic prowess as well as sports. 德克萨斯大学有很多人才在寻找像Arrive这样的快速发展的公司，这些公司对员工进行投资.

When Pyatt and Dunigan first started Arrive, 它的名单上有一些经验丰富的经纪人，他们愿意加入创业团队. Today, however, Arrive focuses on hiring recent graduates, 在学期结束时，让他们参加两个周期的培训课程. 今年夏天，计划开设四门新课程，每班10到15人. The education process usually takes 9 to 12 months.

公司在招聘和培训方面的投资非常成功, which has not voluntarily lost a single new hire.

第一周或两周的培训向新员工介绍他们必须使用的技术工具, including the DAT Power load board, DAT RateView for current market rates, DAT CarrierWatch to qualify and monitor their carriers, and the DAT Keypoint TMS that ties together operations and accounting in a single-entry system. Keypoint还集成了装载板、费率和承运人资格.

From then on, 新员工会深入学习行业知识，这样他们就能说承运人和托运人客户的语言:行业教育, equipment types, regulations (e.g., hours of service, ELDs, CSA and its successor programs). At some point in the training, 很明显，实习生更适合欧冠冠军足彩关系或客户销售. The trainee then becomes a “mentee,，并指派了一位个人导师，这位导师已被证明在Arrive的商业模式中是成功的, and who teaches new recruits the business and, just as importantly, the culture. Each mentor may have several “mentees,” and as they mature in the business, “mentees” become mentors within their own teams.

arrival的运营商关系团队遵循严格的流程，持续监控运营商的质量，以确保运营商满足公司的服务标准. On the sales side, 技术最初弥补了经验的不足，然后补充了在工作中学到的技能, including lane rates and seasonal trends, supply and demand in the markets being worked, typical pick up and drop times, and the scheduling requirements on different routes.

Technology That Scales

To get talent up to speed quickly, you need technology that moves as fast as you do, and can scale up as you grow.

到达的中枢神经系统是DAT Keypoint运输管理软件. It helps Arrive’s carrier reps keep track of the 7,500-plus carriers the company works with, and it supports the sales reps staying on top of the shipper’s needs. 单式记账法操作和会计系统将业务的双方欧冠足彩怎么买在一起.

“经纪商使用的很多软件都需要使用Great Plains或QuickBooks等其他软件程序,” said Matt Pyatt. “But Keypoint is very good operationally and for accounting. In fact, not too long ago, 一位专门从事运输公司审计的人进来检查了欧冠冠军足彩的账目,’ which meant going through Keypoint reports extensively. When he finished, 他告诉欧冠冠军足彩，Keypoint会计系统的可用性给他留下了非常深刻的印象，欧冠冠军足彩可以在不需要使用多个系统的情况下快速地将报告整合在一起, which is even more remarkable considering we hired a CFO after the audit.”

Eric Dunigan added, “欧冠冠军足彩研究了几乎每一个向经纪人推销的运输管理系统. 我已经经历了许多厂商的演示，以至于在我得到推销之前，我已经准备好拒绝DAT关键点——不是因为我听到的任何东西, but because I was tired of webexes,” Eric Dunigan admitted. “I have to hand it to Keypoint. 我向他们提出的每一个反对意见，他们都用我无法反对的回答予以反驳. And now that we have the software and have put it to the test, I have to tell you that it’s the best off-the-shelf, commercial broker software for running a business like ours.”

Dunigan explained that in a high-velocity brokerage like Arrive, 运营商和客户销售代表会在软件减慢他们的速度时告知他们.

“这可能是一些小事情，比如多点击一两下鼠标——他们不会容忍的.”

“Little things make a huge difference in efficiency,” Pyatt explained. “We were determined to train our people on the industry, not the tools. 而且，Keypoint让新员工很容易进入这个行业，并让他们从一开始就富有成效.”

载货板的一个特点是，当载货能力不足或达不到经纪公司的标准时，他们可以在载货板上找到高质量的承运人. LaneMakers makes it possible for brokers – and carriers, for that matter – to find business partners where they’re needed.

“DAT has been a great lead generator for us,” Pyatt said.

所有DAT代理工具都集成到TMS中，这一点对于Arrive来说至关重要.

“Again, Keypoint的一个优点是，欧冠冠军足彩可以在任何欧冠冠军足彩使用RateView运行的通道上获得市场价格，并通过CarrierWatch获得欧冠冠军足彩需要的信息，以验证和监控欧冠冠军足彩的运营商,” said Pyatt. “It’s fast, it’s easy, it’s effective.”

Arrive正在与Keypoint合作开发有助于报告的功能, both on the carrier and the shipper side.

“欧冠冠军足彩正在建立对公司双方都有效的记分卡，使欧冠冠军足彩更加高效和负责,” Pyatt said. “随着ELDs和负载跟踪的使用增加，欧冠冠军足彩将不断提高标准.”

Raising the bar could be the mantra of this young company. Arrive第一年的销售额为3100万美元，2016年有望达到6500万美元. Revenue projections for 2017 exceed $100M.