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Are you a startup freight forwarder looking for logistics CRM software to efficiently manage and maintain your business relationships with customers? Or are you running a small transportation company and looking for a dedicated CRM to close more deals and grow customer retention? Whichever the case may be, you may require logistics CRM software for freight forwarders. In fact, stats show that 65% of newly established businesses start leveraging CRM systems within their first five years.
Every logistics CRM software is designed & built differently and incorporates a plethora of features. You must identify which CRM offers essential features that are crucial for performing logistics-related operations. In this blog post, we have revealed 9 key features that you should keep in mind while choosing any logistic CRM software to ensure you get the right solution for your business. Let’s dive in:
» Why You Should Have a Logistics CRM with Essential Features?
According to Statista, the global logistics industry market size was around 9.41 trillion USD in 2023, and it was forecasted to surpass 14.08 trillion USD by 2028. Given these figures, it is fair to say that the logistics industry is booming and will continue to evolve along with the businesses under its umbrella.
With that said, you should understand that for any business to evolve, it must improvise with time and implement advanced technologies to fulfill its customer’s growing needs. Here, logistics CRM software comes into play. You can leverage the best CRM for the logistics industry to facilitate your customers. Also, look at some advantages of using CRM in logistics and supply chain management. They are:
- 47% boost in customer satisfaction.
- 8 to 14% faster sales cycles with improved customer data management and accessibility.
- More personalized communications.
- Real-time visibility to proactively address customer issues.
- Optimized sales processes to close deals quickly.
- Seamless collaboration.
- Continuous advancement.
» 9 Key Features to Look for in Logistics CRM Software for Freight Forwarders
Since there are many top-notch freight forwarder CRM solutions available on the market, choosing the right one that can fulfill your specific logistics and transportation business requirements might be challenging. The best way to ensure you get the right CRM is to specify your business needs and search for the CRM tool that offers all the cohesive features that address those needs. The following are 9 must-have features that you should look for in transportation CRM that may cover all your business essentials:
1. Quote and Invoice Management
In the logistics business, while creating a quotation, you have to count many variables, like different routes, landscapes, multiple currencies, and tax calculations. A well-calculated and bifurcated quote shows your credibility and professionalism towards services. The same goes for invoices. Easily readable and professional-looking invoices stand out and help businesses avoid future disputes and misunderstandings. Hence, having quote and invoice management features in CRM for transportation companies is crucial to your logistics business.
2. Customized Automation
There are many logistics and transportation business-oriented routine activities that businesses can automate. These time-consuming and repetitive operations may include day-to-day log data entry and scheduling routes. Ensure the tool you choose offers customized workflow automation features so that you can create automated workflows according to your business needs.
3. Sales and Marketing
Most logistics businesses struggle to streamline their complex and lengthy sales and marketing processes. What they need is a dedicated CRM system for their sales and marketing teams. In fact, respectively, more than 50% and 45% of sales professionals and marketing teams, rely on CRM tools to perform their role-oriented operations like taking follow-ups, capturing leads, sending marketing emails, and more. Hence, it is wise to look for sales and marketing tools in your future logistics CRM solution.
4. Real-time Freight Tracking
Trouble in efficiently tracking and monitoring freight locations and making sure they are on the right track is a common issue that many freight forwarder businesses face. There is a common resolution for this issue, and that is the real-time freight tracking feature. Look for the real-time visibility feature in the CRM. This feature integrates IoT technology with monitoring and tracking systems like GPS to offer real-time visibility over freights.
5. Collaboration
When all the distinct departments of logistics companies work cohesively, they are definitely running towards better customer satisfaction and enhanced business growth. However, in order to work as a whole, they may require a logistics CRM tool with collaboration and communication features. Using these features, team members from different departments can communicate efficiently and share information in real time. This will boost team collaboration and let them work cohesively.
6. Self-service Customer Portal
A self-service customer portal is one of the vital features that you should look for in your future logistics CRM solution. You can create a dedicated customer portal and allow your customers to access this portal and perform various activities on their own. For instance, customers can visit the portal and track their shipments, know the exact delivery date, access and download various documents, and contact customer support agents if needed.
7. Supply Chain Management
Managing your supply chain efficiently can give you fruitful outputs and increased customer satisfaction. Keep a supply chain management feature in mind when choosing a logistics CRM system. Businesses can use this feature to streamline the comprehensive supply chain processes and manage goods from the moment they are manufactured till they are delivered to end users.
8. Reporting and Analytics
Analytical and reporting capabilities are crucial in CRM, regardless of the industry type. Using advanced analytics abilities, businesses can track key metrics, accurately predict sales, and perform various other processes. With the reporting features, transportation companies can efficiently filter data, sort results, and create intuitive reports that help companies make data-driven business decisions. This is one of the core CRM features that you should look for.
Recommended: Upcoming Future of CRM Software
9. Integration Support
This is one of the must-have capabilities that you should check out with your next logistics CRM. Make sure that the CRM solutions you choose support seamless integrations with modern technologies, such as IoT solutions, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), blockchain, Business Intelligence, and cloud computing. This will ensure that the CRM is fully scalable and boost your teams’ productivity.
» In Summary
Efficiently running a logistics and transportation business requires continuous effort. A feature-rich CRM for the logistics industry can assist you in performing intricate business-oriented operations. In this blog, you have introduced with 9 essential features that you can leverage to fulfill your specific logistics business requirements. Keep these paramount features in mind while selecting CRM and you may have the best logistics CRM software that may boost your ROI.
