CRM for Logistics Companies
In freight and logistics the record that matters is the shipment, and it has a lifecycle no sales pipeline resembles. It has legs, carriers, documents, costs on both sides, and a long list of ways it can go wrong.
Discuss your projectThe shipment is the object, and quoting is the sales process
A generic CRM models an opportunity that is won or lost once. A freight business quotes constantly, wins a fraction, and the won quote becomes an operational record that then needs managing for weeks. The sales process and the delivery process are the same object at different stages, which is why bolting a CRM onto an operations system tends to produce two systems that disagree.
Rate quoting is also a genuine data problem rather than a form. A quote depends on lane, mode, weight and dimensions, equipment type, fuel surcharge, accessorials, customs where applicable, and your contracted buy rates from carriers — several of which move. A quote produced in a note field cannot be reused, compared, or checked for margin, which means nobody can tell afterwards which lanes you actually make money on.
So we model rates and quotes as structured data with your markup rules applied, so a quote is reproducible, its margin is visible at the moment of quoting, and win and loss rates by lane and customer become answerable questions.
What we build
Shipments with legs
A movement is rarely one hop. Each leg has its own carrier, equipment, dates and status, and the shipment's state is derived from them rather than typed in.
Rate and quote management
Buy rates by lane and carrier, your markup rules, accessorials and surcharges — producing a quote whose margin is visible before it is sent.
Carrier management
Capacity, insurance and authority expiry dates, performance history, and the compliance documents you must hold. Expiries alerted before they lapse rather than discovered at audit.
Exception handling
The core of operational value. Delays, damage, refusals, customs holds, failed deliveries — raised, assigned, resolved and reportable, rather than handled in a phone call nobody records.
Documents against the shipment
Bills of lading, proof of delivery, customs paperwork, packing lists — attached to the record so a customer query does not require searching an inbox.
Customer visibility
A portal where customers see their own shipments and documents, which removes a large share of inbound status calls.
Margin by shipment
Sell price against actual carrier cost including accessorials, so you know which lanes and customers are genuinely profitable.
Integrations
- Carrier APIs for tracking where available, with EDI or scheduled file exchange where it is not — much of this sector still runs on files, and we quote that honestly.
- Telematics for your own fleet, so a status comes from the vehicle rather than from a phone call.
- Accounting for invoicing and carrier settlement, with the chart-of-accounts mapping agreed with your bookkeeper first.
- Customs and compliance systems where you clear your own freight.
- Warehouse or inventory systems where you also hold stock.
- Email, so the order and update emails customers send become shipment records — covered on our email extraction page, and in this sector usually worth doing.
Common questions
Related in CRM Development
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Describe the problem and we will come back with scope, timeline, and a rate. No obligation to proceed.
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