Business has become increasingly data driven, and as cloud computing, artificial intelligence and machine learning continue to develop, the competitive advantage of productive data usage will only grow. In fact, businesses today find themselves awash in data that, if harvested and analyzed, provide key insights into profitability, efficiency and sales growth.
As with most businesses, freight forwarding requires management to gain key insights into performance metrics.
When it comes to business development, critical performance metrics include lead generation, conversion rates, sales volume and profit per client.
Tracking, storing, finding and analyzing these key performance indicators (KPIs) used to be a monumental task requiring an army of employees working overtime. Now that we have software with the sophistication to automate the storing, tracking and analysis of KPIs, discovering the key insights that enhance business development just requires the selection of a top freight forwarder software provider.
Freight forwarder software helps clients gain efficient and robust insight into KPIs that drive business growth, including lead generation, conversion rates, sales volume and profits per client.
Lead Generation
Growing a business requires the consistent generation of new leads. But how are leads generated, and is the company effective at following them? Are the leads high quality, and are advertising efforts effective at creating them?
Freight forwarder software provides automated tracking of leads. As a result, users can pull reports that show the effectiveness of the sales force in closing certain types of leads. This helps management determine which lead generation sources are most fruitful, helping them to direct resources toward the most effective sources.
Sales managers can also use the software to do a deep dive into the sales funnel. For example, the software automatically tracks KPIs that include leads contacted, the number of quotes generated, conversions and the ratio of new clients to returning clients. The software provides metrics in a visual display that can be altered between macro and micro views.
Conversion Rates
The sales funnel shows conversion rates at different points in the sales process. For example, a funnel shows how many potential customers fall out of the sales process at different points. A certain number will drop out after the initial contact, more will fall out after a presentation and some may even sign the contract only to cancel a short time later.
Freight forwarder software automates the tracking of this valuable information. Analysis of these metrics shows where bottlenecks occur during the sales process. For instance, low conversions after quoting often indicate prices are too high. On the other hand, high conversions after the initial contact often indicate the leads are highly correlated with interested prospects. Freight forwarder software provides an automated flow of conversion data that indicates how well the company’s business development initiatives are performing.
Sales volume
Customer behavior tells managers where to focus their efforts. It’s important to understand which services are most popular with customers, as well as the origins and destinations with the most activity. Freight forwarder software tracks these important data points. Managers can generate custom reports that allow them to look at specific aspects of sales volume that provide the most productive insights.
Profit per client
Management decisions on resource allocation can make or break profitability. Understanding profit per client provides key insights into where resources need to be concentrated. Freight forwarder software tracks this important metric, making it simple for management to gauge the drivers of profitability. With these measures, the company can make important decisions, such as offering discounts, changing service models and expanding operations.
Analytics provide vital insights to freight forwarders. In the old days, collecting and analyzing data was a labor-intensive endeavor that few freight forwarders had the manpower to engage in. Freight forwarder software eliminates this limitation.
The software tracks the KPIs that provide the most profitable business insights. Managers can then make cost-effective choices based on the most up-to-date information. In the past, the problem with analytics has often been its reliance on past data that leads to reactive decision making. With freight forwarder software, fresh data is collected each day. Managers can then use this up-to-date data to make more accurate decisions, resulting in enhanced business development and increased profitability.
CSA Software has been offering full-service software solutions for freight forwarders around the globe for over 35 years. Using the latest in Microsoft technologies our cloud-based software products help businesses manage transportation, air freight, ocean freight, warehousing, accounting and more. Run your business at an optimal level and call us today for your Free Software Demo!