5 simple freight tender tips for 2020

The logistics market is ever evolving and has never been more dynamic than in 2020. Globalization, digitization and political events such as Brexit make that logistics professionals need to be on their toes to ensure ongoing smooth operations and compliance with laws involved. Selecting the right logistics partners to support challenging supply chain operations is for most a daunting task and therefor we want to give you some tips to get you well started in logistics procurement in 2020.

1.    Know whom you invite to a freight tender

Many companies invite providers just to get their quotes and will only later find out if the provider is actually suitable to work with. A proper intro and conversation up-front will do wonders for both parties and ensures mutual interest in the upcoming tender.

2.    Make sure you have the right data for your tender

Often companies start gathering freight data just before a tender and will continue to update tender files with newly found data during the tender phase. This works counterproductive for carriers as they work with wrong files or don’t have a full overview right from the start of the tender. Invest in having data available at any point in time for example by having a Freight Audit provider in place.

3.    Make your data set as efficient and as generic as possible for carriers

Providers deal with hundreds of tenders each year and you want your tender to be easy for them so they can focus on the best quotes for you instead of deciphering the tender language you have used.

4.    Put your best people on a tender

Many times we see that underqualified staff has to manage the tender, which results in frustrated carriers, extra time spent and suboptimal results.

5.    Digitization is the way to go in 2020

Also in logistics procurement, it is time to move away from manually sending out excel files to carriers, answering questions by e-mail and copying and pasting quotes into 1 file. Get a SaaS platform to do the hard work and analytics for you, while keeping control of the tender process with just a couple of clicks.

Good luck with your freight tender endeavors in 2020!