7. Build strong, long-term relationships with your carrier base. To strengthen your relationships, develop annual commitments, provide forecasting accuracy, and offer volume guarantees and import/export opportunities.
8. Review your carriers. Maintaining good communication pays off. Hold quarterly or semi-annual review meetings with your carriers to discuss performance and market trends.
9. Know the market. Assess current market prices, fuel costs, capacity, and demand. Your company will achieve best pricing by setting reasonable targets. Plenty of data is available to help build your knowledge of how the market is moving.
10. Pay carriers on time according to agreed terms. Fulfilling your carrier commitments influences factors such as pricing and service.