Where to start: stand out from the crowd

Growing your customer base is not just about reaching more companies, but about focusing your efforts on a specific niche of the right customers. A targeted approach, strong industry connections, and a robust online presence help carriers attract long-term customers.

The fact is that logistics is not just about shipping cargo from point A to point B. For shippers, fair pricing policies, clear communication, strict adherence to standards, punctuality and safety of delivery, and the ability to track cargo in real time are important. 

Shippers are not just looking for a vehicle — they are looking for a partner. And a carrier who wants more orders has to show why they can be trusted with cargo:

1. Choose a niche and become an expert in it. Work with specialized cargo or specific industries — transport dangerous or temperature-controlled cargo, oversized shipments. This approach will help you offer customized services that differ from those of regular freight providers.

2. Ensure quality — timely and safe delivery, complete documentation — not a bonus, but a basic requirement. Provide a wide range of services — real-time tracking, electronic waybills, etc.

3. Study customer pain points and offer solutions that really work. Use data to understand customer preferences and tailor interactions to create a more personalized experience. 

4. Abandon aggressive marketing. Build trust, because logistics involves significant investments and complex B2B dynamics, so trust is a prerequisite for attracting customers. Shippers choose reliability and proven experience over aggressive advertising and flashy marketing. It is important not only to make promises, but also to fulfill your obligations. 

5. Be open to interaction — provide quick responses, maintain transparent communication, and provide timely information about the status of the cargo. Solve problems professionally, as they will inevitably arise, but solving them quickly and informing customers will help strengthen relationships.

6. Be flexible when possible, as last-minute changes and urgent shipments are common in logistics. 

Companies want to work with the best, and if you have access to the most advanced optimization tools, it opens new doors. Thanks to CONSOLID.AI, all logistics are gathered in one working environment, and therefore your brand becomes synonymous with reliability and technological advancement. This has a positive impact on your reputation and greatly simplifies the process of concluding deals.

How to keep customers

Real growth in the logistics business is only possible through customer retention. One-time orders help with cash flow, but long-term contracts create stability, reduce downtime, and allow for better financial planning.

Acquiring a customer is half the battle. Retaining them is much more difficult. Attracting a new customer is many times more expensive than retaining an existing one. To do this, you need to build a long-term partnership with them. Shippers want reliability, clear communication, and a supplier who can meet their growing needs. What advice can be given?

Maintain a high level of service. Customers value safety and punctuality, quick response to requests, and the ability to find solutions even in difficult situations. Thanks to the digital transformation of logistics processes, you can eliminate errors, ensure speed and accuracy in task execution, and thus increase operational efficiency. 

Work with modern tools. Innovative technologies combined into a single system make a logistics company more reliable and advanced in the eyes of customers. 

1. Tenders. Participation in tenders allows shippers to get the best offers and find new carriers. For a logistics company, this is an indicator of openness. 

2. Cargo tracking. The ability to track routes in real time is an important factor for customers, especially when it comes to valuable, perishable, or special cargo.

3. Analytics. Data on routes, timeliness, and delivery efficiency will allow you to evaluate the effectiveness of transportation and improve your work if necessary.

When you implement innovative solutions, customers see you not just as a carrier, but as a thought leader. They trust you because you not only transport cargo, but also help them optimize their logistics. That is why most shippers consciously choose carriers that use the latest technologies. 

Use feedback. Listen carefully to your customers to quickly identify problems, seek new ideas, and understand where you are not meeting their expectations. Collect customer feedback and conduct surveys to understand areas for improvement and demonstrate your customer focus. Reward loyal customers with exclusive benefits to foster a sense of gratitude. 

Offer reasonable prices. We are not talking about dumping market offers, but about pleasant conditions for those with whom you plan to travel for a long time. Logistics operators should regularly analyze market prices to adjust their service rates.

Therefore, the key advantage of a carrier is not only low prices, but also the level of service and an impeccable reputation, which becomes its calling card. 

What will help expand your customer base

When a logistics company seeks to scale up, it looks for ways to generate leads. To expand their customer base, carriers need to offer competitive prices, excellent customer service, and innovative products or services that meet specific customer needs. 

In addition, CONSOLID.AI's built-in tools can help carriers. By connecting carriers with shippers, the digital logistics ecosystem has a large customer base. Accordingly, an internal rating of carriers is formed based on route statistics: adherence to deadlines, volume of transportation, and accuracy in documents. And that's what gives us an advantage: we see who works well and recommend them to shippers. This is how a long-term partnership is built, in which everyone wins.

Does it work in practice? Of course. A real example: one of our large customers decided to hold a tender not among its usual carriers, but only among those registered with CONSOLID.AI. The reason is simple: they needed new partners with a proven track record, analytics, and transparent service. In this way, they wanted to expand their own database of logistics companies. 

Transparent analytics and open ratings make the choice easy — when the client sees not only the specified cost, but also the confirmed timeliness, level of service, and the entire history of interaction. The system allows us to see this immediately and recommend carriers to our shippers. 

What is the result? Two new carriers have joined our client's team and have already made more than one trip for him. 

It should not be forgotten that logistics is not about one-time services. Reliable carriers build trust, and trust is the foundation of stable income. We have built a special logic of interaction between the shipper and the carrier into the CONSOLID.AI digital logistics ecosystem. It not only helps to sell free space in vehicles, but also allows you to build long-term business relationships and find new customers or partners. After all, when the work is transparent, it is easier for all participants in the process to build long-term cooperation: shippers gain confidence, and carriers gain access to new customers.