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The Freight RFP Process is Broken – Let’s Fix It with Maggie Petrovic

Release Date: 09/13/2021

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The Freight RFP Process is Broken – Let’s Fix It with Maggie Petrovic

Maggie Petrovic and Joe Lynch discuss the freight RFP process is broken – let’s fix it. Maggie is the Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at Emerge, a company that is Reinventing Freight Procurement.

About Maggie Petrovic

Maggie Petrovic joined Emerge just over a year ago following 8 years with Coyote Logistics as Director of Enterprise Sales. Maggie brings her passion, dedication, and industry knowledge as Vice President of Strategic Initiatives, now responsible for operationalizing Emerge’s game-changing products, ensuring the company translates its goals and visions into practices that lead to success, not only internally, but in every customer interaction as well. She has a B.A in Business & Communications from the University of Iowa.

About Emerge

Emerge, based in Scottsdale, AZ, is one of the fastest-growing startups in the U.S. and is transforming the $800 billion transportation and logistics industry with its digital freight marketplace platform. Emerge’s award-winning marketplace provides access to direct capacity and live market conditions helping shippers and carriers make the strongest, most beneficial decisions when procuring domestic freight. Launched in 2017, Emerge is backed by Greycroft, New Road Capital, 9Yards Capital, and the founder of GlobalTranz.

Key Takeaways: The Freight RFP Process is Broken – Let’s Fix It

Maggie Petrovic is the Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at Emerge, a company that is Reinventing Freight Procurement.
The freight request for pricing (RFP) process is broken for both shippers and carriers.
Shippers hate the current process because:
- The lack of technology makes the process clunky, cumbersome, and time consuming – so time consuming that most shippers only want to endure the process once per year.
- Results in paper rates – rates that are only good on paper.
- Too much focus on the process and not enough focus on building win-win relationships with carriers.
- Lack of carrier vetting and not enough of the right carriers involved.
Carriers hate the current process because:
- Bid fatigue – too much time wasted on RFPs for shippers that never move freight with your company.
- Shipper motivations are unclear. Are they seriously looking for new carriers or are they just market testing their current carriers?
- Predicting the market and developing solid rates for the next 12 months is pretty much impossible.
- Not enough focus on building relationships with the right shippers.
Emerge has created a technology platform that has streamlined the freight RFP process and delivered the following benefits:
- Freed of the time consuming, clunky process, shippers and carriers can spend more time discussing the freight characteristics and getting to know each other.
- With the process streamlined, shippers are moving to quarterly RFPs, which enables the carriers to deliver more competitive bids – and live with them (no more paper rates).
- In addition to their incumbent carriers, shippers have access to thousands of vetted carriers within the Emerge system.
- Emerge enables shippers to grow their partner network by connecting to thousands of verified carriers and brokers to ensure their loads are always covered.
- Carriers gain access and bid directly on exclusive contract and spot lanes that they would not otherwise have access to. Emerge’s network connects carriers with shippers of all sizes, providing more opportunities for carriers to work in their preferred lanes.