Back in January in our blog, The Surprising Way Oil Prices Affected ZMac’s Transportation Logistics Business; we painted a pretty dreary picture of how the near-grinding halt of oil production caused a glut of flatbeds in the market competing for the lowest level of available loads we had ever seen. ZMac’s average revenue per load dropped over 30%. Our oversized and over-dimensional transportation logistics business continued to work hard, but the reality was impossible to ignore. We doubled the number of shipments we transported, but only increased our revenue by 20%. We needed to work differently.

As an oversized freight logistics company, we made three big changes.

When you spend your days as an over-dimensional freight intermediary, it’s all about anticipating opportunities in the domestic and global market. We did our research and identified several key industries to explore. By reaching out to new industry segments, we were able to diversify our capabilities and do what we do best – create unique service solutions and attract and retain happy customers.

Once we started diversifying our customer base, we needed more hands on deck. 16 hands to be exact. We were on the hunt for 8 curious, smart, and solution-driven sales people who not only wanted to learn the intricacies of our industry, but were committed to being accountable and always doing what’s right for our customers. Once we hand-picked our 8, we invested in them with 4 weeks of intensive classroom training followed up by 8 weeks of on-the-job mentoring. Our investment paid off. By the second half of the year, we began to see the fruits of our labor.

(BTW, our continued record-breaking growth means we’re looking for 8 more smart and curious people to join our ZMac Class of 2017 Elite Sales Team. Find out more here.)

Every aspect of the transportation logistics industry is literally always on the move. Oversized, over dimensional and overweight freight quotes are constantly changing. Add to that, changing requirements in state permits, regulations regarding surveys and escorts. There’s no doubt that for our customers, obtaining a reliable freight quote from a transportation logistics company can be a time-consuming (think many hours and even days), labor-intensive (think multiple people, multiple phone calls) challenge. So ZMac solved that problem, introducing a rate-finding tool, unlike anything the industry had ever seen.

We developed ZRATE, our high-tech, user-friendly tool that delivers instant over-dimensional and oversized freight quotes. When we say instant, we mean instant (think seconds, not minutes, hours or days). Our patented tool is guaranteed accurate; using real-time data to constantly adjust pricing based on the truck/freight ratio of lanes. ZRATE’s quotes also include all State permits, surveys, and escorts. It’s one-stop rate shopping. Our customers were over the moon with ZRATE’s speed, accuracy, and unmatched customer service. New customers flocked to ZMac, seeking to improve their efficiency by using ZRATE. The success of ZRATE was instant as well.

These 3 big changes propelled ZMac to new heights. 2017 promises to be our best year yet.