James Brown founded his company on customer service. “On time. All the time,” says Brown. As his business has grown, he’s expanded his definition of customer service far beyond timeliness. “I want to supply information to my customers that helps them run their own businesses better.” That information might be average costs, fuel charges and other data. In addition, the logistics decision makers of the sophisticated Fortune 100 companies in Brown’s customer base were requiring that level of informational detail. Extracting and providing that data could be difficult and time-consuming using Brown’s legacy software system.

James Brown found the solution for accessing customer operations data in TruckMate® enterprise management software. The comprehensive functionality of this software allows Brown to provide very detailed information for every load they carry. The Truckmate system can easily calculate average cost, detention billings, bobtail charges and many more categories, factoring in additional layers of variables, such as 100 different fuel charge options. Truckmate even made it easy to deliver that information to customers. It provides the functionality to import data into a report writer that allows Brown to provide all types of detailed information for their customers in an easy-to-use format.

Since installing Truckmate integrated software in 2002, Brown Trucking’s revenue is up 133%. “Truckmate has been the key to my company’s ability to bring a higher level of focus on the shipper, our customer,” adds Brown, “and that customer service has been key to growth.” He credits his employee’s use of Truckmate for helping building loyalty among current customers and an advantage in attracting new ones. “It’s often the tiebreaker in competitive situations,” suggests Brown. “Our Truckmate-driven level of customer service just isn’t available from other companies our size – and even many larger ones.”

 Future Plans 

Based on the success of Truckmate, Brown has recently added TruckMate’s Driver Hire solution, which automates driver recruitment to increase hiring accuracy, lower costs and minimize turnover. In addition, Brown anticipates adding additional TruckMate modules because the company sees the value of a single strong system. Says Brown Trucking Vice President, Kevin Slaughter, “This TruckMate software allows me to manage the business better and pass the benefits on to my customers, and that advantage is the key to the company’s future growth.” Adds Slaughter, “We solicit very little new business. Our growth is driven by the customer satisfaction and word of mouth that these systems create.”