I’ve been swamped with calls and emails from folks who have responsibility for establishing freight budgets, but one really stood out.
A friend who oversees a significant freight budget (over a hundred million dollars) told me that their results for 2018 haven’t been good. In fact their freight cost increases were in the double-digits, which caught everyone by surprise. I wasn’t shocked, because it’s the same story we’ve heard from lots of shippers. But his next comment really got my attention: “When I reviewed the numbers with my C-Suite, they told me I got a pass for 2018 because of unexpected factors (ELD’s, GDP growth, etc.), but it was clear 2019 better not be a repeat. So help me build a great budget, or I’ll be asking for help in building a great resume!”
The stakes are high heading into 2019. With CEOs expecting better results, you need all the help you can get. Fortunately, we’ve got you covered. Here are resources to help with three main budgeting factors for 2019.
ONE: Understand the transportation marketplace.
We offer several resources to help with this and one of the best of these is our webinar series. The next one is tomorrow, August 30, at 11am CDT and if you haven’t had the chance to register for the webinar there’s still time! Insights for how to build a better budget will be shared by our outstanding panel of transportation executives from The Home Depot, SanMar, Hub Group, YRC Worldwide and FTR. This webinar was created in conjunction with CSCMP and NASSTRAC, and a recording will be provided to anyone that signs up.
Another top resource we offer is our Transportation Storm Center that has interviews with experts throughout the industry and other resources.
TWO: Know what’s going on with the economy, both nationally and internationally.
One resource we provide for this is our interviews with award-winning economist Gary Shilling, and you can listen to the latest one here.
THREE: Find out what changes your company could make to lower costs and improve profitability.
If you need help with this, take advantage of our Rapid Assessment process in which we take a look at all of your logistics operations, identify any areas of improvement, and offer a road map to get you from where you are to where you’d like to be.
We provide all of this because we’re on your team, here to help, and passionate about seeing you be successful.
