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Dive into Your Data T


he data contained in your LoadMaster system can reveal a million stories about your business. Every strength and weakness is recorded there in some form or fashion. The data is available, but it has to be mined, sorted, and analyzed. You


have to dive into the data, play with it, look at it from this angle and then from that angle. You have to invest some time, but the payback is a more successful business, so get started now. As you proceed, consider using some of the following tried and true methods.


• Know your business strategy—If you don’t know where you’re going, any road is going to take you there. You need to know what your business strategy is. What are you trying to do? Are you worried about rates? Are you suffering from too many service failures? Are you booking the wrong freight? Are you running too many empty miles?


• Use your business goals to direct the search for your key metrics— Many people feel overwhelmed because there are so many KPIs available in the system, but if you know what you’re trying to do with your business and have a clearly defined business strategy, then you can find


the right KPIs within the big mix of data and focus on those to achieve your business goals.


• Start with only a few metrics and observe—Choose a few metrics, track them for at least a week or two, and see what you learn.


• Look beneath the numbers—Our system lets you take a look beneath the numbers. This is crucial. A piece of data by itself is naked. You need to give it some clothing. You need to give it context. Say that you booked 23 loads today. That tells you nothing. You need to know how many you book most days, if this is the busy season, which day of the week it is, if you’re making money on those loads, and more. Looking beneath the numbers lets you see the bigger picture.


• Sort—You can sort the data in a variety of ways by clicking on the column headings. If you sort by freight, you might see that some of the loads haven’t been rated yet, some of them haven’t had accessorials and surcharges entered, or the distance is wrong. You can see which are billed and which aren’t. All of this is easily viewed with one click.


• Configure data and create customized reports—You can limit the variables within a standard report to create a customized report. This helps you tailor the information to suit your business objectives.


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