Built for Logistics Business Development

The CRM 3PL BD reps hunt shippers and lane partners in.

A business development rep at a 3PL or freight brokerage hunts shipper prospects by lane match, negotiates warehouse-space partnerships that unlock new verticals, responds to shipper RFPs on a 48-hour clock, and keeps the carrier-side relationships warm that make capacity available on tight lanes. The CRM has to hold prospecting cadences, lane-match signal, warehouse-partner records, and carrier capacity flags on one record.

Start free trial See pricing
Why buyers are here

Logistics Business Development: the daily pains.

A freight brokerage BD rep runs a different week than a SaaS SDR or an AE focused on existing shipper accounts. The job is hunting new shippers whose lane needs match the brokerage carrier capacity, negotiating warehouse-space deals that open new verticals (reefer, oversize, cross-dock), responding to inbound shipper RFPs under a 48-hour clock, and building the carrier-side partnerships that let the brokerage commit on tight lanes. Most CRMs sell to an outbound SaaS SDR motion and most TMS platforms sell to the ops desk. The BD rep running the hunt motion for a 3PL is left out of both pitches. The six pains below show up on every logistics BD buyer call we run.

Hunt list not lane-matched

My prospect list has no idea which shippers match our lanes.

The BD rep builds a prospect list in a spreadsheet from a ZoomInfo export, calls through alphabetically, and discovers two months later the brokerage has no capacity to cover a prospect lane needs anyway. Strkr custom objects for Lane and Equipment Type sit on every shipper prospect record, and a lane-match score flags prospects whose historical lane volume aligns with the brokerage carrier capacity so the hunt motion routes to the shippers the brokerage can actually serve.

Warehouse-space partner opacity

I need a reefer warehouse in Dallas and I know nobody.

A BD rep closing a reefer shipper needs a Dallas cross-dock partner by next Monday. The warehouse-partner relationship history lives in a different rep head and the previous emails sit in a departed BD rep inbox. Strkr custom objects for Warehouse Partner and Facility Type render every active warehouse partner with coverage area, equipment type, pricing tier, and relationship history on the account the BD rep already lives on.

RFP response time crushes close rate

A 48-hour RFP clock and I respond at hour 46.

A shipper RFP arrives through a procurement portal with a 48-hour response window. The BD rep catches it at hour 10, routes it through pricing by hour 24, and ships the response at hour 46. Half the time the response gets evaluated with a bias toward the first-moving competitor. Strkr auto-creates the opportunity on inbound RFP email, routes to pricing immediately, and tracks response-time elapsed vs. deadline on the pipeline board so the BD rep sees the clock on every open RFP.

Carrier-side relationships cool off

The carrier I needed for Chicago-LA stopped answering my calls.

A carrier dispatcher that covered the brokerage I-80 reefer lanes for six months quietly stopped answering calls because another broker raised their accessorial pay by 50 dollars. The BD rep finds out at pickup. Strkr custom objects for Carrier Relationship surface the last-communication date, the lane coverage history, the pricing tier, and the capacity-signal trend so the BD rep runs a weekly warm-touch cadence on the top 20 carriers the brokerage cannot afford to lose.

Verticals need different pitches

My pitch for retail shippers does not land with industrial shippers.

A retail shipper cares about on-time delivery, dock scheduling, and seasonal volume spikes. An industrial shipper cares about equipment-type match, oversize permits, and project-cargo coordination. The BD rep uses the same five-slide deck on both and loses deals to specialized competitors. Strkr Docs ships proposal templates per vertical with the deck, the one-pager, and the case-study snippet pre-populated on the opportunity record.

Carrier dispatcher SMS has no record

My carrier texts live in my personal phone.

A BD rep working the carrier side runs 80 percent of the relationship over SMS because dispatchers live on text, not email. The thread history dies with the phone. When the rep leaves, the warm carrier relationships die with the departure. Strkr Messaging ships a native SMS lane that threads to the carrier record so the audit trail stays with the brokerage, not the phone.

How Strkr fits the BD day

The primitives logistics BD reps actually hunt in.

Strkr for freight brokerage BD reps is the same CRM every other role at the 3PL runs, with role-aware views shaped around prospecting, RFP intake, and carrier-side relationships. The primitives line up with what a BD rep repeats on every week: build a lane-matched hunt list, work prospecting cadences across voice-email-SMS, respond to inbound RFPs under a 48-hour clock, negotiate warehouse-space partnerships, and keep the top 20 carrier relationships warm so the brokerage can commit on tight lanes.

Lane-matched hunt list

Prospects filtered by lane match score.

The BD workspace renders the shipper prospect universe with a lane-match score per prospect based on historical lane volume, equipment type, and brokerage carrier capacity. Filter by vertical, lane corridor, prospect size, and warm-signal source to find the 50 prospects where the brokerage can actually commit. Export the hunt list to the dialer or run cadences inside Strkr.

Prospecting cadences

Voice, email, SMS, LinkedIn on one timeline.

Build cadences across voice calls, email, Strkr Messaging SMS, and LinkedIn touches with per-step tasks and timers. The BD rep works the queue top to bottom with the shipper context (last-mile load volume, carrier capacity match, warehouse coverage, past relationship) rendered on the record. Reply, meeting-set, or opt-out moves the prospect to the next stage automatically.

Shipper RFP intake

Inbound RFP creates the opportunity in 30 seconds.

An inbound shipper RFP email with a lane list attached hits the brokerage inbox. The flow parses the sender, pulls the lane set, creates the opportunity on the shipper account, attaches the RFP file, assigns the BD rep by lane and vertical rules, and starts a response-time timer against the configured SLA. The BD rep sees the clock on every open RFP.

Warehouse-partner object

A native custom object for warehouse coverage.

Strkr custom objects give every tenant a native Warehouse Partner object with fields for facility location, equipment coverage (reefer, dry, cross-dock, drayage, flatbed yard), pricing tier, relationship history, and capacity signal. The BD rep closing a reefer shipper opens the Warehouse Partner panel, filters by coverage area, and sees the Dallas reefer options in two seconds.

Carrier relationship object

Carrier-side partnerships tracked on the record.

Strkr custom objects for Carrier Relationship surface last-communication date, lane coverage history, pricing tier, accessorial preferences, and capacity-signal trend on every active carrier. The BD rep runs a weekly warm-touch cadence on the top 20 carriers so the relationship stays current and the brokerage can commit on tight lanes.

Strkr Messaging on both sides

Shipper and carrier SMS threaded to the record.

Carrier dispatchers live on SMS and so do shipper procurement reps at smaller shippers. Strkr Messaging ships a native SMS lane that the BD rep uses from the opportunity or carrier record. Every message threads to the deal timeline and the audit record stays with the brokerage instead of a departed rep personal phone.

Vertical proposal templates

Deck, one-pager, case study per vertical.

Strkr Docs ships proposal templates per vertical (retail, consumer packaged goods, industrial, chemicals, oversize, project cargo) with the deck, one-pager, and case-study snippet pre-populated on the opportunity. The BD rep opens the opportunity, picks the vertical, and ships a tailored proposal in 15 minutes instead of three hours.

Response time tracking

RFP clock visible on the pipeline board.

Every open RFP opportunity carries a response-time elapsed vs. deadline countdown on the pipeline board. The BD rep sorts by time-remaining and works the hour-30 RFPs ahead of the hour-5 RFPs. The team manager runs a dashboard tile on median response time per rep per month and coaches the reps whose response time runs over 30 hours.

What Strkr automates for a BD rep

The repeatable work the CRM should do before the hunt starts.

The best 3PL BD reps automate the administrative work between prospect intake, cadence send, and RFP response and spend their hours on the three accounts where the hunt matters most. Strkr Flows cover the automations every freight brokerage BD rep should run as native triggers with no webhook plumbing. The pattern below shows up in week two of every deployment and compounds into a tighter lane-match hunt motion, faster RFP response times, and warmer carrier-side partnerships.

Lane-match prospect scoring

New prospect enters, lane-match score lands in 10 seconds.

When a new shipper prospect lands in Strkr through an import, a form, or a cadence reply, the flow runs the lane-match score against the brokerage carrier capacity, flags prospects whose historical lane volume aligns with the brokerage lane book, and routes high-match prospects to the BD rep queue ahead of generic hunt list.

Cadence step auto-advance

Reply or meeting-set bumps the prospect forward.

When a shipper prospect replies, books a meeting, or opts out, the flow bumps the prospect to the next cadence stage, pings the BD rep, and surfaces the reply context on the record. The BD rep works the queue without clicking through 40 individual cadence advancements by hand.

RFP response time escalation

Response-time elapsed past threshold routes to manager.

A flow reads every open RFP against the response-time SLA. If an RFP crosses the 24-hour threshold with no outbound response, the flow pings the sales manager and surfaces the RFP on a manager escalation view. The BD rep gets a nudge and the manager sees the trend across the team.

Carrier warm-touch cadence

Weekly reminder to touch the top 20 carriers.

Monday 7 AM email to each BD rep: the top 20 carriers on the book sorted by days-since-last-communication. Reps touch the carriers trending cold before another broker scoops them. Strkr Messaging SMS makes the warm-touch a 30-second send from the carrier record instead of a 5-minute Rolodex excavation.

Warehouse coverage gap flag

New vertical close signals a coverage check.

When a BD rep marks a shipper opportunity as a new-vertical close (reefer entering a reefer-shipper close for a brokerage that is 90 percent dry van), the flow fires a coverage gap check against the Warehouse Partner object and surfaces the warehouse options or the gap on the opportunity. The BD rep solves the warehouse-space problem before the shipper award instead of scrambling at implementation.

Vertical template auto-populate

Vertical pick populates the proposal pack.

When the BD rep tags a shipper opportunity with a vertical (retail, consumer packaged goods, industrial, oversize), the flow auto-populates the proposal template, the one-pager, and the case-study snippet on the opportunity Docs panel. The BD rep ships a tailored proposal in 15 minutes.

Carrier capacity change alert

Carrier capacity signal shifts, BD rep gets a ping.

When a carrier on the brokerage top-20 relationship list shifts capacity signal (loose to tight on a corridor, or tight to unavailable), the flow pings the BD rep responsible for that carrier relationship. The rep calls the dispatcher before the ops side finds out at a pickup failure.

Awarded close hands off to AE

Awarded prospect flips to AE on close.

When a BD-hunted shipper reaches Awarded, the flow flips account ownership from the BD rep to the AE assigned to the vertical, carries the context forward, and spins up a Strkr Projects implementation workspace. The BD rep moves on to the next hunt without a 20-minute handoff email.

Hunt-side surfaces a BD rep lives in

The surfaces the hunter opens every day.

The BD rep workflow lives on four surfaces that no SaaS CRM renders natively: the lane-match hunt list, the carrier relationship board, the warehouse partner picker, and the RFP response clock. Strkr ships each as a saved view the BD rep opens in two clicks every morning. The surfaces below are what the hunter opens Monday morning and what the manager rolls up Friday afternoon.

Lane match hunt list

Shippers whose lane need matches the brokerage capacity.

The lane-match hunt list renders prospects filtered by lane-match score, vertical, prospect size, and warm-signal source. The BD rep works the top 50 prospects where the brokerage can actually commit instead of calling through an alphabetical ZoomInfo export where 70 percent of the list is a lane mismatch.

Carrier relationship board

Top 20 carriers sorted by days-since-communication.

The carrier relationship board renders the top-20 carriers on the brokerage book sorted by days-since-last-communication. Carriers trending cold flag red. The BD rep runs the warm-touch cadence Monday morning and keeps the capacity available on tight lanes.

Warehouse partner picker

Facility coverage filtered by location and equipment.

The warehouse partner picker renders active warehouse partners filtered by facility location, equipment coverage, pricing tier, and relationship warmth. The BD rep closing a reefer shipper opens the picker, filters to Dallas reefer, and sees the three warehouse options the brokerage already has a warm relationship with.

RFP response clock

Open RFPs sorted by time-remaining to deadline.

Every open RFP opportunity on the BD rep board carries a response-time elapsed vs. deadline countdown. Sort by time-remaining to work the hour-30 RFPs ahead of the hour-5 RFPs. The pipeline review opens with the clock on every open RFP instead of the BD rep hunting through 40 records to find the ones at risk.

Vertical proposal pack

Deck, one-pager, case study on the opportunity.

Every vertical in the brokerage (retail, consumer packaged goods, industrial, oversize, project cargo) carries a native proposal pack with the deck, one-pager, and case-study snippet. The BD rep opens the opportunity, confirms the vertical, and ships a tailored proposal in 15 minutes instead of hunting through a shared drive for the right slide deck.

Strkr Messaging board

Shipper and carrier SMS threads in one inbox.

The Strkr Messaging board renders every open SMS thread across shipper prospects and carrier relationships, sorted by last-reply. The BD rep clears the inbox Monday morning and the audit trail stays threaded to each record so the next BD rep can pick up the relationship on day one if the current rep leaves.

Pipeline rollup

Awards, implementations, and hunts side by side.

The BD rep pipeline rollup renders awards (deals the BD rep closed and handed to AEs), implementations (deals currently going live), and hunts (open prospects in cadence) side by side. The rep sees the full business they built instead of three separate views on three different platforms.

Head-to-head

Strkr vs HubSpot plus ZoomInfo plus a Google Sheet hunt list.

A typical 3PL BD stack runs HubSpot or Salesforce for the shipper pipeline, ZoomInfo for prospect data, a Google Sheet for the hunt list and lane-match scoring, a dialer tool for the cadence, MyCarrier or RMIS for carrier compliance, and personal phones for the carrier dispatcher SMS. Strkr collapses most of that into one workspace with one bill, one admin surface, and one record of truth per prospect and carrier relationship.

What matters Strkr HubSpot + ZoomInfo + Sheets + dialer + phone SMS
Tools a logistics BD rep opens daily 1 (Strkr) 5 to 7 (CRM, prospect data, hunt sheet, dialer, warehouse list, personal phone, inbox)
Lane-match prospect scoring Native custom-object fields and score on every prospect VLOOKUP in a Google Sheet, broken by Thursday
Warehouse partner object Native custom object with facility, equipment, pricing tier Shared drive spreadsheet, outdated by last quarter
Carrier relationship tracking Native custom object with days-since-communication, pricing, lane history Personal rep Rolodex, dies on departure
Shipper and carrier SMS Native Strkr Messaging threaded to the record Personal phone, no audit trail, dies on departure
RFP response time tracking Native clock on the pipeline board with manager escalation Rep remembers the deadline, or does not
Vertical proposal templates Native Docs templates per vertical on the opportunity Shared drive hunt for the right deck
Prospecting cadences Native voice, email, SMS, LinkedIn on one queue Outreach seat plus a dialer seat, two logins
Hand-off to AE on award Native stage flow with Strkr Projects implementation workspace Handoff email, no shared timeline
Admin changes to the hunt motion Self-serve for BD and sales manager inside the permission matrix Salesforce admin review queue, 2-week freeze
Monthly cost per BD rep (full stack) One per-seat line, see pricing page Four to six per-seat lines stacked across tools
Account continuity on BD rep departure Full relationship history on carrier and warehouse records Personal phone SMS and shared-drive files lost

See the CRM 3PL BD reps hunt shippers and carrier partners in.

Start a trial with the full logistics BD stack enabled: lane-matched hunt list, Warehouse Partner and Carrier Relationship custom objects, Strkr Messaging on both the shipper and carrier SMS lanes, native RFP response-time tracking, vertical proposal templates, prospecting cadences across voice-email-SMS-LinkedIn, and awarded-shipper handoff into Strkr Projects. One bill, one workspace, one record of truth per prospect and relationship.

See pricing Explore custom objects
Common questions

Logistics Business Development buyer FAQ.

How does lane-match prospect scoring work for a 3PL BD rep?

Every shipper prospect carries custom-object fields for historical lane volume, equipment type, vertical, prospect size, and warm-signal source. The brokerage carrier capacity profile (which lanes the brokerage runs, which equipment types the brokerage covers, which carrier relationships are warm) renders as a tenant-level configuration. A flow runs the lane-match score at prospect intake and whenever the capacity profile changes. The BD rep works a prospect list filtered by lane-match score so 70 percent of the hunt motion routes to shippers the brokerage can actually commit on, instead of calling through an alphabetical ZoomInfo export.

How does Strkr handle warehouse-partner relationships for a 3PL BD rep?

Warehouse Partner ships as a native custom object. The admin configures fields for facility location (city, state, zip, warehouse ID), equipment coverage (reefer, dry, cross-dock, drayage, flatbed yard), pricing tier, relationship history, available capacity signal, insurance posture, and preferred-carrier list. The BD rep closing a reefer shipper opens the Warehouse Partner picker, filters by coverage area and equipment, and sees the three Dallas reefer options the brokerage already has a warm relationship with. The warehouse rate shows on the opportunity margin math so the BD rep knows the all-in cost before the shipper award.

How does Strkr Messaging work for the carrier dispatcher SMS lane?

Carrier dispatchers live on SMS, not email. Strkr Messaging ships a native SMS lane that the BD rep uses directly from the carrier record for warm-touch cadences, capacity checks, rate-con reminders, and relationship maintenance. Every message threads to the carrier record timeline, which means the audit record stays with the brokerage, not the departed BD rep personal phone. Templates speed up the Monday warm-touch sweep across 20 carriers. Opt-out and compliance posture ship by default. Shipper SMS runs on the same lane with the audit threading to the shipper opportunity record.

How does RFP response time tracking work?

An inbound shipper RFP email with a lane list attached auto-creates the opportunity through a flow that parses the sender, pulls the lane set, attaches the RFP file, and starts a response-time timer against the configured SLA (default 24 hours). The pipeline board renders response-time elapsed vs. deadline on every open RFP so the BD rep sorts by time-remaining. A flow fires manager escalation if the response-time crosses the 24-hour threshold. The manager dashboard renders median response time per rep per month so the coaching conversation lands on the rep running over 30 hours instead of a vague "we need to respond faster."

How does Strkr handle the hunt-to-AE handoff on an awarded shipper?

When a BD-hunted shipper reaches Awarded, a flow flips account ownership from the BD rep to the AE assigned to the vertical, carries forward the context (lane set, pricing, warehouse coverage, carrier assignments), and spins up a Strkr Projects workspace for implementation with milestones for EDI setup, tracking integration, invoicing cadence, insurance certificate exchange, and first-load scheduling. The BD rep moves on to the next hunt without a 20-minute handoff email. The AE picks up on day one with every artifact and relationship note the BD rep built intact.

What happens to carrier and warehouse relationships when a BD rep leaves?

Every carrier relationship, warehouse partner history, SMS thread, email thread, and voice-call note lives on the carrier or warehouse record in Strkr, not on the departed BD rep personal phone. The relationship stays with the brokerage. The incoming BD rep opens the Carrier Relationship object, sees the full communication history, pricing tier, lane coverage, and last-contact date, and runs the warm-touch cadence on day one. Full account continuity on BD rep departure is a native outcome of the custom-object plus Strkr Messaging architecture, not a scramble to pull data from six systems.

Also considering

Related combinations.

For Logistics Sales Managers For Logistics Account Executives For Logistics Customer Success For Construction Business Development For Manufacturing Account Executives For Mid-Market SDRs

Try it free. Bring your team next week.

No sales call, no migration consultant, no four-month implementation. Enter your card, get 14 days of the full Pro tier, cancel any time before day 14 with zero charge. Spin up a workspace, import your CSV, and have something useful before lunch.

Start free trial See pricing