What does a day as a member of the Spot team look like? While no day is the same, our Account Management team has their own process of tackling their tasks to get your freight from Point A to Point B safely and on-time. In this blog, we’re pulling back the curtain and giving you a look at what a typical day as an Account Manager at Spot looks like.
We spoke to three members of our Account Management team, (left to right) John, Emily, and Tate, to give you an inside glimpse into their day-to-day processes.
Morning
John: The first thing we do in the morning is take care of same day shipments and any freight from the night before. We also check in with our carriers running our freight for that day and make sure they’re all set and still good to carry. Once that all settles down a bit, we take a look a look at the rest of the day as a whole, and run down the checklist of things we need to take care of.
Emily: As a team we all have different tasks. One member will do a bulk of the scheduling for the day and catch up on matters that may have come up overnight, another will perform check calls with carriers to ensure they’re in a good spot for deliveries. When I first get into the office, I start booking freight and sourcing carriers for new loads right away. Once that is taken care of, we all make sure our current loads are tracking either through Project44 or our own software, RED.
Tate: My main tasks in the morning are to contact my customers and make sure all of their freight for that day is good to go and all of my day’s loads are covered and operating on-time.
Mid-Day
John: Most of my team’s shipments are on the West Coast, so it’s around midday that we fix any issues that may arise and send updates to our shippers on their loads. This is also when we check in with our customers to talk to them about their shipping needs and update our processes accordingly. That first hour after lunch is my favorite part of the day because that is when we really knock things off of our to-do list.
Emily: Mid-day is when we normally start to wrap up the day’s booking and transition to prospecting right before lunchtime. That’s also when we get started on cleaning up pipelines and checking in with our customers. We’ll then work with the marketing and finance teams to strategize on how to best approach our pipeline from both an account penetration and prospecting perspective.
Tate: My morning and mid-day kind of blend together. I’ll continue to check in on freight and book loads throughout the first half of the day. When I transition to later in the morning/early afternoon, I like to call my customers and just check in with them. Building relationships is a big part of this job, and I love creating genuine bonds with my customers.
Afternoon
John: The afternoon for us is mostly night load and next day preparation. We check in with carriers that are picking up shipments later in the afternoon and the evening to make sure they are all set. We’ll touch base with our customers to see what is on deck for them and ensure all their pressing shipments are sorted out. We end the day by taking a final look at our checklist and making sure everything is done and accounted for.
Emily: We refer to the early afternoon as the “witching hour”. It’s the time when most of our freight is being loaded and unloaded, so that’s when we make time to get in touch with our carriers and try to get in front of any issues or delays that may start to arise. Once that gets taken care of, I look into booking more loads for the next day and later in the week to get ahead as much as possible.
Tate: The afternoon is when I check in on all of my loads that will be going out in the late afternoon/early evening. After that, I’ll get in contact with our logistics team and give them all the information they need for those loads so we can be proactive and not be surprised by anything. Once that gets taken care of, then I’ll get everything sorted out for the next day.
All in all, while there is never a “normal” day in the logistics industry, each member of our team has their own routine to ensure that they are set up for success throughout their day and can ultimately provide their customers with a smarter way to ship.