Why logistics and freight companies look at lead follow-up agent.
Quote requests arrive in a shared inbox as one-line emails: 'price for 6 pallets Rotterdam to Lyon next week?'. Before a planner can quote, someone has to ask for weights, dimensions, loading times and whether the goods are dangerous.
That back-and-forth takes a day, the shipper has asked three other carriers, and the quotes that were sent are rarely followed up. Nobody knows which quotes were lost on price and which were simply forgotten.
What the agent does, step by step.
Website form, email to the quotes inbox, or a freight-platform lead.
Asks for weight, dimensions, stackability, ADR class, dates and addresses.
Structured request in your TMS or CRM, priced by a planner.
The planner's quote sent in your format, logged against the lead.
A polite check after your interval; won or lost reason recorded.
Systems it works with.
Quotes are priced in your TMS or spreadsheet; the agent only prepares and follows up.
Where a human decides.
Rates, liability and dangerous-goods questions belong to people with the right expertise.
How you know it works.
Measure: time from request to complete brief, quotes sent per planner per day, and quote win rate with reasons recorded.
Example with assumed numbers: a carrier gets 25 quote requests a day and 60% need clarifying emails. If the agent completes them before a planner opens them, saving 10 minutes each, that is about 2.5 planner hours a day.
The example uses assumed numbers to show the method. It is not a client result or a promise.
What it costs.
All prices excl. VAT. The fixed quote comes from the AI Blueprint.
When this is not the right build.
If most volume comes from contract customers through EDI or a portal, quote follow-up is a side issue; look at exception reporting instead.
Common questions.
Can it work in German and French as well?
Yes. Shippers often write in their own language; the agent replies in it and briefs the planner in yours.
Can it read freight-exchange offers?
Where the platform sends notifications by email or API, yes. Bidding on freight exchanges stays with your planners.
Want this in your business?
Tell us how you work today. We'll tell you honestly what AI can take off your team's plate, what it costs, and whether we are the right fit.