Turn your operating history and SONAR market rates into a specific sales case: reliable deliveries, competitive quotes, and less exposure to delay costs.
Where this helps
A broker is approaching a refrigerated-food shipper on Bethlehem–Stockton. “We move thousands of loads” gives the prospect little reason to switch. The stronger conversation connects recurring carrier relationships, reliable appointments, and fast coverage to what the shipper needs on this specific lane.
Illustrative scenario: the figures below demonstrate the workflow and are not verified customer results.
What Rectangle connects
Rectangle brings connected TMS records into your assistant: completed loads, historical customer quotes where retained, recorded carrier costs, appointment windows, actual arrivals and departures, and available tender events. Match the lane and equipment, define each clock, and keep missing events, cancellations, and expiries separate. Availability depends on the connected system and its retained history.
Rectangle MCP + SONAR (FreightWaves) MCP work together in the same assistant. Rectangle brings your operating and quote history; SONAR adds current and historical spot and contract rate context. Use current rates to inform a new proposal and dated benchmarks to evaluate past quotes, within your SONAR access.
Find the lane advantage Illustrative example · Bethlehem → Stockton · 53-foot reefer · last 90 days
- 120 completed loads across six carriers; one repeat carrier handled 78.
- Recorded carrier costs: median $4,500 across 110 priced loads; ten incomplete cost records excluded.
- Match equipment, stops, appointment requirements, and lead-time bands before comparing.
This gives sales a lane-specific carrier and cost history to build a proposal around. It does not establish today’s available capacity.
A closer look
Make the benefit specific. On-time delivery helps a shipper plan receiving. Shorter tender response and earlier carrier coverage leave more time to recover. Tender rejection and expiry rates expose where an alternative may be needed. Compare like-for-like loads and show the sample behind every number.
Measure the service promise Illustrative service and tender scorecard
- On-time delivery: 96/100 measured deliveries within the agreed window; 20 lack arrival evidence.
- Delays: four late arrivals, averaging 2.5 hours beyond the window.
- Tender acceptance time: median 14 minutes from shipper tender receipt to broker acceptance, across 120 acceptances.
- Tender lead time: median 48 hours from tender receipt to scheduled pickup.
- Time to cover: median 52 minutes from broker acceptance to first confirmed carrier; 90% within 2h 40m, across 120 covered loads.
- Coverage lead time: median 42 hours from final carrier confirmation to pickup.
- Shipper tender outcomes: 120 accepted, six rejected, four expired out of 130 tenders. Rejections: 4.6%; expiries shown separately.
- Carrier tender outcomes: 24 rejected out of 150 offers (16%); six expired, 120 accepted.
Faster decisions give shippers time to plan. Earlier coverage gives them time to recover when capacity changes.
Show how close your past quotes were to the market. Rectangle supplies the quote history; SONAR supplies the market reference. Compare each quote with the rate available at that time, then pair pricing consistency with the service record. This supports a pricing conversation before the prospect shares their freight spend.
Benchmark past quotes with SONAR Illustrative quote-to-market scorecard · last 90 days
- Comparable set: 100 of 125 historical customer contract quotes matched to a SONAR contract benchmark; 25 excluded for missing rate details or a suitable benchmark. Include won and lost quotes, using one final quote per opportunity.
- Median premium to market: +2.4%.
- Median absolute distance from market: 3.1%.
- Within ±5% of market: 84 of 100 matched quotes (84%).
For each quote: (quoted rate − benchmark) ÷ benchmark × 100. Match lane, equipment, contract period, mileage, and fuel/accessorial treatment. Use the benchmark available on the quote date, retain its timestamp and confidence, and report exclusions.
Customer contract quotes are compared with SONAR contract rates. TRAC spot rates reflect broker buy-to-carrier costs: use those to benchmark procurement, with any customer markup shown separately. A quote-to-TRAC gap is not proof of an above-market customer price.
These example figures show the calculation; they are not a live SONAR result or a claim about the prospect’s current spend.
A broker can discuss delay exposure before seeing the prospect’s freight budget. Start with documented dwell, missed appointments, and comparable accessorial charges. Apply stated unit-cost assumptions and distinguish an observed charge from a modeled opportunity. Inventory shortages and production downtime need additional shipper inputs.
Estimate delay exposure Illustrative delay-cost exposure · no shipper freight spend required
Eight documented dwell events total 18 billable hours after contractual free time. At an assumed $75–$125 per hour, that is $1,350–$2,250 of potential detention exposure for the sample.
If a dock or appointment change removed eight of those billable hours, modeled exposure would fall by $600–$1,000.
The hourly range is an explicit example assumption, not a market benchmark. Late arrival hours are not detention hours. Confirm the tariff, who pays, and overlapping charges before turning exposure into a savings claim.
From answer to action
Prepare a short sales brief with the lane fit, service evidence, historical quote-to-market benchmark, cost assumptions, and records behind each claim. Operations confirms the capacity and pricing proposal. Sales gets a concrete reason for the shipper to engage, plus a pilot that can measure whether the expected improvements materialize.
Prepare the shipper pitch Illustrative shipper pitch
“We already have recurring refrigerated freight on your Bethlehem–Stockton lane. In our comparable 90-day sample, 96 of 100 measured deliveries met their appointment window, and we covered accepted loads in a median 52 minutes. Of 100 comparable contract quotes, 84 were within 5% of the matched SONAR contract benchmark available at the time. We can build a weekly capacity proposal around that record and show where appointment and dwell improvements could reduce accessorial exposure.”
- Attach the sample period, metric definitions, dated SONAR references, and supporting quote and load records.
- Validate current carrier capacity and the proposed rate with operations.
- Review the prospect’s shipping days and dock rules; no incumbent freight bill is needed to start.
Sales brief prepared for review.
Give prospects a reason to choose your team that is grounded in how their freight will be handled.
