When Tex Williams returned to the United States after spending over 20 years abroad serving as an army ranger, trucking was not on his mind, let alone trucking software.
What he was familiar with was logistics, having spent years training military forces of developing countries. Williams got his start in trucking through doing what he knew best – looking at how things operated and optimizing it to work better.
His father owned a floor covering business for over 46 years, and was utilizing hotshot services for shipping at the time. By combing through the shipping schedule and shipment costs, Williams decided his father was paying too much for shipping and decided to jump in and help. He purchased a pickup truck and began hauling for this father’s business, consolidating shipments to two days a week for operational efficiency. Through all of the shipment savings, Williams was able to pay off the truck in just three months.
Growing a business with Rose Rocket
Zepto Solutions was born when Williams' business grew organically through bringing his services to nearby distributors. Soon, he was operating a trucking business with more orders than he could keep track of. That's when Williams began his search for software that would help him and his team streamline efficiency while acting as a system of record for his orders.
“I couldn’t keep track of the orders fast enough. I needed something to keep track of orders and to communicate better. I started using ITS Dispatch, but they lacked functionalities and they were not responsive when I tried to give feedback. I knew there had to be something better out there.”
Williams set out to explore other available options and came across Rose Rocket. The Rose Rocket TMS had the key functionalities that helped streamline his operations and the Rose Rocket Shipper Portal was a great addition for Williams’ customers to improve customer experience. What he was genuinely amazed by, was Rose Rocket’s commitment to continuously improving the product, and the helpfulness of the Support team.
“When I came over to Rose Rocket, I was immediately approached by so many different people that are all fantastic and nice and wanted to know what I like and don't like about the software. I have given suggestions that magically become implementations. Just wow!”
"Rose Rocket has been the key to managing my business. The monster on my back was immediately lifted the moment I put Rose Rocket into effect."
Tex Williams, Owner of Zepto Solutions
Winning through fair rates and fast responses
After implementing Rose Rocket, Williams found that the added functionalities gave him the support and flexibility he needed to improve his service performance. For a growing carrier, being able to quickly respond to tenders is important to help keep Zepto Solutions competitive to his shippers. Rose Rocket’s rating engine allows Williams to do it easily and fairly. After setting up his tariffs and rates, he's now able to instantly offer rates for his shippers while ensuring they are fair.
“Rose Rocket has allowed me to be able to provide quality service and to be able to provide it at a good price, instantly."
With shippers set up on Rose Rocket's Shipper Portal, they can create orders and retrieve rates – all at their own convenience. With shippers having more autonomy and visibility into their freight, it reduces the number of inbound calls, which gives time back to Williams and his team to manage service performance better.
"Before Rose Rocket, I would spend 3-4 hours every night not only billing everything for the day but putting in the orders for the next day. With Rose Rocket, I am in and out in 30 minutes, and my orders for the day are done."
Being a cloud-based TMS, Williams can access Rose Rocket from anywhere. For a busy owner, that means he can access Rose Rocket while on the road and between stops, allowing him to be productive at all times. Features like duplicating orders and documenting PODs help him input orders faster, and reconcile easier when it was time to invoice.
In addition, Williams can plan his manifests and dispatch them to his drivers, who are also on the Rose Rocket Driver Mobile App. Drivers are able to see the stops they have for the day, and easily communicate with Williams while on the go. Drivers also electronically sign PODs and upload pictures or documents that automatically get uploaded to the corresponding order, allowing Zepto Solutions to have a system of record for every order.
"When I found Rose Rocket, I just jumped for joy that I have a Customer Portal now, that my customers can use to put in orders themselves and get instant quotes! That is just fantastic."
Improving shipper experience
In addition, The Rose Rocket Shipper Portal has allowed Williams to scale his service without additional headcount. Today, Williams has about 40% of his customers on Rose Rocket’s Shipper Portal, creating and managing their own orders seamlessly.
“My customers love that they get an instant notification that it's been booked. They get a notification when freight has been picked up, and they get an instant notification with it has been dropped off. They love the portal. They just love it.”
