SUMMARY: 

Kevin Coomes, CRO at Chain, joins Will Jenkins to talk about where the freight market is headed and how brokers should be thinking about automation as capacity tightens. Kevin breaks down how Chain is helping brokerages reduce manual work across tracking, exception management, and booking. He also shares what the company has learned from working across more than 3 million loads. Will and Kevin get into what freight tech companies need to prove in a down market, how the sales message changes when volume returns, and why brokers should be getting more from the people, carriers, and systems they already have. This episode is for freight leaders thinking about where to spend, where to automate, and how to grow without adding headcount too quickly. 

TAKEAWAYS: 

CHAPTERS: 

00:00 Meet Kevin Coomes, CRO at Chain 

01:33 Kevin’s path into freight technology 

05:33 Working in China and speaking Mandarin 

06:22 What is changing in the freight market 

09:16 Selling through different market cycles 

13:17 How Chain got started 

16:31 Automating freight tracking at scale 

18:50 Moving from tracking into booking 

20:40 Why freight experience matters in product development 

22:01 Proving ROI in a down market 

26:34 Helping brokers grow without adding headcount 

32:28 Carrier data and what comes next 37:40 Closing thoughts 

START YOUR JOURNEY: 

http://www.journeydelivers.com

 KEYWORDS: freight tech, freight automation, freight brokerage, freight market, Chain, Kevin Coomes, freight tracking, freight booking, carrier management, freight sales, logistics technology, capacity planning, freight operations, carrier networks, brokerage automation, freight market cycles, product-market fit, logistics software, transportation technology 

RESOURCES: 

Chain: https://trychain.com/

 Kevin Coomes on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-c-46a8a129/

EPISODE CREDITS:

Host, Will Jenkins

Creative Director, Erin Sweeney

Edited and mixed by Keenan McCarthy

Music licensed through Envato

LINKS:

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ABOUT THE JOURNEY PODCAST: 

Welcome to The Journey Podcast, where we talk freight, sales, tech, the market and everything in between. Hosted by Will Jenkins, CEO and Founder of Journey, this show pulls from years of building & scaling freight brokerages along with the work our team does with hundreds of clients. We break down how brokers grow, how teams sell, how leaders hire, and what it takes to perform at a high-level in this industry.