At the core of Tallgrass’s people-centric mentality lies an undeniable truth: we’ve always worked hard to build and maintain a culture that values support, camaraderie, and, most of all, our people. This commitment extends to the technology that powers our independent freight agents’ success. Join us as we celebrate our custom-built CRM system, which celebrates its fourth anniversary this month.

 

365 Days of CRM Growth

When we unveiled our homegrown CRM four years ago, we promised to continuously evolve and enhance it based on real feedback from our freight brokers. Looking back at the past 12 months alone, we’ve delivered over and above on that promise! 

“We did quite a bit in 2024,” says John Ruf, VP of Information Technology at Tallgrass. “My team and I are here to add value and add the features that are needed for the company to grow. We are always listening with our ears to the ground. What do you need? What do you like? Our main focus has been — and will continue to be! — implementing changes to make our agents’ lives easier.”

Explore some of the noteworthy improvements we’ve made over the past 12 months.

• Franchise Mode: We completely revamped our API and security system to give larger freight agencies greater flexibility. Not only can agents have multiple owners in their agency, but each team member can have a custom view, from shipments to reports and everything in between. This functionality gives agency owners more control while improving usability and team efficiency.
• LTL Rating Engine: This quoting engine allows agents to quote LTL freight and book it within the CRM through GTZ.
• Notification Engine: One of our favorite “What If?” contributions! We built a helpful heads-up system that emails an agent when something important happens. For example, if a customer’s credit runs out, it won’t be a surprise and agents will know immediately about critical changes. Our agents tell us they love staying in the loop without constant system check-ins.
• Customer Portal: Stay tuned — this one will be a game-changer! Now in demo mode, the easy-to-access portal will allow customers to view key pieces of information, including a new online payment system.

 

Our Homegrown CRM Advantage

While other freight agent programs settle for off-the-shelf systems, we decided our agents deserved better. Those one-size-fits-all solutions leave companies and their agents stuck with built-in limitations, unable to adapt when agents need something different. 

By creating our own homegrown system, we have the freedom to customize every aspect of our CRM to perfectly match what our agents truly need in their day-to-day work. When we see an opportunity to improve the CRM, we don’t have to wait for an external vendor to catch up. Our development team builds it ourselves!

Our system also prioritizes agent privacy and security. Many agents who come to Tallgrass from other companies have told us their previous systems offered zero confidentiality. Fellow brokers could freely access each other’s book of business. But not here! At Tallgrass, every independent freight agent enjoys a secure, protected experience working inside our CRM, with their customer relationships and data for their own eyes. 

Every feature we develop has one goal: making our agents’ lives easier and more profitable. The online payment portal helps agents get paid faster while reducing paperwork. Auto-locking features eliminate tedious shipment management tasks so agents can focus on booking new business instead of managing their board. And upcoming AI tools for coverage calls will free up precious time, allowing agents to concentrate on what they do best: building relationships and securing that next customer. By adding the features agents need (and nothing they don’t!) we’re creating technology that helps them earn more while saving time, ultimately helping more of our agents reach Club 250.

 

 

The Talent Behind the Technology

Behind every feature in our CRM is a dedicated team of developers who understand freight as well as they understand code. “Each of my team members are so good that I can put one of them on a project that might require an entire team elsewhere,” says John. “I’m so proud of the work they do.”

This isn’t your typical tech department! Our development team is a specialized group that combines deep industry knowledge with programming expertise. When an agent mentioned a keyboard navigation issue during the Club 250 trip in Mexico, the team had it fixed by Monday morning. That’s the difference when your technology is built by people who care about your success as much as you do.

 

What’s Next For Our CRM?

As we celebrate four years of our CRM, we’re just getting warmed up. For 2025, we’ve got an impressive lineup of new features in the works that’ll make life even easier for our freight agents. 

Among the many features we have planned is a streamlined online payment system that will help agents get paid faster, enhancing carrier payment processes and building tools that automate tedious shipment management tasks. Our team is also working on advanced tracking capabilities that will integrate directly into the CRM and new customer-facing tools that will set our freight brokers apart from others in the industry. While we can’t share all the details just yet, every update has one clear purpose: helping agents earn more while doing less manual work. The best freight agent program is about to get even better, and we can’t wait to roll all these new features out.

 

Our Team’s Voice Matters

One of the most unique aspects of Tallgrass’s approach to technology is our What-If? Program, which rewards team members and agents for their best ideas. When a company stops asking “What If,” they stop growing. That’s why we’ve built a program that not only welcomes feedback, but rewards it financially. Every great idea that lands on our innovation roadmap earns $100. No caps! With 20+ agent-suggested features implemented in the past year alone, and 14 more ready for the next release, it’s clear that we take agent feedback seriously.

 

Empowering our Agents

That’s the Tallgrass difference. When our independent freight agents speak, we listen and act. It’s this approach to continuous improvement and collaboration with our agents that ensures our CRM will keep evolving in ways that positively impact our agents’ bottom lines. There’s a reason we lovingly call it our “cash register:” it helps our agents earn more money with more efficiency!

 

Ready to experience the advantage of working with a freight brokerage that’s truly invested in your success? Join our team today.