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How SHJ Became a Billing Lifeline for a Midsized Freight brokering firm?
A leading 3PL and freight brokerage company was faced with a challenge—one of their key billing resources had put in their notice. Given how critical billing is for maintaining consistent cash flow, they couldn’t afford to fall behind.
The challenge wasn’t just hiring. It was onboarding someone quickly enough with knowledge of both the industry and their systems. That’s where SHJ stepped in. Because of our existing partnership, we were already familiar with their operations and able to take over seamlessly.
Our team didn’t just keep things moving—we freed up internal staff to focus on higher-value work. For this client, SHJ became more than just a backfill. We became a strategic partner that made their billing process stronger, faster, and more reliable.
How We Strengthened the Process: From Decentralized to Deliberate
As we got involved, we quickly discovered low-hanging opportunities for improvement. The billing process was decentralized—with multiple team members billing the same customer, inconsistently. This led to rework, delays, and inefficiencies.
To fix this, we worked with the client to co-design a centralized billing structure where specific team members owned specific customers. This helped eliminate duplicate efforts, build trust with their customers, and reduce billing errors.
Through regular interactions and continuous feedback, we began learning the expectations of their end customers. For accurate billing, the process depended on having all supporting documents—PODs, lumper receipts, detention confirmations, and accessorial charges—attached and ready. We built internal SLAs and communication loops to make sure these documents were consistently collected within 24–48 hours post-delivery.
We also handled every billing exception with a root-cause mindset. If there was an under- or over-payment, we traced it back—sometimes it was a process gap, sometimes a change in customer behavior. Either way, we closed the loop, adjusted, and improved. This approach helped reduce the rebill rate significantly.
With every major customer, we repeated this process—starting from the largest account, supported by regular touchpoints to refine and evolve the approach.
Extending the Value: Beyond Billing to Process Optimization
Once billing was stabilized and current, our focus expanded to upstream coordination with dispatch teams and carrier follow-ups. We made sure all required delivery-related documentation was collected and verified early—so billing wouldn’t be stalled.
During this phase, we also started correcting behavior across teams. If an error originated from order entry, we didn’t just fix it downstream—we worked closely with the order entry team to ensure future accuracy. This included:
- Ensuring contracted rates auto-apply at order entry
- Confirming all accessorial charges have documentation upfront
- Training on required documentation so billing is right the first time
This proactive, cross-functional support improved first-time accuracy and cut down on cycles of back-and-forth.
And we didn’t stop there. We continue to identify and implement continuous improvement opportunities—constantly looking for ways to become more efficient, predictable, and scalable
We scale our labor to match your business needs. You’ll always have the same SHJ team members handling the same customers, ensuring familiarity and consistency. And we handle coverage during PTOs or resignations- so your business stays on track without disruptions.
Our team works closely with AP and collections, giving us visibility into trends like delayed payments or documentation issues. We don’t just process transactions-we flag recurring problems and share insights with dispatch and sales. That kind of transparency helps clients resolve friction points early and improve customer experience.
Egg Harbor Township, NJ 08234
(848) 207-4560
info@shjintl.com
