A shipper database checklist for brokers 

A new brokerage grows shipper relationships one at a time. The right shipper database can turn that growth into a habit instead of a grind.

Finding shippers through referrals, cold calls, and LinkedIn searches still work, and always will. A shipper database just gets those conversations started faster, with more to go on before the first call.

Truckstop’s Shipper Hub is a shipper database for brokers, built right inside Truckstop alongside an active Load Board subscription.

Before adding a shipper database or list, six things are worth confirming first.

• How many shippers are in it, and how often that list gets updated
• Whether the search does the filtering for you
• Whether the data is enriched or just contact information
• Whether it shows which shippers are worth calling first
• Whether it’s integrated into existing workflows
• What it costs

How many shippers can you search?

Coverage has a lot to do with whether a shipper database saves time or wastes it. A narrow or outdated shipper database can mean calls to companies that moved, closed, or never shipped freight in the first place.

A big number matters less than how often it gets refreshed. A database built once and left alone drifts out of date fast, so it’s worth asking how a database keeps its records current, not just how many it started with.

Shipper Hub gives brokers more than 1.8 million searchable shipper records, sourced from inside and outside Truckstop. Those records are regularly updated and enriched with market news and context to keep them fresh, making Shipper Hub one of the largest searchable shipper databases available today.

Does the search do the filtering for you?

Building filters one at a time, industry, then region, then revenue, before anything useful comes back is how most database searches work. Simple Search inside Shipper Hub still works that way, filtering by industry, state, and annual freight spend.

Smart Search skips that setup. Typing something like “mid-size shippers with regular dry van lanes looking to diversify carrier relationships” returns a list of matching shippers already narrowed to that description.

Is the data enriched, or just contact information?

A name, a phone number, and an address answer who to call, not whether the call is worth making. Enriched data is the context added on top, industry, location, revenue level, and signals on freight activity and growth.

Every shipper Smart Search finds comes with an overview covering industry, annual freight spend, commodities, location, and contact details, plus a separate tab listing the people to reach out to.

Search results break that context into three parts, revenue, freight signals, and growth, each one citing where it came from, a company website, a press release, even a social media post.

A shipper’s page goes further with News & Signals, a deeper report pulling recent news on a shipper’s industry, expansions, funding, or leadership changes. Each item gets a freight implication attached, why it might mean more freight, a new lane, or a reason to call now.

The same research turns into a short list of talking points, ready to use on the first call. A market analysis report sits alongside it, covering the shipper’s freight profile and competitive landscape in more depth.

Each summary shows where a detail is confirmed and where it’s the AI’s own read on the business, an educated take based on similar companies rather than a sourced fact, so a broker always knows what’s confirmed and what’s context before making the call.

Can you tell which shippers are worth calling first?

Not every shipper in a database deserves the same amount of time. A database without a way to rank or filter by potential leaves a broker working the list in whatever order it loaded, so a strong lead can sit untouched behind a stack of weaker ones.

Ranking shippers by potential is the fix. Customer Intelligence Score shows up right on each result, ranking shippers by freight-spend potential, activity, and fit, so a broker knows who to call first.

Alongside that score, each result shows a one-line summary explaining the fit, plus tags for industry, location, and revenue range.

A high score points to a shipper worth prioritizing, though picking up the phone is still a judgment call.

Is it integrated into existing workflows

Tool fatigue is common, and a shipper database that requires switching broker software platforms usually loses to everything else on a broker’s plate that day.

Integrating into an existing workflow is worth checking before adding anything new. Shipper Hub is native to Truckstop, reached through a global-nav icon inside the platform, with no separate login required. Shipper Hub does require an active Broker Load Board subscription.

What does it cost

Cost looks simple on the surface, until the usage limits underneath it start to matter.

Shipper Hub runs $99 a month on the Basic tier. It’s account-based with unlimited users at one flat rate, added on top of an active Load Board subscription with no bundled discount.

Shipper Hub includes 100 Smart Searches and 50 shippers added each month, resetting on the first of the month, with no overage.

A separate Simple Search covers company, commodity, region, or vertical, filtered by industry, state, and annual freight spend. It’s unlimited, and none of it counts against the 100 monthly searches.

Shipper Hub is more than a database

A shipper database answers the first six questions on this list. Shipper Hub goes a step further with a simplified CRM built in, tracking a shipper through outreach, quotes, and closing.

A kanban board shows where every deal stands, all without leaving Truckstop. Outlook and Gmail connect directly to it, so outreach emails go out from Shipper Hub instead of a separate inbox.

Pick a tone and a channel, and Shipper Hub drafts the email pitch to that contact, ready to copy or send. Every draft logs to that shipper’s activity history, so the next rep who opens the account sees exactly what already went out.

Why Shipper Hub is right for your brokerage

A shipper database can shape how a brokerage grows it’s book of business. Pick the wrong one, and the cost shows up later, in hours spent working with outdated information and contracts.

Shipper Hub’s Smart Search, simplified CRM, email integration, and AI-assisted drafting covered above are what make it worth keeping open every day, not just checking once.

The six questions in this checklist are what separate a database that earns its subscription from one that just adds a login. Shipper Hub was built to answer every one of them, from inside the platform already open every day.

Ready to get started with Shipper Hub and Truckstop Load Board?

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