By Dillon Blesi
Recently a customer gave us a huge compliment, even though it could have been interpreted otherwise. He said that our team is so proactive about letting him know what’s going on with his freight – even when he’s not wondering about it – that it sometimes drifts into the territory you might call “overkill.”
He quickly clarified: This is fine with him. He’d rather have too much communication than not enough.
But it begs the question: Do we go overboard in letting our customers know what’s going on with their freight, and is it possible to cross the line between diligence and excess?
I’ll let you in on a little secret: We’re well aware of the fact that our approach could be characterized as overkill. And we think that’s a feature, not a bug.
We’re going to keep doing it. Here’s why:
Take a few minutes to research the top complaints people have about third-party logistics companies and/or freight brokers. Search it by any terms you want. Pull up as many results as you can find.
If there’s a single one that doesn’t list “poor communication” as one of the top complaints, well . . . that will be the first such list we’ve ever seen. In fact, I don’t think that list exists. Poor communication is a huge problem in our industry, and there’s nothing shippers complain about more.
Some of this, we understand, owes to the nature of our business. There are a lot of moving parts within any logistics organization. Even if you’ve got a dedicated point person, that person might have to contact four or five other people to get the complete picture of what’s going on.
For the shipper who wants to know right away (especially the one who doesn’t think he or she should have to take the initiative to ask), the timing of this can be frustrating.
So we built our business on a different model when it comes to communication.
The idea isn’t to go all in on service and then provide information to the customer when you get around to it. (Or wait until the customer asks.) The idea is to make updating the customer an essential part of the service model. It’s frequent and it’s proactive.
Yes, we do have tracking software that the customers can access. They’re not totally dependent on the calls and e-mails they get from their point of contact here. But we don’t think it should be the customer’s job to take that initiative as a substitute for hearing from us.
If this turns into overkill, here’s how we see it: We want to be one of the few 3PLs that no one ever thinks about when they get to the “poor communication” complaint, unless it’s to say, “Let me tell you one amazing exception to this.”
No shipper has ever left us because we contact them too much or keep them too informed about their freight. No one has ever told us to dial it back. That’s because our commitment is to be as far from the industry’s weakest point as we can. What others struggle to do, we excel at doing.
So yes, you’ll hear from us. A lot. More than you need? Maybe. But certainly not less than you need, which is why our customers continue to appreciate our approach.
3PLs don’t have to be bad at communicating. They just have to do as we’ve done, and decide to be great at it.
If you’re looking to be well taken care of, contact us today.
Fello Logistics is known for integrity, reliability, industry-leading customer service and genuine care for it’s clients. Learn more about our freight shipping services.
