EWS Group MoversSuite (223 × 62 px) (1)

Moving Words – Loyalty

Written by Timothy Brady.

“Every contact we have with a customer influences whether or not they’ll come back. We have to be great every time or we’ll lose them.” – Kevin Stirt

In these challenging times, it’s imperative we hold on to our quality customers. It’s been said over and over that it is far easier, and less costly, to keep a customer than to find a new one.  This means keeping our current customers not only puts less strain on us, it also is a money-saving endeavor.

The best method for keeping our Quality Customers is to understand what they need and provide them with what they want. With this in mind, we must start with a workable plan which provides us with a solid foundation. Here’s the list of attributes necessary to accomplish this:

Communication. Without an excellent transmission of information from the hauler to the shipper and his receiver, everything else comes to a screeching halt.

  • Say what you’ll do; do what you say. Nothing can destroy a business relationship quicker than promising an action will occur—and then it doesn’t. The other side of this coin is, don’t promise more than your company and drivers are capable of delivering.
  • No Surprises means you and your drivers don’t let the unexpected surprise the customer by not communicating. There are always situations and events over which the driver, you, or the shippers have no control. When one of these situations occurs which affects a promise, you or your driver need to contact all parties concerned immediately.
  • Anticipate potential problems and have solutions for these problems to be presented

to your shipper if they should occur. Since we live in an unpredictable world, your best preparation is to be ready for worst-case scenarios.

  • Honesty and Truth are virtues which will always work towards a win-win hauling experience. If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember what you said.
  • Safety. Not much else can sour a shipper’s attitude towards a trucking company more than an avoidable, preventable mishap. Although the shipper may never see the driver doing a pre-trip or post-trip inspection, or constant and consistent in-transit load and equipment observations, or the vigilance in defensive safe driving habits, these activities insure the on-time arrival and as-shipped condition of the shipper’s product or goods at destination.

To set you apart from the crowd, here are additional components necessary for retaining quality customers:

  • Think in terms of creating, doing, and providing quality in every facet of your operation.
  • Exceed Your Customers’ Expectations. Don’t just meet your shippers’ needs; go the extra miles to create more value in your services.
  • Clean, Neat, and Uniform. Your driver and his equipment meeting these criteria gives your shipper the confidence of knowing he picked the right company to haul his goods.
  • Made evident concerning the shipper’s load, time, personnel, property, and money by watching all the details.
  • Uneventful. The only events that happen are the ones which are planned and known in advance. Have a deliberate routine and follow it.

Creating value through your quality of service is what keeps that shipper calling with loads for your trucks to haul, and isn’t having those consistent loads to haul what it’s all about?

“Here is a powerful yet simple rule. Always give people more than they expect to get.” – Nelson Boswell.

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