Quality of service in logistics plays a crucial role in growth of companies providing such services. Importantly, it also helps enhance reputation of their direct clients and indirect customers who are buying from their clients. Information and service gaps are taken care of by implementation of inbound call center software.
A typical scenario
Seller receives order, passes it on to manufacturing or warehouse division or both and once it is ready for pickup the logistics company is informed. Typically, logistics do not rush to pick up a package ready for shipment no sooner it is ready. The pickup is scheduled for specific time of the day and this entails delay. Meanwhile, customers are left in the dark about status of shipment though they have information from sellers that the “package is ready for shipment”. A research study shows that 44 percent customers are dissatisfied by late delivery. Introduction of inbound call center software into the logistics chain helps avoid such dissatisfaction.
In cases where transportation costs are decided beforehand and are fixed it is one thing. However, many clients of logistics companies have goods of varying weight and dimensions to be shipped to different locations. In such cases too the Inbound call center software for logistics speeds up interaction and submission of cost calculation and delivery time.
Syncing everything
Lack of coordination can lead to delays and resultant dissatisfaction. Even within a logistics company there are different divisions and people involved in managing movement of materials. Your operation involved central office that receives orders. This must be communicated to:
- Pick up personnel in the field
- Warehousing
- Truck operator or airline handling air shipment
- Client placing order
- End customer receiving ordered goods
With your inbound call center in place you can sync all operations and coordinate effortlessly with all personnel and departments in the supply chain, including your client. A single point entry is visible to everyone and notifications can be issued for action to be taken, such as pickup, transport to warehouse and loading onto a truck. Movement is easily tracked and available on record for logistics, client company and end customer. Features of the call center software promote higher quality of services to all stakeholders.
The omnichannel touch points
Imagine a situation in which a truck driver may use only a feature phone and, at best, communicates using voice and SMS. Another one may use a smartphone with Facebook and Whatsapp. The omnichannel feature of call center solution in logistics ties together all these channels of communication into a single dashboard for easy monitoring and action as may be required. Likewise, end recipient of the package may choose to communicate via chat and business client may prefer email. For customer service agents the call center software makes it easy to tie together all these disparate channels and deliver information fast. People like to be kept informed of the latest status. Speed matters:
Case in point: Why Amazon tops all online ecommerce operators? This story illustrates it. A buyer placed an order for an item at around midnight on Amazon. Amazon logistics and fulfillment center had the ordered item packed and dispatched by 1.30 AM, well past midnight, and a notification sent out. The buyer was impressed no end.
Then there is another incident about a customer initiating a complaint about a product and requesting a return. Again Amazon rose to the occasion with their field personnel picking up the product for return the next day and refund process effected immediately.
These two incidents underline importance of speed in customer satisfaction. Automation is key and when you use contact center software you can set it up to automatically notify concerned persons and let them take action.
Why logistics must have call center software
One may argue that it is the seller (who is the logistics company’s client) who must make use of call center software. That is a given. However, logistics must also use call center software even though they have an automated tracking system in place. This system does not address other issues such as interactions with client and client’s buyer, monitor status and take speedy remedial action or respond to queries. Call center solutions help you stay on top in all connected areas of customer service and derive statistics that will help you refine policies or strategies leading to improvements.
View the call center solution from another perspective: promoting team collaborations and training. This may not be your primary purpose or goal but when you implement inbound contact center software you get features like audio video chat and conferencing. This feature can be put to good use to promote interactions between teams. Plus, the smart skill based mapping ensures incoming calls go to the right person for the right response and resolution on first call.
After all, logistics is a business like any other. Inbound call center software works for business. Logistics has the added responsibility of keeping their client’s customer happy too in addition to keeping immediate client satisfied. The software is an ideal tool to achieve both goals and do it well provided you get the right solution from the right vendor.
