What would freight management be without the relationships that shippers have with their customers? The last two years have underscored just how important maintaining customer relationships can be, as customers have had to scrutinize every dollar and the ROI they are receiving in a way they haven’t before. With that in mind, here are a few things shippers can do to best maintain their relationships with customers.
Be trustworthy
Trust is the most important aspect in any relationship, whether professional or personal. For shippers and customers, this means sharing as much information as they possibly can so that customers feel as if they have a reliable shipping partner – even if things become disrupted and delayed.
Real-time transparency
Tying into the idea of trust is the idea of transparency. From pricing to OTD, freight procurement has been plagued by transparency issues for decades. And as customers become more accustomed to real-time insights in other areas of their business, they are becoming less tolerant of delayed and vague transportation/ shipping reporting. Therefore, shippers need to adopt technology and processes whereby they can deliver clear feedback at a moment’s notice.
Prioritize OTD
Freight procurement in years past has become resigned to the fact that OTD mishaps will happen. But with the historic supply chain crunch, demand from customers for OTD success has reached a whole new level. Hitting OTD marks is just good business in freight procurement. And if you can’t do it, there is no shortage of alternate freight options for customers to pursue. Thus, shippers need to find innovative solutions to overcome capacity hurdles, while balancing cost with service. Otherwise, their customer relationships will likely suffer.