Are you happy with your LSP? Replacing old KPIs with customer-centric in logistics.
We are builders. We build companies. We don’t do it because our life is boring. We do it because the old service companies suck. It happens in retail, it happens in logistics, it happens everywhere.
The monstrous structures of hardwired low-culture low-pay subcontractors are only focusing on their financial KPIs, forgetting that the customer can always vote with her feet choosing new age customer-centric services in any field. From Amazon and Netflix to Bolt and Speys, these new-age companies are designed to satisfy their customer’s expectations.
Let me give you a perfect example of an LSP (Logistics Service Provider) that doesn’t give a damn about their customer’s problem.
About one month ago, an Italian carpet supplier Sitap.it used a local Italian shipping company Fercam to send the goods to Estonia. The customer was a local design firm Palazzo Interiors and the shipping terms were DDP (delivered, duty paid), where the customer’s responsibility and control over the delivery are zero. Customer cannot choose the preferred shipper, last-mile delivery company or even an insurance terms in this case.
The goods had been delivered to the customer by the local subcontractor of an international firm DPD. This gentleman was not the first time visiting this particular customer, as he had been servicing that area already for almost a year, driving a van with DPD signs. But this time it was different since one of the carpets had been badly damaged on its way.
A business owner who had to receive the goods had immediately pointed out the problem and asked the courier nicely to make a mark in the DPD system about the damage. There were no paper documents available and the claim form of any kind presented to the customer. The courier promised that he will go to his van and register the claim. He had a pad with him to collect a signature confirming the delivery. Fun fact, he never registered this claim.
A few days later, the customer contacted the customer support of DPD Estonia over the phone and guess what, there was nothing about this claim in their system. Nothing. None. Zero. The customer was suggested to place a claim over the DPD web form and so she did. In Speys we call these people Customer Success or Customer Hero, not just blind “support”… In that particular DPD case, there was neither Success nor Heros.
After a few days, the reply from a courier arrived saying that as there had been a signature of the received of the goods in their system through the electronic pad, no claims can be accepted anymore. And furthermore, they claimed that supplier of the goods, an Italian company Sitap, had used insufficient packaging for this type of goods.
What?! Excuse me! You DPD are claiming that the producer who had been using the same type of packaging for ages doesn’t know how to pack the goods? C’mon! Get serious. It was your system’s failure. It was your courier who made a promise in the office with 4 employees who can confirm it.
Bad for him, this courier had to visit the same office with the next delivery a week after. He was confronted by the business owner, who had been cheated by DPD losing almost 200€. Guess what was his best reply to the customer? I will quote it cause I was there: “Sorry, I forgot to inform my boss about this accident. What do you want from me?! I have to deliver 300+ packages per day and I cannot remember everything. And then, you shouldn’t sign on the pad if you didn’t accept the goods.”
At the end of the day, it’s not about this company alone. It’s about service design in general. It’s easy to automate and digitalize processes when everything goes well. But as soon as the problem appears, this is the real test of the system, of the service design and the company’s culture. Any kind of claim is actually the best opportunity for the service company to show their attitude and values since this is the only moment when they are actually facing their customer. This is the greatest moment to show that they care and ready to go the extra mile to keep this customer happy. A happy customer always returns. Unhappy customer takes away more of the existing customers. This is the lesson those old-school firms will learn anyway. Maybe the hard way.
Do you know what this situation reminded me? The 1980-s, a Soviet Union, a planned economy. It has vanished. And so will vanish those companies, that don’t care about retaining of their customers. It’s only a matter of time when they will be replaced and forgotten.
Do you want to know, how? Take a closer look at the logistics platforms like Speys.com
If you are a manufacturer or a merchant, you might want to have a customer-centric experience with digital logistics solution.
Email us: info@speys.com
