Logistics Operations Manager: Role, Tools & Best Practices

Because it acts as the bedrock of long-term mutually beneficial partnerships, these partnerships are critical to your long-term supply chain success. Customer service in logistics is an often-overlooked aspect of a provider’s capabilities. Companies that show customers empathy will lead to customers who show the company empathy.

For the hardware and software solutions, whether standardized or customized ones, to be considered as technological innovations does not require them to be new to the market. In most cases they are only novel to the individual firm that decides to implement them. The technologies constitute the base for LSPs’ innovations which span from incremental improvements to radical changes (Soosey et al., 2008). Logistics management enables companies to gain clear visibility of their operations, improve customer relations, and reduce the necessity of maintaining excess inventory. This helps to increase the order fulfillment rate, thus boosting profitability for the company.

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These platforms turn complex logistical operations into simple, digitalised and automated solutions by leveraging technology. With such digital freight forwarding services, shippers and carriers can easily locate available loads and manage their operations online – from clearing customs to tracking shipments. You need reliable, trustworthy suppliers to help you improve your business operations. You must focus on hiring and retaining the best candidates for each position in your company’s logistics or supply chain management functions.

A great customer support representative knows how to relate to anybody, but they’re especially good with frustrated people. Instead of taking things personally, they intuitively understand where the other person is coming from and they know to both prioritize and swiftly communicate that empathy. After all, customers who reach out to support are often confused and frustrated.

The Distribution Network of Logistics Management

When customer service agents approach clients, they must do so with a view to solving their problems — especially the ones customers aren’t yet aware of. In its traditional sense, it dates back to the time humans started trading. Meeting customers’ requirements and serving them better than the competitors to encourage good word-of-mouth and loyalty was, and remains, the core of customer support. Of course, over time, the method and mechanics of delivering customer support have evolved, as have customers’ expectations of what constitutes great support.

• Logistics management helps to identify cost-saving measures and keep expenses lower, thus ensuring better productivity.
• Customer surveys are the most simple yet often the most effective way of understanding and what customers like and what they don’t.
• This could be due to a variety of factors—lack of communication between frontline employees and management, inadequate market research, or simply a failure to listen to customer feedback, including complaints.
• This level of transparency can reduce customer inquiries about where orders are throughout the shipping process.

Plan and implement new transportation routes and modes that can accommodate emergency requirements from customers, increased cost of fuel, or unavailability of vehicles. Additionally, integrate route optimization into your transportation route to discover optimal routes that can be easily used to deliver goods at the lowest cost. Making your customers happy will be close to impossible if your staff are unhappy.

5. Sales–service relationship

Order entry may be handled manually such as physically carrying the order or electronically via toll-free number, satellite communication or via the internet. The manual processing is slow but inexpensive, while the electronic methods are most reliable, accurate and fast but expensive. It has been observed that 87% of customer care representatives, who are content with their occupations, are happy to make adjustments for their business clients.

92% will spend more money with companies who guarantee they will not have to repeat information. Although 78% of companies and their leaders believe that service agents play an important role in client retention, many agents are unhappy with how they are treated. Agents also believe their jobs have only gotten more crucial and strategic. The percentage of customers that agree to switch to a competitor remains high worldwide. Brazil tops the list with 80%, France with 70%, and Spain with more than 60%. Here are the key questions you should be asking to ensure you’re choosing the right partner for your unique business needs.

4.2. Service effects on customer retention

According to a recent PwC report, 73% of consumers say the customer experience influences what they buy and who they buy it from. And 42% of consumers are willing to pay more if they can have a more welcoming and friendly experience. As an increasing number of consumers move their shopping activity online, one of the ways eCommerce stores compete is through customer service. Most of today’s consumers expect to have access to an intuitive website, easy check-out cart, speedy shipping service, and a friendly returns policy. It’s no secret that giving your customers a great experience goes a long way in determining your company’s success, especially given the competitive nature of markets today.

For example, if an important issue arises immediate action should be taken to solve the problem to keep a smooth process. That is why it is important to increase information visibility to ensure transparency for both the clients and the logistics. This section discusses varios models that formulate the theoritical relationship between sales/revenues and services. In some cases, sales–service relationship for a given product may deviate from the theoretical relationship.

But the driving force of these actions is to meet customer demand and provide the best service possible to retain customers and maintain their satisfaction by meeting their product requirements. Professional logisticians are often certified by professional associations. One can either work in a pure logistics company, such as a shipping line, airport, or freight forwarder, or within the logistics department of a company. However, as mentioned above, logistics is a broad field, encompassing procurement, production, distribution, and disposal activities. ] in the industry is the 4PL, or fourth-party logistics, firms, consulting companies offering logistics services. Moreover, our analysis showed the emerging role of agile management in the DT of LSPs, particularly among Digiraties and Fashionistas.

Establish the Last Mile Delivery

At the same time the literature review demonstrates that digital leaders with a vison supported by empowered, knowledgeable and collaborative employees are critical to DT success. The results contribute to the emerging field of DT within the logistics and supply chain management literature and provide insights for practitioners regarding how to effectively implement it in a complex industry. But not all eCommerce sellers make the reverse logistics process simple and seamless. In fact, many companies still discourage returns and lose customers for their efforts. When reverse logistics isn’t handled properly, it’s a sure way to destroy any trust that was created leading up to the sale.

Respondents reported that lack of collaboration from the beginning of the technology adoption process can lead to implementation of solutions which are not the most efficient and effective in satisfying business needs. Intra-firm collaboration on technology adoption seems critical for successful DT and not dependent on the digital maturity of LSPs. It allows LSPs to combine data residing in different sources, such as online transaction processing systems, TMS, WMS, applications and mobile devices like handhelds or tablets. Data integration is the first step toward transforming data into meaningful and valuable information which provides LSPs with a unified real-time view of their business performance. Therefore, it could help improve the execution of the underlying processes and increase the utilization of logistics assets such as trucks, terminals or warehouses.

Logistics activities

When the company can fulfill the customers, it will engage the existing ones to stay connected to the brand with more satisfaction. This will push these customers to get their known ones to use your company products r services. Once the company can manage the logistics process smoothly from end to end, it will be directly proportional to customer satisfaction. Customers will always look to be connected to a business that offers the best solution.

Logistic companies must always be prepared to meet customer needs appropriately. Automated customer service or tools like chatbots and virtual assistants can answer customer queries regarding delivery status, consignment location, and delivery time. The logistic system must be automated, bridging gaps between disparate IT systems with quick access to information to provide quality customer service. This helps customer service agents become more productive and fulfill better customer experiences. The logistics and supply chain industry are prone to face several issues affecting delivery and delays. By incorporating logistics software, businesses can rapidly deliver their products to customers.

Those who don’t seek to improve what they do — whether it’s building products, marketing businesses, or helping customers — will get left behind by the people who are willing to invest in their own skills. We found that one of prerequisites for employee engagement is their training. Case LSPs reported most effective practices for developing their employees’ digital skills. C2, C3 and C4 described “training the trainer” method which consists of two phases.

Customer service agents who are focused on improving their empathy skills will soon be able to pick up on a customer’s needs simply by sensing tension in their voice or frustration in their tone. First contact resolution rate is different from the average resolution time as it measures the percentage of tickets solved during initial content. While it is a marker for efficiency, it can skew metrics as some issues are more complex and require more time to resolve. Once you identify your top performers, you can not only reward their hard work but tap into their successful strategies to help improve the rest of the team.

Doing so can make it easier to adapt and accommodate your customers’ preferences and communication styles in the face of rapid change. At that point, curiosity can lead to impactful solutions that improve the way your team interacts with your customer base. These skills are even great for the everyday dealings with customers that don’t involve a complaint.

Read more about Importance Of Customer Service In To Avoid Major Problems? here.