Some people are unbelievable scared about loosing their customers....
Had some rejected food products, called the shipper to find out if they'd like it to give to their employees. Would be a shame to dump.
Next the broker asks me all angry with attitude why I call HIS CUSTOMER?
So as a reminder: Please do not forget to take your medications for your high blood pressure! It might come in handy when people calling your customer trying to be nice to their company....
Or was this guy just having a bad day and usually he's the nices guy there is?
By the way. When I called the shipper to find out if they'd like the food. They said the apt. is 2 hours earlier. Which is funny, because yesterday I confirmed the apt . And today it's 2 hours earlier...oh well, another day in refridgerated trucking.

 

If you provide quality customer service you are usually not going to lose a customer to someone just for a cheaper price. In fact, I have had customers who could have probably found someone to take care of them for less, but called me instead. There are some who only look at the initial cost.

 

You hear a lot about "customer service", but that sure goes a long way. Having a good first impression to me, is always the best way to go.

 

Had a customer tell me today "You take care of me. I don't know what I'd do without you."

Cha-ching, baby.

A lot of drivers don't seem to realize how important this is. I was running up the road with a company driver, listening to him bitch about ass kissers. Is it kissing ass to be courteous and polite, and even charming? No. It's good business.

A lot of people in our industry don't get this. They don't look at the big picture, and see where the money ultimately comes from. It's not the brokers or the dispatchers or the companies. It's the shippers and receivers.

I'm not saying you should eat :dung: with a smile, but being nice and easy-going will get you a long way up the road.

 

This is the SERVICE that all trucking companies preach and most employees from the customer service person to the driver to the shop mechanic just dont comprehend. If you SERVICE the customer, they will SERVICE your bank account :!: :!:

I think thats why we leave home to go trucking....to SERVICE our bank accounts.

 

If trucking companies concentrated more on customer service rather than undercutting rates, we would not see nearly so much cheap freight. 8)

 

Gman, with all due reverance to your experience and knowledge, don't you think that, ultimately, the reason for cheap rates is basic economics....there is more supply of trucks than there is demand ( by way of freight ). And, while the quantum of freight isn't necessarily increasing by leaps and bounds, the increase in the number of trucks, is. We have companies buying thousands of new trucks every year, we have so many wannabe o/ops ( like me, but now I'm having second thoughts ). Everybody and his dog, wants to buy a truck.

What most prospective o/ops, in my very humble opinion, fail to do, is an exhaustive due diligence of the business, and of the trends in the trucking industry as a whole. They concentrate so much on the cost & revenue per mile ( and some, the bragging rights of owning lots of chrome ), that they fail to see the bigger picture, in terms of acquiring the business acumen and intelligence to think strategically. How many of us research into these issues :

1) is there really space in the market for another truck ?
2) which way is the industry headed ?
3) where do i see myself and my business 5-years from now ?
4) what type of truck do i really need, and how much truck do i really need ?
5) what can I do to create a value-addition in the services provided by me ?

I'm sure there are lots of similar questions that we need to ask ourselves before getting our feet wet, just as we would do with any other business venture. Right now, what most of the people who're buying their own trucks are actually doing, is buying themselves a job / career, for not really so much more than what a company driver of a decent company would make.

And in the face of so much competition ( or, so many trucks ), rates are bound to tank.

 

There is a lot of truth in what you stated, Graymist. Most people don't plan very far ahead. They only know that they want to be an owner operator. They want to own a shiny new truck. They don't give much thought to earning money to support the truck, or how to pay for it. Nor do they give much thought to what it takes to be successful in this business. There are a lot of trucks competing for the same freight. There is still a lot of freight. There is more capacity in some area's and less in other parts of the country. It still boils down to people hauling cheap freight. Just because there is less freight doesn't necessarily mean that rates should be cheap. It could mean that some should do a better job of servicing their customers. Some shippers only seem to be interested in the cheapest price. Others are more interested in having quality carriers who can provide good customer service. Those are the customers that I am interested.