What is the difference between being pretty good and pretty
great? That is the question that often times eludes people, organizations
and sports teams. If you look at the greatest quarterback of all time,
Tom Brady, you see an athlete that is not the fastest, not strongest and was
picked in the 6th round of the NFL draft. Two things have
propelled him to be what he is today. Those two things are his incredible
mindset and an attention to details.
At WJW, the mindset should always be to provide the greatest
service possible to our customers. We are willing and able to go above
and beyond the expectations of our customer because of the mindset that the
customer is our lifeline. No matter how great our drivers are, no matter
how great we are at finding trucks in hard lanes, no matter how much technology
we employ, none of that matters without customers. Customers are our
life’s blood as a company and doing all we can to enhance their experience is
the mindset each person at WJW must have.
The second part of being the GOAT is attention to
details. Tom Brady spends hours understanding what the defense does by
studying tape. When he is in the game he already knows 90% of what is
going to happen prior to the snap. He watches and sees what the
linebackers are doing and the defensive backs. He understands what is
about to happen because he has paid attention to the details well before the
actions starts. The same should be true of what we do at WJW.
Before a driver ever picks ups a load, before an invoice is
ever billed, before a sales call is ever made, we should pay attention to the
details because it is that attention that makes 90% of what is going to happen
already known. The salesperson making a call on a customer should
understand what type of freight they customer has, the key decision makers and
most of all, his or her OBJECTIVE in making the call. Once the call is
done, the salesperson should be able to record the details of the visit to gain
greater insight and most importantly, relate how the objective was met, and if
it was not, how the encounter could have been different.
For a dispatcher, if the sales person has done his job
correctly, the details of a pick up and delivery will be known. Those
details should be made available in the location details of the load so that it
is always easy to reference. Remember, the master files for locations
allow us to make permanent notes about locations so that we never lose the
details. In addition to the usual details that the salesperson has, any
new or unusual information should be available based on the specific
order. All of the details such as tarps, chains, binders, safety
equipment etc… should be known. If everyone is paying attention to
details the last step for the pick up will be the relaying of that information
to the driver! After all, all of the information the sales person has,
the dispatcher has and anyone else is useless if the person performing the act
is unaware. Once that information is passed to the driver…then guess what
he needs to do with it…yes, he needs to pay attention to the small, minute
details that will make his own part of the sales chain successful!
Lastly, once the load is complete, it is up to our billing
department to understand and execute what the details are. The
salesperson has hopefully made it known how a customer wants to be invoiced.
We do EDI, email or old fashioned mail, but knowing what has to go with
it is important. Is a BOL required? If not, how can we quickly
invoice after a load is delivered? What are the details that speed up our
invoicing and ensure the invoices are paid promptly?
As you can see, at all levels and at each touchpoint, the
attention to details that start with information FROM the customer are
paramount for the success of the organization. There are a great many
organizations that do not pay attention to the details…and that is why there
are so few GREAT organizations. As we continue to strive to be the best
transportation company we can be, it is important to always remember details,
details, details. As a sales focused company we are all responsible to
pay attention to them. Our customer is our lifeblood and it is our respect
for them and doing our job beyond their expectations that drives us to
differentiate ourselves by know the details, understanding their impact and
executing with those details in mind.