We’ve all become accustomed to having instant access to information and near total transparency throughout the entire sales process. We can thank Amazon for that. But can the trucking industry deliver that kind of service in a business-to-business environment?
Being able to provide transparency starts with having data. It is important to remember that it is not necessarily the quantity of the data that you have access to but also the quality and completeness of the data. Remember, not all data is good data.
One issue some fleets have is that the data about a customer is siloed in various departments. In order to truly provide transparency, the data needs to be taken out of siloes and made accessible across departments.
The better each department understands the customer, the better they can meet their needs. In addition, by having all the data in one place, the customer will not have to repeat the same information to different people within your organization multiple times.
Next, the data needs to be cleaned. This is done to fix incorrect, incomplete, or duplicate information that will occur when you combine data from multiple sources. Data cleaning ensures data accuracy and consistency when communicating with customers.
It is important to work with each customer to determine exactly what information they want access to. Some customers will want to be able to have real-time access to delivery status throughout the entire delivery process, some may want hourly updates, and others will only want to be informed if a delivery is going to be delayed.
A key point to remember is that transparency involves not just sharing the good news with customers but also informing them when a problem develops and sharing how you intend to fix it so that their business will not be impacted.
This type of transparency builds trust with customers, enhances your credibility, and creates more loyal customers. Loyal customers are more likely to continue to do business with you, and that is good for your bottom line.
