Competition in global freight is tougher than ever. New technologies and ways of thinking are disrupting the industry at high speed. We’ve seen this recently in the trend for ocean carriers to form alliances. With almost no notice, these agreements affect the rates and contracts forwarders have with the carriers, as well as service.
NKD worked with an established freight forwarder that described itself as ‘good’, but were looking at becoming ‘great’. In an age where goods are being moved faster than ever, on a global scale, our client knew they needed to stand out.
They wanted to be the industry leader, and knew that having loyal customers was the key to getting there. We designed a bespoke solution that would keep customers coming back through an industry-leading level of service excellence, delivered by engaged customer service staff.
What were the challenges?
We knew our ambition would only land if their business was willing to face and fix some of the real issues that were holding them back.
Through our Discovery activities, we found that employees only rated the service they provided a 5.5 out of 10.
At the time, revenue and employee engagement were also dropping.
Operational and customer excellence were core pillars of their business. But this felt more like theory than practice. We knew that industry-leading customer service, delivered by engaged employees, would be the key driver for getting the business back on track.
What was our approach?
The first thing we did was create clarity. We found that people had different ideas about what a customer service assistant actually does. We made sure that roles, responsibilities and service structures were clear so that customer service agents were enabled in providing the best service possible.
Another core issue was operational. The forwarder’s customer-centric approach was overridden by a need for efficiency and ‘ticking boxes’. Because of customer experience being deprioritised, our client’s people felt disempowered to prevent customers from choosing competitors.
We designed a suite of workshops to train over 3,000 customer service agents in the skills and mindsets needed to reverse the trend.
Participants gained the confidence to talk about the company structure, brand ethos, vision and objectives. They also developed the skills to behave with customer centricity front-of-mind, powered by a better understanding of customer needs and how to meet them. We emphasised how fundamental consistent quality in service was in the workshops, and ensured that each person knew how they could contribute to the brand’s customer promise.
To rebuild the customer-centric culture that had brought our client success in the past, we helped their people reengage with the brand, reconnect with the brand promise to customers, and embrace their individual role in keeping the global operation ticking day by day.
Want to learn more about the work we do? Have a look at some of our case studies.
