subject: Customer Service Holds The Key For Courier Companies [print this page] Customer service is of primary importance when it comes to the courier and delivery service sector. The tertiary sector companies provide similar kind of services and products and therefore the quality of services often end up determining the competitive advantage. In fact, it often ends up being difficult to strike a balance between the diverse elements price, product, place and promotion.
A courier in Irelandis also a part of the tertiary sector. The key aspects of the service are:
Time: Ensuring that the deliveries are made on time
Visibility: Allowing the customer to track the parcel or the deliverables on its course through facilities such as online tracking
After-sales service: Making sure that the deliveries are made on time and in a prompt and courteous manner
Courier companies need to ensure that the organisational structure is maintained so that the quality of services provided to the customers is not hampered in any way. For example, the drivers need to work along with the depot staff in order to ensure that the parcels are loaded timely and arranged properly so that there is no unnecessary delay. Courier companies need to ensure that the drivers prepare the delivery cards in way that they can be easily read even by people who have weak eyesight or people who are not well versed in the language.
The companies also need to find out what the customers expect out of them. This would help them to develop their services to meet the demands of the customer. It is necessary:
To find out what the customers who still access the Post Office network want out of their services
Initiate new product and services such as telephonic or online assistance
Talk to customers, both individuals and businesses
It has often been seen that some of the customers were actually bothered by the carbon emissions that affect the environment as a result of the parcel delivery. Companies thus choose to provide carbon neutral parcel delivery option. The customers were happy to lap it up, even at an increased expense, and thus contribute their bit in offsetting the carbon impact of parcel delivery.
For courier businesses, it helps to conduct a gap analysis from time to time. This involves a detailed exercise and requires the business to assess different needs such as:
Where the business needs is positioned at present
Where it intends to be in future
What it needs to achieve its intended future and the way in which it is going to do that
Customer service has significant impact on several areas of the business and ensures that you continue to thrive in the market, despite the stiff competition. The deliveries have to be on time, the documentation clear and the queries answered. In order to ensure that your customers keep coming back to you, you need to make sure that the procedures are in place. The customer should also be provided with an end-to-end tracking service so that they can locate the parcel. It is the responsibility of the courier service to ensure that the package is safely delivered and any damage caused during the course of the delivery should be compensated.
