Know how to solve problems
Despite his best service attempts, O’Dell knows that sometimes his team will mess up. He starts with establishing a defect management system — metrics that will help determine when this happens — but he breaks it down to small details.
For example, instead of simply looking at whether a shipment was on time or not, he breaks it down further, such as, was it not loaded, was it loaded but not moved on time, did it arrive on time but not moved across the dock, etc.
“You really have to look at your customers and say, ‘What are they looking for?’ and then make sure you build the metrics in there and take your defect management system down to as little details as possible so you have accountability and can improve those key drivers,” he says. “Periodically, that has to be re-evaluated to see if there are ways to improve it or if there are better processes or if our priorities change. You have to be adaptable to that.”
With metrics in place, it’s easier to communicate with both customers and employees about the problems that come up.
So if O’Dell looks at his defect management report and sees four shipments that failed on someone’s shift, he can address that with the employee to help him or her improve.
“You deal with that, and you tell them why, and you review it with them and what other tools they could have used to make a better decision,” he says. “That’s ongoing.”
But he also has to address the problem with the customer.
“First of all, obviously, you have to be open and honest with them and acknowledge what the issue is,” he says.
Then he has a team create a corrective action plan that outlines what the company will do in the future to eliminate more problems.
One of the keys to resolving customer problems is to know what they are and how to handle them. At one company, the person making the shipping decisions may be the vice president, while at another, it could be a warehouse worker. Know who you’re dealing with and what perspective that person is coming from. You also have to handle the situation how you would handle it — not how someone else would.
“Part of it is you have to be yourself,” O’Dell says. “People see through that if you’re not being sincere. You have to get to know the person and figure out how to read them. You have to know yourself, too, and what your strengths are. If you’re like me, you’re a finance person and you’re not the best jokester probably and you have to be a straight man and know that other people may have a way to make fun of the situation and come out of it that way. But you have to figure out what your set of weapons are.”
And while you want to listen and work to resolve their issue, sometimes you also have to point out the facts — if he handles 1,400 shipments a year for them and only three are wrong, that’s a good track record.
“It doesn’t help that one person that one day, but just because you made a mistake on one shipment or had a breakdown or whatever the case may be, it doesn’t mean you’re a bad service provider,” he says. “Sometimes you have to stand up for yourself and show people the data that reminds people of that because they get caught up on the problem they have with one shipment. So while you want to be sympathetic and understanding, sometimes you have to stand up for yourself, as well.”
Knowing when to do this, though, comes back to knowing your customers and their needs.
“Part of it, too, you have to know that some customers will take that, and other customers are going to be offended,” O’Dell says. “Some people probably just want you to be quiet and listen to them, and come back the next day. That’s one thing about salespeople and customer service people: You have to be a bit of a chameleon and figure out what’s the way to handle this situation for this person or customer.”
HOW TO REACH: Saia Inc., (800) 765-7242 or www.saia.com
