Opinion: Beyond ‘How’s My Driving?’

By Karl Meyer

Chief Executive Officer

3PD Inc.

This Opinion piece appears in the April 11 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.

Over the years, the words, “How’s my driving?” have become nearly ubiquitous on America’s tractor-trailers, and it’s easy to see why. Safe driving is a significant part of every trucking professional’s job, and no company can ensure that truckers are meeting this expectation without a little help from the people on the road who actually see these professionals in action.

Regardless of its efficacy as a supervisory tool, I’m fully in favor of this practice. However, I’m equally in favor of something else: using nontransportation professionals’ expertise to monitor other aspects of driver performance, too.

After all, when you think about it, there are many components besides safe driving that can affect the success or failure of a truck-based delivery program. These include timeliness, safe product handling, delivery team demeanor and proper use of equipment, just to name a few. And the vast majority of them are seen more closely by receiving departments or consumers than anyone else.

For example, if you’re a last-mile shipper, can you be 100% sure that each team making your residential deliveries showed its credentials upon arriving at your customers’ homes?

Do you truly know that all of these teams put on protective footwear before crossing each home’s threshold, or that they handled any particularly delicate pieces using the white gloves you mandated?

Just as important, can you guarantee that they observed all the other delivery protocols you wanted them to?

The truth is that you can’t, or at least not unless you ask the people who were there when the deliveries were made — your customers or clients.

Some companies already are doing this by printing the equivalent of a “How’s My Driving?” message on every shipping receipt or on a leave-behind card. But even this proactive practice has its limits because it often succeeds only in capturing input about the very best or worst of delivery experiences — a phenomenon known as the goalpost effect.

Other companies have taken their quest for feedback a step farther by leaving behind a survey that shipping recipients can complete and then return via fax or mail. However, this also can limit a response rate because this places the burden of responding on customers, and only a few will be inclined to make that extra effort.

Some businesses have invested even more of their time and energy by routinely administering phone surveys shortly after a customer or client receives a delivery, a method that offers the advantage of being quick and easy for recipients to respond to.

No matter which survey method — or combination of methods — your company chooses to employ, you need to ensure that it reaches as many of your customers and clients as possible, rather than a randomly selected handful, because each delivery is a unique event whose quality can vary significantly from carrier to carrier, team to team and even from day to day.

Often, such thoroughness is the only way you’ll be able to find out about any service lapse — and accompanying horror story — that otherwise might have found its damaging way onto Facebook, Twitter or some other social network.

You’ll also need to be prepared to consistently monitor, score and share survey feedback because, unless your findings are communicated and used to improve performance, their collection is nothing more than an empty public relations promise that allows your company to provide the illusion of caring about what customers have to say — an illusion that ultimately will be short-lived.

Finally, your company needs to be prepared to resolve any delivery-quality issues its surveys uncover — and quickly — because if people take the time to share a disappointment, they’re usually looking for some form of closure or restitution.

For some customers, this may be as easy as saying, “We’re sorry.” For others, it may require an exchange, return or some sort of compensatory gesture, such as a gift certificate, discount on future shipment, etc. Either way, it’s all about salvaging more than just a transaction; it’s about preserving the future of the entire relationship.

I can’t promise that these surveys will be inexpensive. Among other things, your company will have to invest in systems, design surveys and personnel dedicated to helping you with tallying and exceptions management. However, if my company’s experience with them is any indication, I can promise that they’ll yield substantial dividends:

• Your major stakeholders will appreciate the increased visibility and peace of mind.

• Your transportation professionals will be more motivated to bring their “A” game to every delivery — because even the most exemplary professionals tend to work harder when they know they’re being evaluated and held accountable.

• And your company will enjoy its improved delivery performance and customer relationships.

Any way you measure it, that’s a win for everyone.

3PD Inc., Atlanta, provides last-mile logistics and delivery services and ranks No. 35 on the Transport Topics Top 50 list of the largest logistics companies in North America.