Customer service is the ultimate factor in today’s economy. In an environment in which delivery times are accelerating, returns are streamlined, and using an online storefront is incredibly intuitive, people expect every portal or online sales platform that they interact with to meet very high standards. Any company that uses a 3PL fulfillment provider needs to be aware of these expectations and verify that the fulfillment partner they choose has the capabilities to deliver excellent customer service.
With this blogpost, we start a two-part series on customer service in fulfillment. First, we’ll discuss what that actually means in the somewhat narrow field of fulfillment, because it varies based on some critical factors. In the follow-up blogpost, we’ll show why it’s easy to drop the ball on customer service and how Spectra makes sure that your organization is supported with not only accurate, timely fulfillment, but also great customer service at the same time.
Who Exactly Is the Customer?
Before you can provide great customer service, you have to know who the customer is. A fairly obvious statement, but in the realm of fulfillment, it’s easy for confusion to exist. A 3PL fulfillment provider is actually always serving two different entities that could be considered the customer. One is what most people would consider the “customer”: that is, the person who receives a delivery at their front door, or in the case of a B2B application, at their place of business.
The other entity, however, is the client organization that is actually contracting with the 3PL provider for fulfillment services. That client explains what services they need, checks in with the 3PL team to verify that things are going according to the contract, and of course, pays the monthly invoices for the service.
Which of these should be considered the customer for a fulfillment provider?
A Complex Customer Experience Landscape
The answer, of course, is both. This is where things can get complicated for the 3PL provider, and if there is insufficient experience, it can lead to real problems, as the team gives more attention to one of the “customers” while neglecting the other.
For instance, if the fulfillment provider is mainly focused on the end user, they may prioritize short delivery times and attention to detail when kitting, but they may fail to spend adequate time ensuring that the client organization’s branding and other needs are met. However, focusing on the client organization’s needs without paying enough attention to the end user might mean that addresses get mixed up, packages contain the wrong items, or requests for returns/refunds are not handled correctly.
It takes a highly organized and experienced team to execute fulfillment while ensuring that both the client organization and their end user feel that they are the number one priority at all times. The client knows that the 3PL team is carefully listening to them, processing their instructions, and looking out for them by conducting inventory management and shipping activities in an efficient, cost-effective way. The end user, at the same time, finds it easy to find what they need, place their order, and receive their delivery by the expected deadline.
Partnering for Customer Service
Another element in the complex landscape of customer service in fulfillment is that ideally, the end user has no idea that the 3PL provider is even involved. That is, the fulfillment provider is giving great customer service to the end user while they are unaware of the 3PL provider’s existence. How is that possible?
This arrangement only works well when the 3PL provider is able to truly adopt the role of the client organization’s fulfillment department. In other words, if the client organization had developed a fully functional in-house division for fulfillment, it would be aligned with the company’s branding, values, priorities, and all other aspects. Although that is cost prohibitive for most companies, a great 3PL provider like Spectra is able to step in and fill that role.
With their expertise in fulfillment and their experience over the decades working closely with organizations in all types of industries, the Spectra team knows how to quickly onboard and begin working as the invisible yet powerful force behind the client’s efficient, dependable fulfillment system.
Working Toward the Same Goal
While customer service in fulfillment is complex, with the right type of relationship between the client organization and a 3PL provider, it has the potential to become an incredible source of strength and growth for the client. Once the fulfillment processes are in place, the client and fulfillment provider’s software platforms are integrated, and materials begin moving along the fulfillment chain to the end users, Spectra becomes an extremely valuable partner in strategy.
Our team members have seen it all in the area of fulfillment, and have seen the landscape change as technologies of different kinds have made their way into the process. As they work on your projects, they are very well positioned to assess current protocols, examine metrics as they grow over time, and make recommendations about how you can do more and increase your business.
In the end, what that means is that serving both groups of “customers” at the same time, as complex as it is, benefits everyone. End users enjoy a simplified, intuitive ordering experience and hassle-free delivery, plus additional benefits down the road as Spectra helps the client implement more customer experience improvements. The client organization enjoys freedom from the innumerable potential pitfalls that a dysfunctional 3PL relationship can bring, in addition to the help of an expert fulfillment team that actually helps drive growth.
Come back next month for part two of this blogpost series, when we’ll get into the weeds and discuss some examples of the benefits and great ideas that the Spectra team brings to clients. Many of these ideas create advantages that the client would never have thought of pursuing, or would not have known where to start in order to make them happen.
