3PL Perspectives
IF YOU TOOK a poll today and asked your driving team what grade they would give your communication efforts, what would the results show? Would you pass with flying colors—or would the data tell a different story?
Communication is all about removal of barriers that impede message delivery between two parties. Many times, a person’s communication intentions are good, but delivery of those messages can become one-sided, agenda-driven rhetoric that gets processed and perceived differently by each recipient, causing confusion, apathy and even anger. Audiences—like truck drivers—that are disconnected from their central hub, the place where most of the decision-making takes place, are even more susceptible to this than most. Drivers are tasked with making decisions that are well-intended, but with improper message delivery can cause unnecessary negative impact, inevitably tanking retention efforts that can be felt company wide.
At TextLocate, a SMS-text messagebased communication platform for logistics, we recognize that Over-the-Road (OTR) truck drivers have one of the toughest jobs in America, and it’s due to the way we choose to communicate with them. We understand that each person perceives information differently, and when we as leaders make communication easier for our audience, we get much better results. Therefore, we are dedicated to removing the barriers from communication with drivers and building a connection that bridges those gaps of confusion.
COMMUNICATE WITH DRIVERS THE WAY THEY WANT.
2-WAY CHAT
LOCATION REQUEST
IMAGE CAPTURE
NO APP TO DOWNLOAD
SIGN UP FOR AN ACCOUNT TODAY AT TEXTLOCATE.COM
In a society where we are all on message overload, there are some simple ways you as a leader can improve communication with drivers RIGHT NOW that require minimal financial investment but will bring a longterm gain in retaining happier, better engaged drivers.
Utilize digital tools like SMS text messaging instead of an app.
Smartphones function around the concept of apps, but many of those apps track users’ movement across the internet, creating issues surrounding privacy. Feedback from thousands of OTR drivers indicates they prefer communication that does not involve the use of an app. Phone calls often go unanswered because people are not able to take the call, or they just generally do not answer unknown numbers.
That’s precisely why we developed TextLocate. Supply chain companies and technology have focused and built business processes around the utilization of apps, but usage is surprisingly low because drivers feel like the apps track their long-term movement, and they don’t like that. Using a proprietary SMS communication platform, TextLocate offers 2-way chat capabilities, one-time location pings, and document scanning via text message—but does not track a user’s location beyond the one-time request.
