Steve Jordan reports on a panel discussion in Las Vegas exploring what today’s customers want and what the mobility industry needs to do to keep them happy.
A panel discussion at IAM in Las Vegas looked at what customers want from a mobility supplier. The panellists were: Joana Carvalho, Logistics Administrator for the IMF; Peter Bowsher, Project Manager, Household Goods Shipping for The World Bank; John Roller, Executive Consultant, Atlantic Relocation Systems; and Jose Pose, Head of Partner Relationships with K2 Corporate Mobility. The session was moderated by Morgana Somers from IAM.
It was an interactive session with the audience asked to answer a series of polls to drive the discussion. The first poll asked: ‘What are the top factors that influence customer satisfaction?’. The top three results were: communication (79%), reliability and punctuality (70%) and pricing (47%). Each panellist was asked to comment on the results.
Peter Bowsher agreed on the importance of good communication. “Communication absolutely is the key secret to success,” he said, adding that whether the news was good or bad it was important to communicate regularly to make people feel looked after and engaged.
Joana Carvalho said it is important to know your client, as everyone is different. She also agreed that pricing is important. But she added that the quality for the handling service is also important, but it’s a given – the quality of the packing and handling is expected to be good.
John Roller said, that from a private transferee perspective it is important to set expectations, especially in the current chaotic environment. He said the three pillars of service are: pricing, transit time and security of the shipment. Adding that a key priority is to be able to use technology to communicate better between ourselves, vendors and with transferees.
Jose Pose pointed out that meeting timescales was not always possible, so it is important to communicate any deviation as quickly as possible. Asked whether their organisations impose penalties on suppliers if they fail to achieve required deliver dates, both peter and Joana said they do, but they need to be flexible as a mover cannot control, for ePample, the weather.
There were many references to ‘death by pdf’, by which the panellists meant providing an overload of non-specific information ...
Photo: The panellists (left to right): Morgana Somers, Jose Pose, John Roller, Peter Bowsher and Joana Carvalho.