There is so much focus these days on building online communities, particularly using social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. But are you fully leveraging your existing real-world communities?
For example, how many of you know the people who live five houses down from you or at the other end of your street? This past Sunday, I met several of my neighbors for the first time at a 9/11 memorial service, even though we have been living together on the same street for more than four years. It turns out that we share some common interests, both personally and professionally. What took us so long to connect? What have we missed out on by not meeting sooner?
A similar situation exists with third party logistics (3PL) providers. Think of a 3PL’s customers as a community of manufacturers and retailers. But many service providers, if not most, do a poor job of engaging this community. For example, relatively few 3PLs have customer advisory boards (CABs) or some other mechanism to bring their customers together, either in person or virtually, to facilitate peer-to-peer learning and knowledge exchange. I participated in a CAB meeting recently, the first for this 3PL, and all of the customers who attended were meeting each other for the first time even though they have all been working with the 3PL — “living in the same neighborhood” — for more than three years.
Providing operational excellence is no longer enough for 3PLs to succeed. Operational excellence is a given; it’s what gets you invited to the dance. So how else can 3PLs differentiate themselves from the competition? I believe one approach is for 3PLs to fully harness the power and value of their customer and employee communities.
In a recent web survey I conducted on learning and leadership, I asked supply chain executives to rate the value of various sources of knowledge in terms of providing valuable information, practical knowledge, and unbiased advice. Not surprising, direct conversations with peers was the top-ranked knowledge source, followed by industry associations and conferences, which happen to facilitate peer-to-peer interactions. Near the bottom of the list: 3PLs.
Part of the reason for the low ranking is that some shippers might view 3PLs as being biased. But the biggest reason, in my opinion, is that 3PLs have not positioned themselves effectively as a knowledge source. In various think tanks I have conducted over the years, shippers have consistently said that they want their 3PL partners to provide them with insights about leading industry practices and trends, as well as to facilitate networking and knowledge-exchange opportunities with other shippers in the 3PL’s community.
Generally speaking, however, 3PLs focus the majority of their time and resources on two things: operations (meeting customer service and cost commitments) and sales (growing the business). Historically, they have not applied the same level of focus and investment on what I will call “customer engagement management.”
In our personal lives, the more connected and engaged we are with our community (neighbors, schools, places of worship, volunteer organizations, etc.), the less willing we are to leave. I know people who have turned down lucrative job offers in other cities or states mainly because they were deeply rooted and happy in their current community. In other words, their community meant more to them than a higher salary or position elsewhere.
By investing in customer engagement management, 3PLs can also create a community (a knowledge network) that their customers would highly value and greatly miss if they were to move elsewhere — a community that provides them with valuable insights about industry trends and leading practices, a community that facilitates peer-to-peer learning and knowledge exchange, a community with motivated and engaged members, a community that is diverse, vibrant, and yes, fun.
Clients like CH Robinson and Transplace are taking steps in this direction (click here for related commentary), but much more work, learning, and mind shift is required—not only by 3PLs, but by their customers too, because even though shippers say they want this, they don’t always “walk the talk” when the time comes to take action.
In their book “A New Culture of Learning,” Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown argue that “The old ways of learning are unable to keep up with our rapidly changing world” and they position peer-to-peer learning as a more effective model. “In the new culture of learning,” the authors state, “people learn through their interaction and participation with one another in fluid relationships that are the results of shared interests and opportunities.”
3PLs are well positioned to enable this new culture of learning in the supply chain and logistics field, but only if they invest in customer engagement management. In an industry where providing operational excellence is no longer enough to succeed, 3PLs must do a better job of leveraging their most valuable asset: the knowledge and expertise of their customer and employee communities.
(Note: 3PLs interested in exploring this topic in more detail, please contact Adrian at adrian@logisticsviewpoints.com).
We at C.H. Robinson have found customer communities and forums are just as valuable to us as they are to our customers. We can learn a lot from our customers in settings like this. As mentioned above, we have made an effort to bring together customers at events like the upcoming CSCMP conference or our TMC customer forum. However, with the advances in social media, we will continue to look for new ways to bring customers together in the ever-changing world. With the main focus remaining the same, supply chain innovation.
Excellent article. The value of knowledge (actionable information) goes mainly under-appreciated. Like Greg @ CH Robinson has found their customer community to be valuable (example of a 3PL perspective), here at GT Nexus we see the same. Our perspective is, of course, from a neutral technology provider’s perspective — but the basic tenets hold true.