Truckers and Travelers

Hey, Drivers!  There are so many factors that play into building a successful trucking business plan.  The steps you lay out for your trucking business should be carefully written down in your trucking business plan.  One of the things that should be included is the type of customer service you will provide.  The main ingredient in building a loyal customer base is in your communication skills.  The #1 reason for frustration in both business and personal relationships is miscommunication.  What you thought you heard is not what was necessarily said.  Today we will deal with the first half of a conversation, the sender and what they must do.

There are two issues to look at:  communication and listening.  In a conversation there is a sender and a receiver.  The sender’s job is to make sure that they ask the proper questions or state the specific needs to get the correct answers.  You must be concise and to the point.   Many people will ramble and end up losing the efficiency and effectiveness of their message.  This is not the time to tell winded stories.  Get to the bottome line.  When you ramble, the listener will eventually turn off their listening skills and tune you out.  Here is a good rule of thumb:  Speak as if you, the sender, have 20 seconds to get your message across to the listener or you’ll be cut off.  Think of talking to one of those answering machines that give you 4 seconds to leave a message.  I hate those kind of answering machines!  I end up calling back frustrated.  But, it actually forces me to be concise and to the point. 

Communication is the key to a successful trucking business and must be a crucial step in a trucking business plan.  In part 2, we will discuss the receiver’s part in communication and what the sender must do to make sure the conversation has been completed successfully so all parties are satisfied with the result.