How GLS-US Raised the Bar for Logistics Customer Service
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Summary
GLS is a leading parcel and LTL freight delivery provider with a proven record of excellent service and continuing growth. To proactively elevate their customer experience, they sought support from their trusted partner, DDC FPO.
DDC FPO successfully recruited, onboarded, and trained staff to perform critical customer-facing activities, while also supporting a successful customer development and onboarding. After just seven days, GLS’ dedicated team of DDC agents surpassed expectations in collecting missing data, securing quotes, and confirming bookings.
Background
GLS-US is the North American subsidiary of GLS Group, a leading cross-border parcel service provider. The company provides reliable, high-quality parcel services and exceptional customer service across 41 countries. Thanks to the company's expansive cross-border network and strong local market knowledge, customers can expect the same seamless, flexible, and personal service across North America, Europe, and beyond.
The GLS network consists of 71 central and regional trans-shipment points and about 1,500 depots, supported by approximately 31,000 final-mile delivery vehicles and 4,000 long-distance trucks.
GLS-US was looking to power up their already excellent customer service experience and scale their sales operation but faced the daunting challenge of hiring and retaining the best talent to serve their customers while balancing external market forces.
Having already successfully partnered with DDC for Freight Billing, expanding their service agreement to include Customer Care was a natural next step.
"Customer satisfaction has never been more important,” says Joe Bartone, Chief Operating Officer at GLS-US. “I have been working with DDC for years, and I know I can trust them with this piece of my business.”
The Challenge
For many logistics service providers, customer experience is a top priority, but hiring and retaining qualified customer service professionals is challenging.
“We have heard complaints about the never-ending quest to hire and keep people,” says Donna Kintop, Senior Vice President of Client Experience at DDC FPO. “The cost of employing customer service agents is exorbitant and with very high turnover.” For companies in growth mode, such as GLS-US, this is especially difficult.
GLS-US’s team was working harder than ever to cover their burgeoning physical territory and expanding client list. To mitigate the growing pains and sustain continued success, GLS proactively sought out additional customer service capacity that would maintain their best-in-class service level long-term.
To achieve their goals, GLS-US prioritized a custom-designed program that would:
- Scale to meet increasing demand – GLS-US wanted a solution that could rapidly scale without the need to constantly hire more in-house team members and could offer support for inside sales as needed.
- Cover their hours of operation – A global business can’t turn off its customer service operations when the home office closes. This requires a solution that could meet customer needs at all hours of the day from around the world.
- Be available in multiple languages – To diversify customer service language base and include more native speakers from commonly used dialects, DDC guarantees a minimum B2 language proficiency level per the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).
- Integrate with their service-oriented culture – Their culture is a part of their winning formula. Company leadership wanted care associates who could quickly plug into new roles and responsibilities and become a vital part of the team.
- Help them capture additional market share – GLS-US needed to turn dormant contacts into viable leads, nurture relationships, and book new shipments.
The Solution
Given their objectives, DDC FPO’s Customer Care offering was the ideal solution to address GLS-US’ challenges.
On average, DDC clients who leverage this solution save about two-thirds on their workforce staffing and retention expenses while maintaining a flexible, scalable base of qualified and knowledgeable professionals.
Customer Care services include:
- Omnichannel, Multilingual Customer Service
- Support for Internal Processes
- Inside Sales, Sales Support, and Portfolio Management
DDC FPO created a customized Customer Care solution for GLS-US that included training, quality assurance, contingencies for expansion, technology configuration, extensive testing to ensure a successful launch, and ongoing implementation support to fine-tune performance.
Results
With DDC’s freight industry expertise and reliable business continuity, GLS-US’ customer service and inside sales teams can scale sustainably and maintain their position as two of the company’s strongest assets.
By recruiting, hiring, and training talented associates, DDC’s Customer Care solution provides timely and complete resolution for GLS-US’s customers across numerous communication channels. As a result, GLS-US hit their customer care targets while scaling operations with DDC consultants to cover care across their currently served markets.
“DDC's Customer Care offering empowers GLS to meet growing customer expectations and build long-term business relationships at scale.” – Joe Bartone, Chief Operating Officer at GLS-US
Within four days, DDC agents uncovered 43% of the missing data from key accounts, completing their account records to begin the sales qualification.
Sales-qualified leads passed on to GLS’s in-house agents led to prospects receiving quotes, resulted in customer setup, and credit approval within the client system.
Goals Achieved
- Elevated existing customer experience
- Scaled customer service staff within budget
- Reactivated dormant accounts
- Gathered accurate, up-to-date client data
- Increased sales qualified lead generation
- Closed first FTL booking within Week One
Conclusion
From serving in everyday roles to helping with special marketing initiatives, DDC’s experienced agents add value to GLS-US’s customer care services, contributing to their continued success.
“DDC's Customer Care offering empowers GLS to meet growing customer expectations and build long-term business relationships at scale,” Joe Bartone says. No matter what challenges lie ahead, with support from DDC FPO, GLS-US can scale their customer service with confidence.
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