Feeling the pressure to boost customer satisfaction, drive new business, and improve their bottom lines are just a few of the things we hear from third-party logistics (3PL) business owners and operators.
These top priorities have many logistics professionals looking for ways to improve their warehousing operations and automate workflows to help reduce costs, meet shipping demands, increase throughput—all to better serve their customers.
Yet, year over year, customer acquisition ranks as the top order volume growth driver and business opportunity in all of our 3PL Warehouse Benchmark Reports. In order to stand out in today’s competitive market, 3PLs must strive to become indispensable partners that their customers—especially ecommerce companies—can’t imagine doing business without.
For third-party logistics companies to succeed, they need to prioritize their customer experience and success by automating warehouse workflows and supply chain management with best practices designed to help warehouses operate more efficiently and effectively.
Here are five ways third-party logistics providers can find new customers and help their existing clients fall in love with them to reduce turnover.
How to Retain 3PL Customers
1. Become Your Customers’ Fulfillment Experts
Product fulfillment centers can be intimidating to those outside of our industry. Your customers will appreciate your 3PL company’s experience, knowledge, and guidance.
Warehouses should help customers understand the best practices and processes that will work well for both parties. Offering advice on what technologies to use and workflows to implement to help save your clients money will ensure that you are meeting their expectations to elevate their business—and grow your business, too. These should include:
- Access to state-of-the-art fulfillment automation and paperless operations software to reduce errors
- Guidance regarding the most efficient workflows and cost-effective value-added services like kitting to increase return on investment (ROI)
- Assistance in choosing the right ecommerce engines, shopping carts, or electronic data interchange (EDI) connections for their needs
2. Seamlessly Connect with Your Customers’ Systems
One of your 3PL’s primary jobs is to make your customers’ jobs easier; after all, that’s one of the biggest reasons they’re outsourcing their logistics processes in the first place.
Customers love when integrations are fast, simple, and airtight. But most of all, they love it when they are hassle-free in every sense of the word. Your 3PL will delight your customers, especially ecommerce businesses, if you can easily connect every aspect of their inventory management and order fulfillment operations to their:
- Suppliers and manufacturers
- Ecommerce sales channels and shopping carts
- Brick-and-mortar retail sites
- Delivery partners
- Accounting software programs like Quickbooks
Working with a warehouse management system (WMS) partner like Extensiv is like having an extension of your team. Especially when you have access to a powerful ecosystem of integrations, services, and trusted partners to help you every step of the way.
3. Become The Most Trusted Data Partner
Your customers love a 3PL partner they never have to question. The data flowing through their supply chain is likely the largest and most complex dynamic they have to deal with as an organization.
3PL providers that become their customers’ go-to source for all this information will be seen as heroes. This can be accomplished by providing 100% accurate, real-time information regarding:
- Inventory levels and conditions
- Automated tracking notifications of all fulfillment and deliveries
- Detailed billing and invoicing for the services you provide
4. Become Your Customers’ Brand Image Champions
Your customers’ brand image is the most valuable asset they own. Working with a logistics partner that is committed to protecting that image with a flawless track record will ensure customer loyalty and growth opportunities. Your 3PL can do so by providing fulfillment services where:
- Every order is handled accurately and efficiently
- Every item is fulfilled following your client's brand packaging guidelines
- Every one of their buyers is impressed with your customer service, delivery tracking, and product returns performance—every time
5. Help Your Customers Grow Their Business
Your customer base is looking for warehousing and logistics services that go above and beyond to help them succeed. Your role as a service provider already makes you a vital part of your customers’ operations. But your 3PL should aspire to become a true business partner who can drive their customers’ success.
Being such a partner will undoubtedly earn their customers’ respect—and long-term business. Your 3PL can accomplish this by:
- Meeting with your clients on a regular basis to show your value and learn their future plans
- Providing insights and reports about their business and showing them how they can use this to plan and make decisions
- Working with customers directly to help them develop their long-term planning, tactics, and strategies
- Providing customers with the data analytics, including performance metrics, required to measure their results
Win and Keep More Business with Extensiv
In short, your customers want a 3PL partner who is easy to work with, utterly reliable, and an expert in the business of fulfillment. Such 3PL providers will quickly become an irreplaceable part of their customers’ daily operations and future success.
Your clients aren’t the only ones who can benefit from an expert business partner dedicated to their success; Extensiv can be that for you.
Extensiv’s software for 3PLs provides robust, comprehensive solutions for all of your essential workflows, including warehouse, inventory, and order management. With built-in features like mobile barcode scanning, small parcel shipping & rate shopping, customer billing, and data analytics & reporting, Extensiv 3PL Warehouse Manager can streamline your operations and boost efficiency so you can better serve your customers.
To learn more about how Extensiv can help your 3PL become a warehouse your customers will love, request a demo today.
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