The Great Vince Lombardi’s Lesson for Logistics
Vince Lombardi, one of the greatest football coaches of all time said, “Football is two things. It’s blocking and tackling. I don’t care about formations or new offenses or tricks on defense. You block and tackle better than the team you’re playing, you’re going to win.”
The Shipper Of Choice discussion continues to be a major topic of discussion in 2019. Shippers are looking for innovative and strategic ways to better partner with their carrier and broker partners.
But just as blocking and tackling are the fundamental keys to winning football games, consistent, standardized and centralized facility information is necessary to becoming a true shipper of choice in 2019. If you want to lead change in your organization and become a shipper of choice—no matter where you are at in your quest to reach shipper of choice status, the path to its achievement starts with a single step, then countless small, incremental steps forward with actionable analytics.
Blocking and tackling. It also takes practice, and that starts with proactive communications to your internal staff, communicating your goals of Shipper Of Choice status. Share your goals so there are clear expectations to dock and warehousing results.
At Dock411 we developed a data platform to help shippers solve this problem. Our goal is impactful information to reduce dwell time. Dock411’s data platform is like blocking and tackling fundamentals to help shippers become a true shipper of choice. It’s a tool to help shippers win more capacity and drive down freight costs.
What does blocking and tackling look like from a Shipper Of Choice perspective?
- Share your facility information, improving safety and efficiency around the dock by informing drivers about the dock ahead of time. Be proactive in your communication to outside sources.
- Share your policies, procedures, wait times and other requirements.
- Provide facility photos or videos to help improve maneuverability and reduce insurance costs.
- Share your amenities available at your facility. Do you allow access to restrooms, driver lounge, parking and Wi-Fi? Dock411 surveyed over 10,000 professional drivers to see what was important to them while they waited to load or unload at your facilities. After “how do I get there,” knowing what amenities were available was listed as vital to improving their customer experience at your facility.
- Allow the driver to review your facility, how were they treated, did you have restrooms available—let them share their experience
A Shipper Of Choice needs awareness to areas of improvement that impact dwell time. A data platform with functional information will provide visibility, transparency and accountability to becoming a true shipper of choice. Another football coach, John McKay said, “We didn’t tackle well today but we made up for it by not blocking.” You have a choice.
You can block and tackle better by implementing a data platform that will help you win the shipper of choice experience so that you reduce your freight costs and reduce dwell times.
As always, feel free to contact me with any questions or comments.
