In our industry, winning the trust of a client is hard earned. They must rely on us to understand the details of their freight, get it to where it needs to go and honor the shipping rates we quoted at the beginning.
Often, the shipment a client has entrusted us to handle is someone’s birthday or Christmas present, a critical piece of equipment that will help someone keep their business open or a school supply that will prevent a virtual learning student to not fall behind.
With every quote and estimated delivery promise our team makes, we understand what is at the heart of doing the work we do. Because of this, our team places great emphasis on one quality that helps us do our jobs to the best of our ability: building trust with our clients and partners.
In our more than 10 years of being in business, earning and building trust has become a hallmark of the excellent service we’re known for.
How do we do it? Our client services team says building trust is two-fold: it’s a part of the CTE Logistics culture and it’s a part of the team members’ personal goals of excellence.
“A lot of what we pride ourselves on is those human connections as opposed to only our systems,” said Certified Transportation Broker Katie Tillman. “We’re not just a we-will-just-quote-you kind of company. We proactively communicate challenges and always are honest. We never want anyone to feel blindsided.”
Building trust is a key ingredient in the CTE culture, and the client service team prides themselves on aspects of their service, like the level of detail in their updates and problem solving behind the scenes when a potential issue begins to arise.
By doing so, some of CTE’s biggest clients simply call up, share their shipping or warehousing needs and put their faith in the hands of the CTE team.
“These clients know we’re going to make the best decision for them,” said Jamie Hunt, Certified Transportation Broker. “If we get a better rate, they know we’ll pass along the savings to them.”
By building trusting relationships with clients, the team also shares the knowledge that the team learns, through ongoing education like industry credentials, which strengthens the client relationships even more.
“Clients expect us to know everything so well,” Client Services Supervisor Baylee Evans said. “We meet that expectation, so their standards are really high. As we continue to build our knowledge and we share that information openly, we’re building great relationships.”
In addition to trust building being a deep characteristic of the entire team, each team member also has a personal standard of creating excellent relationships. It’s a trait the team looks for whenever they hire a new team member, and continues for CTE’s team members, even after they’ve been with the organization for years. They say it’s about pride in their work and representing CTE to the best of their abilities.
“I just want to give them the reassurance that they made the right choice,” Client Service Representative Jessica Hofeldt said.