ASSIGNMENT COVER

HHAHA

HAMBRA EDU SERVICES

STUDENT’S NAME : Mohd Firdaus Bin Zinal Abidin

I/C NO / MATRIX NO. : HBSC23209

PROGRAMME : EXECUTIVE BACHELOR IN SUPPLY CHAIN

MANAGEMENT

CLASS DATE : 29 JULY 2023

INTAKE DATE : JULY

MODULE : LOGISTICS CUSTOMER RELATIONS MANAGEMENT

TRAINER’S NAME : TS AZIAN BINTI IBRAHIM

CENTRE : HAMBRA EDU SERVICES

OVERALL MARK
(Fill up by Trainer)

INDICATOR MARK

EFFORT ( 10% )
PRESENTATION (10% )
CONTENT ( 40% )
TOTAL ( 60% )
LOGISTIC CUSTOMER RELATION MANAGEMENT

Part 1: What are the seven elements of customer service in logistics? Elaborate and give
one example per element. (1,000 words)
Logistics customer service is a part of a firm’s overall customer services offering, customer
service elements that are specific to logistics operations including fulfilment, speed, quality, and
cost.
There are seven elements in customer service as per below: -

1. Pre-transaction elements
2. Transactions elements
3. Post-transaction elements
Pre-transaction elements

Pre-transaction elements are about what happens before the sale.

• Written Customer Service Policy

• Organizational Structure
• Method Of Ordering
• Single Order Contact Point
• Accessibility Of Order Personnel
• Order Size Constraints
• System Flexibility

Written Customer Service Policy

Outlines how the business will communicate with customers, including the tone and language
used in all communications. It may also outline the specific channels through which customers
can contact the business, such as email, phone, and chat support. Make sure the policy is easy
to find, read, and understand, and use simple and friendly language. Also, can mention about
benefits of our policy to customers such as how they can protect their rights, provide value or
ensure quality.

Organizational Structure

The method by which workflow through an organization. It allows groups to work together within
their individual functions to manage tasks. An organizational structure defines how job titles,
roles, and responsibilities are assigned within a company. It helps determine who reports to
whom, and who makes decisions about what.

Method Of Ordering

As requirements arise, authorized individuals may place orders for specific quantities of items
covered in this contract. Regardless of the method of ordering used, the contract and any
subsequent modifications determine performance time and dates. Performance under this
contract is not to begin until receipt of the purchase order, Procurement Card order, or other
notification by the County Purchasing Agent and/or County agency to proceed.

Single Order Contact Point

Refer to a person or department that is designated to handle all requests or inquiries coming
from a client. It helps clients solve their problems effectively and promptly. The customer
service team handles all complaints and inquiries via various communication channels, such as
phone or others.
Accessibility Of Order Personnel

Accessibility is to make sure all orders are smooth and can be fulfilled by an organization.

Order Size Constraints

Determine the order in which the resources run. Configure an order size constraint to determine
the order in which resources start and stop. Common types of resource constraints include
limits on raw materials, machine capacity, workforce capacity, inventory investment, storage
space, or the total number of orders placed.
System Flexibility

Learning directly from the customer what needs changing or improving, how this can be best
carried out, and reintegrating these new ideas back into the customer experience process. Also
being able to adapt to external factors, such as market conditions, competitors, regulations, or
technologies. A business that is efficient can reduce operational costs, increase its margins,
and gain a competitive advantage.
For Example;
Many important activities must take place before a successful sale or service. Think of going
into a restaurant for a nice juicy steak.
The steak and the salad do not just arrive automatically on the plate once ordered. They have
to be correctly sourced (purchasing), using money (the financial aspects of logistics) and stored
in an appropriate fridge (cold storage).
The information system should reflect that one has 85 300-gram steaks soaking in a sweet-and-
sour marinade, ready for customers’ consumption in the evening. You may even have a number
of the basic ingredients for my brother’s Greek salad pre-chopped.
The pre-washed lettuce and the dressing would be added to these ingredients so as to present
the salad to the customer efficiently while it is fresh. Next time you go into a restaurant during
non-peak hours and the service is very slow, remind yourself that they either do not plan well in
advance, or they do not have a lot of customers, and have to do everything once an order has
been placed.

Transactions Elements
Transactions elements are about what happens during the actual sale
The elements directly related to the physical transaction are those that are most commonly
concerned with logistics.

• Condition Of Goods
• Inventory Availability
• Order Preparation
• Service/Order Cycle Time
• Delivery Alternatives
• Delivery Time;
• Delivery Reliability
• Delivery Of Complete Order
• Order Status Information.
During a sale or the provision of a service, certain key activities occur that can influence the
success of the transaction. Effective businesses make certain that they have adequate stock
levels so as to satisfy the customers’ needs, that is, there is appropriate planning and
forecasting for the actual sale.
An example of a case is like this below:
When customers walk into a shop they expect the most commonly purchased brands to be in
stock. If one walks into a 7Eleven in Subang Jaya one expects to find Coca-Cola. One expects
to find Coffee in Starbucks at Shah Alam, M&M chocolates in a sweet shop in Petaling Jaya,
and Titleist golf balls in a golf shop in Kuala Lumpur.

Key skills during the actual transaction include:

a. Correctly entering or recording the order information.

b. Treating your customer as well as possible within the circumstances (using appropriate
interpersonal skills)
c. Assessing the needs of the customer correctly and matching these needs with a product
or service.
d. Following up on customers as quickly as possible (for example, one would want to
process shipments to customers as efficiently as possible or expedite them)
e. Making it easy for the customers to place an order efficiently and accurately.
f. Supplying suitable or compatible substitute products when the customer's choice is out
of stock.
g. Following up on any outstanding customer order problems or concerns (rounding off the
interaction and dealing with the customers correctly
h. Acknowledging and recording any feedback from the customs, whether positive or
negative, in the best way possible way (your customer is probably the best possible tool
for correcting inadequacies in your customer service.

The post-transaction elements

These involve those elements that occur after the delivery has taken place. It is often said the
best times to test a company, and customer services are not before or during the actual
customer encounter but afterwards, the goods are sold. How efficient are the company's staff at
solving the problems that arise during an encounter and after the encounter has taken place?
For example:
Based on my experience, I am buying a new Tefal pressure cooker from Aeon Mall. A few
months later my pressure cooker didn’t work as usual and I suspected that something was not
working properly. Then I call their customer service to launch the report and they give
instructions with the report number. Whether I can send the pressure cooker nearby to my
house. The next day I send the product to my nearest house, and they give me a copy of the
report to do collection after their technician complete the check and repair my pressure cooker.
A few days customer service call me to collect the pressure cooker and before I go, they ask
me to check whether the pressure cooker functioned or not.
Would I buy from them again? Most definitely I will because they took care of this small problem
and if they could do that then they will probably be able to take care of the big problem, too.
Attention to detail and matching the terms of the warranty.

Key post-transaction skills include:

a. The installation of the product as promised.

b. The honouring of the warranty. Do not promise too much in your product warranty
because honouring the warranty is expensive. Rather under-promise and over-deliver
than over-promise and under-deliver and lose the customer in the process.
c. The ability of your company to repair a sold item that has broken.
d. The ability to supply a part for a product to the customer after the sale.
e. The ability to trace the supplied product to the original supplier when it is faulty.
f. The ability or willingness of the company to replace a faulty or defective product.
 g. The ability to handle customer claims, complaints, and repairs after the sale. This is often
what shows the true logistical efficiency of the company.

Part 2: What is the connection of logistics and customer service in an

organisation of your choice. Explain the customer service from a logistics
perspective. (1,000 words)

In the past, a warehouse was just a place where goods were stored and eventually
processed for shipping. There wasn't much talk about how warehousing could impact
customer services. A lot has changed!

With the explosive growth of eCommerce, there has been a dramatic transformation in the
role warehouses and distribution centres play in the customer experience. These
businesses now play a vital part in order fulfilment. So the entire focus has shifted away
from just storing goods to getting them into the hands of customers as promised.

It's usually not the first thing that comes to mind, but warehouse management plays a
large role in modern customer service. If you want to provide an exceptional customer
experience, it starts with the user interface or sales experience.

But, once you make a sale, it's up to your logistics department to deliver on what you
promised. Here are four ways good warehouse management can improve customer
service.

1. The Right Items in Stock

When you track your inventory, you're going

to have a clearer picture of what you have on hand and what you need. You will know
which items are selling well and which ones are just sitting on shelves and costing you
money. This makes inventory management almost seamless and improves the experience
for your customer.

Customers don't want to place an order only to find out that you don't have it in stock.
When you have tighter control over your inventory, this can save you time and money,
which may be savings you can pass along to your customers.

Customers want accurate information from the companies they trust with their business. If
you can provide real-time data about your inventory levels, this provides peace of mind
that an item is on hand and ready to ship.
2. Faster Order Fulfilment

Better warehouse management also means

faster order fulfilment. Some of the largest eCommerce giants now promise customers
next-day and even same-day delivery in some markets. You may not be able to compete
with that. But you will want to deliver orders as quickly as possible and always deliver on
your promises.

If your warehouse is disorganized or you don't have visibility throughout the supply chain,
it's going to be tough to deliver items quickly to your customers. An efficient warehouse
management system and the right technology solutions can help you deliver the fast
service your customers expect.

3. Order Fulfilment Accuracy

Obviously, customers don't want just any package to land on their doorsteps. They want
exactly what they ordered and would prefer that it show up undamaged. When a customer
receives the wrong item or one damaged during fulfilment, you will likely lose their trust
and future business.

Proper warehouse management reduces common errors in order picking and packing. It
can also make sure that items are handled with care to reduce the possibility of damage.

4. Better Returns System

Despite your best efforts during the order fulfilment process, customers are likely going to
have returned. In fact, as much as 20% of products purchased online are returned for
various reasons.
How you handle reverse logistics can impact the customer experience as well. When you
handle returns efficiently and make the process easier for customers, they are more likely
to purchase from you again in the future.

Warehouse Management Solutions for Improving Customer Service

Possibly the most important step towards improving customer service on the warehouse
level is employing the right warehouse management solutions. Refining your processes is
important. But there are a variety of solutions you can implement to work smarter, not
harder, and achieve the desired results. These include:

1. Warehouse Management System (WMS)

A warehouse management system (WMS) is a multi-faceted system that helps a business

manage all of its warehouse and logistics activities. There are modules for inventory
management, asset management, order fulfilment, reverse logistics, and more.

These are generally cloud-based systems that are accessible from any web-enabled
device. They can also be integrated with other technology solutions.

2. RFID Tags and/or Barcodes

Having visibility throughout the supply chain is one sure way to improve the customer
experience. Once you have your WMS in place, you can get this visibility if you also use
RFID tags or barcodes.

For example, RFID tags are an advanced asset tagging solution, with a single reader
being able to scan hundreds of tags at once. And the tags can reveal a ton of data about
the product, such as its colour, size, weight, expiration date, destination, and even order
number.

3. Wearables

Wearable devices in the warehouse can be worn on the wrist or hip. Worke rs can also
wear headsets. Some have GPS and Bluetooth capability to connect with the WMS.
Wearables can provide the worker's location in the warehouse and track activity. They
can also deliver picking and packing instructions to streamline these repetitiv e tasks.
4. Mobile Workstations

A lot of a warehouse worker's day is spent walking back and forth from a central location
to areas throughout the building for picking and packing activities. This leads to wasted
time, fatigue, potential delays in order processing, and the possibility of errors.

One solution is to use mobile workstations. These mobile-powered carts can move around
the warehouse with the workers, providing everything they need to be productive right on
the warehouse floor.

5. Warehouse Robotics

Warehouse robotics can make your operation more efficient and help it reduce order
processing errors. Some examples of robotics solutions include automatic pickers,
automated guided vehicles (AGVs), and mobile rack goods-to-person (GTR) robotics.

The link between warehouse management and customer service shouldn't be weak.
It's important to remember that your business will experience plenty of challenges that will
impact this relationship. However, it can implement various solutions to help it run more
efficiently and outperform the competition. In doing so, this will improve your overall
results and provide the ideal conditions for growth.

6 Factors Why Customer Service in Logistics is of Utmost Importance

In every vertical market, customer service has an essential role to play. Customer service holds
a very high value in the logistics industry.
A shipper is constantly faced with innumerable queries throughout the course of the
transportation of cargo, from the place of origin to its final destination. Good partner support is
imperative to handle all transportation issues.
Logistics companies are the partner support that assures the delivery of goods to the correct
destinations, on time, and that too cost-effectively. A single breakdown in this process of
transportation can cause great damage and be catastrophic for the company, negatively
impacting the customer service in logistics.
Good customer service in logistics depends upon good communication and timely and damage-
free deliveries. An efficient customer service in logistics helps the logistics chain to operate well,
to the best of its capabilities. Providing good customer service and communications as part of
the logistics services is essential to the success of the business.
In order to establish a long-term relationship with the customers, and in order to gain loyalty of
the customer, the focus of customer service should be shifted product-oriented strategy to a
customer-focused one.
The following pointers elaborate upon the relevance of customer service in logistics and how
customer service catapults the business to the next level:

1. Good Customer Service Helps in Earning Customer Loyalty and Maintaining a client

Maintaining a client results in an automatic increase in profits. A repeat customer is a customer

who is loyal to the brand and hence spends more on the brand products and services. Almost
67% more. This naturally results in the business having to spend less on its operating costs and
yet, gaining more through the business done with the repeat clientele.
A mere increase of 5% in customer retention equates to an increase of almost 25% in profits.
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) is the cost of acquiring a new customer. And this is not an
insignificant cost. As per research, Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) is way more for a
company than the customer retention cost. For a company that does not invest a small
percentage of its budget in customer service, CAC can be a hefty cost.
Good customer service helps in maintaining the clients and ensures a repeat clientele at a
much lower cost than CAC. Hence, investing in customer service can decrease the churn rate,
which ultimately decreases the amount spent on acquiring new customers, and decreases the
overall CAC

2. Good Customer Service Boosts the Brand Image

Customers are the brand makers. Great client support boosts the brand image and makes it
appear attractive in the market. The positive reviews of the customers and their positive
feedback surveys about the brand products and services, and consequently about the business,
boost the overall gains and opportunities for the business. Bad audits typically happen when the
client feels they had poor client care. Hence good customer service is key to the success of the
business.
3. Good Customer Service Depends Upon Cheerful, Sensitive and Positive Customer
Care Representatives

Customer Care Representatives are the contact points between the brand and the customer.
Hence the entire interaction of customer service depends upon the customer care
representative. Naturally, an unhappy customer care representative will not provide good
customer service. No employee appreciates feeling overlooked or contrasted with
representatives in different groups and the same holds for client assistance groups.
It has been observed that 87% of customer care representatives, who are content with their
occupations, are happy to make adjustments for their business clients. In other words, they are
pliant to the needs and queries of the customer.
55% of representatives, who, even though they emphatically differ about being content with
their employment, also buckle down for clients. Their perspective behind serving clients is not
so much about needing to offer quality support. Instead, it is more linked to them maintaining
their polished skill and uprightness, and not having any desire to get terminated before time,
along with being sympathetic to clients and getting acknowledged for their work.
In order for customer care representative to accomplish their best work, they should feel
regarded and acknowledged. This provides the psychological incentive and inherent inspiration
for working superbly and serving the clients in the best way, making the clients in turn feel
regarded and acknowledged. Hence happy customer care representatives enable good
communication and customer service and lead to happy customers.
4. Satisfied and Happy Customers are Good Advertisements for the Brand.
Good, strong, and effective customer service ensures happy and satisfied customers and
clients. This not only means a repeat clientele, but it also means a good advertisement for the
brand. A happy client refers the brand or company to other partners, coworkers, friends, etc. It
is a chain reaction. A good, content customer service team works harder to satisfy the
customers and exceed the expectations of the customers. Satisfied customers refer the brand
to others. Customers are the best, and most cost-effective form of word-of-mouth advertising.
Hence investing in keeping customer care representatives motivated empowers customer
service, giving the customer enough reasons to remain loyal and spread the good word about
the brand.

5. Great Client Assistance is a Key Factor in Customer Service that Gives the Brand the
Edge Over Rivals

Irrespective of the type of industry or business, it is imperative to stand apart and shine above
all competition. To be the “second-best” is not the idea. To be better than all competition is what
helps a business to thrive, and the clients need to know that they are with the best. This keeps
the clients steadfast and gets them to regularly, without fail, interface with the brand image.
60% of clients quit working with a brand after just one poor client assistance experience. 67% of
this agitate can be averted if the client’s concern is settled to satisfaction, during the first
communication itself. Hence, client assistance can be a great differentiator for the brand. This
implies that brilliant client care ensures client retention and customer loyalty.

6. Long Term Customer Retention

Earning customer loyalty is the ultimate reward for a business. It translates into good profits.
Great customer service experience ensures that customers will make the brand a part of their
lifestyle and persona and use the brand services and products regularly. Even when it comes to
ancillary services, consumers are more willing to work with a business that they’ve had a great
experience with, than find a new business or brand to engage with.
Conclusion

As the business gets bigger, the supply chain gets more complex. For a big business or
complex supply chain, it can become challenging and tough to maintain perfect customer
service, owing to multiple stages and people involved, as each of these people and stages
involved in the shipping process, constantly affects a company’s reputation through customer
experience. In customer service in logistics, it is impossible to be perfect. However, it is possible
to always be better and provide the customers with the best services possible. Customers
desire a smooth and easy experience when working with a company. It is up to the company to
enrich the customer experience by providing good and worthwhile customer service in logistics.
Looking at the logistics perspective, customer service is the outcome of all logistics activities or
supply chain processes. Corresponding costs for the logistics system and revenue created from
logistics services determine the profits for the company.
Given the structure of the global economy that exists these days, the definition of a good brand
or good quality service is dependent upon the customers. Just like in any other business, in the
Logistics Industry, it is the customer who determines the reputation and the goodwill of the
company. Hence customer service in logistics is the key to success.
Logistics is a critical determining factor in the efficient working and productivity of a company. A
good logistics plan is crucial for the supply chain. Moving goods to the market, or receiving raw
goods, becomes a very tedious task if a good logistics plan is not in place. However, logistics
alone is not enough. A key component of a successful logistics plan is customer service in
logistics. For logistics activities to operate smoothly, good customer service in logistics is of
utmost importance.
It is no secret that in order to be at the top of the game, the one and only factor is customer
satisfaction. A satisfied and happy customer adds value to the brand and helps the business to
stand out in the crowd and be ahead of all competition. And in today’s global economy, it is the
customers that set the bar for the quality of service or product.
In view of the intense competition, the bar set by the customers, in terms of the standard of
quality of service or product, is high. Regardless of the business segment, it is imperative to
keep customers satisfied. That is why in current times, customer service in logistics has
become really important for freight forwarders around the world.
In every vertical market, customer service has an essential role to play. Customer service holds
a very high value in the logistics industry.
A shipper is constantly faced with innumerable queries throughout the course of the
transportation of cargo, from the place of origin to its final destination. Good partner support is
imperative to handle all transportation issues.
Logistics companies are the partner support that assures the delivery of goods to the correct
destinations, on time, and that too cost-effectively. A single breakdown in this process of
transportation can cause great damage and be catastrophic for the company, negatively
impacting customer service in logistics.
Good customer service in logistics depends upon good communication and timely and damage-
free deliveries. And efficient customer service in logistics helps the logistics chain to operate
well, to the best of its capabilities. Providing good customer service and communications as part
of the logistics services is essential to the success of the business.
In order to establish a long-term relationship with the customers, and in order to gain the loyalty
of the customer, the focus of customer service should be shifted product-oriented strategy to a
customer-focused one.