To thrive as a hauler, you need to go above and beyond for your customers—and digital is a big part of the recipe for success.
Ryan Buhay
Today’s waste industry is a dynamic and fast-moving one, and the need to adapt to constant industry changes has never been greater. Evolving recycling markets, fierce competition, and innumerable daily operational challenges are just a few of the ongoing demands facing the modern waste hauler.
While haulers everywhere have adopted advancements on several fronts—such as new MRF sorting technologies, top of the line routeware, and innovations in fleet technology—one realm of business is still often overlooked: customer communications. The waste haulers I speak with on a daily basis are quick to tell me about their fancy in-cab smart routing system or a new internal IT portal, but when I ask how they have advanced on the customer communications front, all too often I’m met with this answer: “If they have a question or a problem, they can phone us.”
The Effect on Your Bottom Line
Why is it that such a crucial aspect of our business—the customer—has largely been ignored when it comes to all of the advancements the industry has made over the last decade? Phone lines still remain the predominant method of communicating with the customer by independent haulers across the country. And for a growth-minded hauler this can cause more problems than it solves.
Weather delays, route changes, missed collections, holiday schedules, recycling questions, government diversion mandates—tackling these types of customer inquiries on a one-to-one basis via a phone queue is not only inefficient, but incredibly costly.
Industry experts estimate that the cost of individual phone calls range from $6 to $8 per call. For a hauler intent on adding customers and growing their business you can see how this number can adversely affect your bottom line.
So how can growth-minded haulers tackle this challenge? Digitizing at least some of your customer service strategy can reap massive benefits, and, most importantly, elevate the experience of your most precious asset: the paying customer.
Digital Communications
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) models are beginning to proliferate in the waste industry, meaning access to top-of-the-line technology has never been more affordable. Having a customer app or cloud-based communications platform at your disposal means you can solve an age-old customer service dilemma without your IT staff having to do any of the heavy lifting. Read on for the top ten reasons modern haulers are choosing to go digital with customer communications.
#1:Real Time, All the Time
App-based solutions allow haulers to quickly send out important notifications about imminent collection disruptions via push: weather, route delays, holiday schedule shifts and onward. Digital communications technology allows you to be proactive in your messaging and keep the customer informed and well-engaged.
#2: Build Trust with Customers
A net benefit of the digital approach is that the customer is not guessing about their service. When information is a click away or simply arrives through an alert, the experience is inherently positive for the customer. Proactively educating customers through targeted digital messaging allows haulers to take control of the customer conversation. When you deliver answers right when the customer needs them, they will thank you for it, building trust in the process.
#3: Enhance Your Brand
Brand recognition is extremely important to independent waste haulers, and decades are spent building and protecting it. Customers trust brands and stay loyal to them. Going digital showcases your company by providing a modern, cutting edge level of customer service, which, ultimately, aligns with your operational values faster and more efficiently.
#4: Meet Today’s Expectations
In the age of Google, your customer’s attention span has changed. They expect answers at the speed of a search rather than having to dial in for customer service. Mobile solutions are no longer considered a luxury; they are a customer expectation in today’s world. SaaS models should allow you to give your customers what they want (and have with almost every other business they deal with).
#5: Value-Added Service
The service you provide goes beyond hauling waste and recycling. Part of being a municipal service provider is communicating your programs effectively. Digital tools can be shared widely—not just on your website, but also on the websites of your franchise customers. This allows you to add a key communications component your customer no longer needs to worry about, which, in turn, allows you to add significant value for the duration of your contract (and even help win new ones).
#6: Reduce Contamination
Contamination costs money, period. When customers cannot get quick answers on disposal questions, the resulting guesswork can have costly implications. Recent market changes due to China’s National Sword Ruling have exacerbated this dilemma. Providing a digital platform that delivers recycling education helps to cut contamination where it begins: the customer.
#7: Significantly Cut Call Volume
When your customers search for answers that are not accessible, they will pick up the phone to call you for clarification. This is rarely desirable on the customer’s part. This approach, while traditional, will adversely affect your bottom line. Consolidating information into a web portal or mobile app will facilitate customer service and reduce reliance on call centers. The net result is empowering the customer to become their own CSR and self-serve on general inquiries.
#8: Service Promotions
Digital communication platforms inherently open up new avenues to reach your customers. Take advantage of the technology to notify customers about dumpster rentals, seasonal promotions, new services and much more.
#9: Save Money
Web portals and mobile apps should save you money, not increase overhead. These technologies are often cost-neutral within the first year of service via operational efficiency gains (phone calls, missed collections, etc.). Further, access to online financial transaction software has never been easier to obtain and implement into web or mobile based on-call services such as bulky item pickups and dumpster rentals.
#10: Data-Driven Insights
Perhaps one of the most overlooked elements of a digital communications strategy is the amount of information you can learn about your customers through usage metrics. Most digital products have behind-the-scenes insight into your customer’s digital interactions and help illustrate areas of service where you may need to apply some TLC. Being a modern hauler means being data-driven, which should, ultimately, strengthen your customer relationship so you can provide the best service possible.
Digital tools hold great potential to enhance and optimize various aspects of your business and communications, and this potential will only increase with time. To thrive as a hauler, you need to go above and beyond for your customers—and digital is a big part of the recipe for success.
Ryan Buhay is an Account Executive for ReCollect Systems Ryan is a next-generation leader in the waste and recycling industry and a Waste360 40 Under 40 recipient in 2018. He is also the Account Executive for the Waste Haulers division at ReCollect. Ryan specializes in waste communications with particular focus on behavior change and customer engagement. His experience, both in the hauling industry and in municipal education, give him a unique perspective on how customer waste and recycling behaviors affect the industry. Ryan can be reached at (360) 219-9834 or visit www.recollect.net/haulers.
