Posting loads vs clicking a pin and calling the number listed for pilot cars and flaggers.
It’s all elementary my dear friends. Put yourself in the seat of your customers. If you were a trucking company or a dispatcher for a trucking company what would you do? Let’s explore the possibilities shall we? “Dispatcher A” or “Driver A” (we’ll call her/him) is looking for a pilot car company to escort a shipment they’ve taken from a long time client they got many years ago right here on the WideloadShipping load board. They’ve been clicking on the “Pilot Cars” link on the website for as long as they can remember. Reason #1: because it’s been there for almost 15 years and reason #2: because it works, it’s quick and it’s handy. Now here comes the most important part – what is the user going to do next? What they’ve been doing all along or something that is different and takes a little longer? Yep, you guessed it.
The new system allows companies to locate flagging companies as well as pilot car and truck escorts live on the road and at home.
Again, let’s look at what your new customer is expected to do:
Now, again ask yourself. What is the easiest thing for your potential new customer to do? Go to a login screen and enter their username and password, then all of their load details and wait for 10’s if not 30 or 40 companies to call inquire about the single run they have potentially flooding their telephones or are they simply going to click on the pin that is the closest to their starting point location?
- Go to their pilot car posting login screen.
- Enter their username and password (and hopefully get that correct).
- Enter all of the details you require from the pilot car company you wish to hire, including the pick up point as well as the final destination.
- Wait for the telephone to ring and explain over and over just exactly what their pilot car/flagger job entails and what it pays.
- Finalize the agreement after you are satisfied you have located the pilot car/flagging/truck escort company that is the closest to where their job starts in order to minimize on money and efficiency.
The other option:
- Click and call the pin that is closest to their needs in the map.
What would you do?
Now we’re not rocket scientists but the path of least resistance seems pretty obvious here. Doesn’t it? In all honesty who would want to be on the other end of the spectrum either? This brings us back not only to the days of the rotary phone but one with a party line as well. We can certainly do much better than that.
Now there’s certainly nothing wrong with the “good ‘ol days” as they are missed by many of us. However, if this author remembers correctly, if someone else was speaking on your party line that meant whom ever was calling got a big fat busy signal. Ten to one odds you weren’t going to get through to someone period. Doesn’t click-n-call just make good sense?
