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Manufacturing Industry

Working with dispatch: finding the right telephone strategy is vital for dispatchers to provide good customer service

Concrete Producer, The, April, 2006 by James Wagner

Adequate staffing is a key to improving the service you provide to your customers. You work hard to earn your customer's business, so why throw it all away by inadequate staffing or excessive workload on your dispatchers?

Dispatchers often are the first ones to work and the last to leave. In addition, you cannot expect your dispatchers to be the switchboard and focal point for all the company's issues. This interferes with servicing your customers. Delivery costs are often more than 22 times the cost of staffing your dispatch office. Dispatchers control the trucks, so trying to save money by running short-staffed in dispatch will increase your delivery costs and decrease service.

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The average ready-mix truck in North America hauls four loads per day, each divided into seven parts; load, traveling to the job, on-job, pouring, washing, traveling to plant, and at plant.

The average order is 18 cubic yards. Thus, the average order is two loads. Every truck, therefore, services an average of two orders per day. I've found from observing automated phone system counters that there are 3 1/2 telephone calls per order. Since a truck services two orders, that comes to seven phone calls per truck.

Dispatch requirements

These statistics show why I suggest that one person can batch and dispatch for a fleet of up to 10 trucks before control is lost. Those 10 trucks will deliver up to 20 orders, requiring 70 phone calls. There will be 40 batches of concrete printing 40 tickets, which generate 280 statuses. This is a pretty full day for one person without adding additional tasks.

More than 10 trucks and one person will be required to devote his time to just dispatching without batching. This one person will answer the telephone 105 times for 30 orders. He will generate 60 delivery tickets, which produce 420 status changes.

Again, this a full day for one person. The best ratio of trucks to dispatch personnel is 15:1; more than 15 trucks and the job of dispatch can be divided into functional units; Shipper and Customer Service Representative (CSR)/Scheduler.

The average round trip time in North America is 138 minutes. If the round trip times are significantly longer or shorter, the number of dispatchers can be adjusted. The ratio of one dispatcher for every 15 trucks is not a rule, only a guide.

If a producer takes a lot of will-call orders, more personnel might be necessary. Large, industrial pours require fewer dispatchers. It takes less effort to dispatch one 500-yard order than with 100 5-yard orders.

Of course, if a shipper is not required to keep up with statusing and truck monitoring, merely wishing each "Godspeed" as he hands them their delivery ticket, then they can dispatch many more trucks than 15 each.

One problem the ready mixed concrete industry faces is that demand is not constant. Telephone calls come in bunches followed by slow periods. It's tempting to give dispatchers other tasks to do in the slack periods, and this works well if the task can be delayed when the phones ring. Their prime responsibility is to your customers.

Another issue to consider in staffing your dispatch office is how to handle the uneven call volume. There are five choices:

1. Place the current customer on hold while the other phones are answered. Then place them on hold, and return to the original customer.

2. Let the phones ring busy until the dispatcher/CSR has time to answer.

3. Have a receptionist or other non-dispatcher answer the phone and tell the customer to hold.

4. Staff adequately to handle the peak.

5. Install a call waiting or automated phone system.

Each choice has advantages and problems. Placing a customer on hold is not good service and can be lethal if the customer is angry. Placing customers on hold to answer other calls and getting back to the original customer wastes time and encourages the CSR to shorten the call, thus not getting a complete order. Letting the phones ring busy is not good business.

Having someone else answer the phone and place the customer on hold works well, but that person should get back to the customer every 20 to 30 seconds to let him know he has not been forgotten. Often the other staff members do not come to work until 8 a.m. and they clock out at 5 p.m. so they are not available when the dispatcher needs them most.

Finding a phone system

Staffing adequately to handle the peak is too expensive unless office personnel are placed in dispatch to handle the peak workload. I have seen this work successfully when the overload staff is the sales administrator, billing clerk, A/R clerk, or other person who can interrupt his prime job to assist in dispatch.

Most "best practice" companies have chosen an automated phone system. These systems are devoted to dispatch, and the customer only hears a message when the phones are busy. If a customer hears the recording more than 1/4 of the time he calls, then you are still understaffed.

Phone systems can also help sell value-added products by explaining their benefits. They also can provide advice on hot or cold weather concreting, how to place orders, and the best time to call. Will call, maximum, or add-on quantity policies can also be included in your waiting message. Be sure to change it regularly so the customer finds the information fresh.

Manufacturing Industry

Working with dispatch: finding the right telephone strategy is vital for dispatchers to provide good customer service

Concrete Producer, The, April, 2006 by James Wagner

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