Doesn’t reading transport industry news scare the hell out of you lately? The signs are everywhere. It’s not just about politics, the environment or the quality of our school systems. It’s also about our business. About our industry. Our future.
We’re all threatened by AI. We’re all in danger. Everyone risks replacement. This time its replacement with an automatic system. It’s not just Uber Freight we should be worried about. There are plenty of other companies and segments of transportation threatened by automatization. Drivers could lose jobs in a few years. Freight brokers could go out of business. Freight Forwarders could see big changes in the forwarding sector with Amazon getting into the game, as well as Uber’s expansion in the market. It all comes down to big companies taking all the loot and leaving small players without almost any profits.
The question we all ponder is: “How to fight off and survive?”
It’s not an easy one to answer. It takes thinking but even more doing.
Fake Alarm or The Real Threat? It’s Your Choice.
So, how concerned should we be? How big of the threat is the automatization to our position and business?
It’s good to be cautious. Remember how the taxi industry laughed at Uber when they first started? They were convinced that it could not hurt them. Almost every taxi driver had their long term customers which they’d served for years.
Now, what did the process look like when a regular customer had to get a taxi vehicle at his door? He had to call the number, order a vehicle and pray it didn’t take long. Then he would be placed on hold and was given an ETA, which was, in most cases, over-promised. It usually took 30-45 mins, and if we were lucky, we’d have a vehicle waiting for us in less than 15. Wow. What a service, right?
Then, Uber came in. What did they offer us as customers? Simplicity and speed. What did it take to order a Uber vehicle? A few clicks. What about ETA? They would usually have a vehicle get to us in less than 15 minutes. They broke our norm. Our standards. We couldn’t believe it. We didn’t even know that was possible. They proved us wrong. And we loved it.
Taxi services realized, too late, that Uber was a serious threat and that is one of the major reasons they lost the battle. We should all learn from this, and never underestimate the power of the competition.
To Fight or Not to Fight – That is the Question
So, what can we do in order to save ourselves from such an unfortunate fate? Instead of seeing automatization as an enemy, we better learn from it.
Let’s get back to the basics. What did Uber focus on from day one? Customer service and simplicity. It is as simple as that. Now, this doesn’t mean it is easy to integrate it into our work. These two qualities are the hardest to develop. How often do we sit down and reflect on our customer service to think about what can we improve on? Do we regularly ask our clients about our weaknesses? Many businesses try to evade this subject because it makes them uncomfortable. And I get it. It is like talking to someone about your mistakes. About your insecurities. About your fears. About deepest secrets. It makes you look bad. It makes you feel even more insecure. The reflector lights are all on you. But it is the only antidote to chaos. Critical feedback is something we must solicit from our clients on a regular basis, and work on getting better at issues they have. We should see our customers as partners. As friends. It is us who must break that ice barrier first in order to catch the fish. There is no one better to point out our weaknesses than our clients themselves. Also, we must learn from our mistakes. They will happen. f If handled professionally, instead of having an angry customer, we can strengthen our relationship with them.
Simple as That
So, another of Uber’s strength is simplicity. It’s such a basic quality and yet almost no one managed to perfect it. Apple did it with Steve Jobs. And they were a success. If we sit down and think about how we can simplify the entire process of, say, booking a shipment for our customers, we are moving in a good direction. Every step of the process must be as simple as possible for them. Remember how the first iPhone had only one button on the front side, while others had entire keyboards facing the user? People didn’t even know it was possible. But Apple did it.
Simplicity is often underestimated but it’s effective. It changes the user’s worldview. And that’s what we all strive for, right?
The Gladiator in The Arena
Teddy Roosevelt said: It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
Don’t forget, we live in rough times. Rougher than ever before. If we don’t take automatization seriously, we will suffer. Badly. It is inevitable. The period of having a stable job and owning a company forever has long passed. We are left to fight with lions and have to defend ourselves for as long as possible. No one will come to the rescue. Corporations are ruthless. Our competitors are even more. They change entire industries and the way we will operate. If we don’t pay attention and do something, our own small businesses will lose. We will lose. So, whatever we do, we must focus on providing the best experience for the customer, even that means changing the entire way we operate.