As a truck-driving professional, you’re probably motivated most by one factor – how much money you make.
It’s a natural, reasonable concern that doesn’t only apply to you. It is often the driving factor for almost everyone looking for employment, and for almost everyone who is employed.
But what you may not always think about is how to get there. How do you maximize your earning potential in the trucking industry? How do you use your talents to bring home the dough? I believe the answer is found in your level of dedication to the service you provide.
As a trucking company, the only product we produce is service. So as a truck driver at ITS, you are dedicating yourself to being an expert in providing that service, because that is what our customers expect. While all the smaller aspects of your job are important, they are simply tools in helping you achieve your goal of providing great service.
What that means to you is that if you dedicate yourself and your job to providing our customers with exceptional service, you will see direct benefits. You will be awarded with the long-term benefit of financial security. Financial security will allow you to confidently pursue the life goals you most want to meet – like buying a home and saving for further education or retirement.
A few years ago ITS was in the process of reacquiring a client whose business had gone through a series of changes. The product was optical-quality polycarbonate in dry bulk, which meant the service delivery was very particular. If the material was contaminated in any way, it would be ruined.
I was on a business call with the company upon its re-startup, and they requested a particular driver, Roy, to deliver their product. They said he was consistent, on time, and his communication was exceptional. He kept in touch with them so they could know exactly when he’d arrive, and he followed their processes to a T, with no variation. They wanted him, and him only.
It was the first time in my career that I’d had a client name a driver on a call. Roy had left a great impression on them, and it was because he understood their needs. He realized that the one thing they were buying from us — service — was something he could deliver at the highest quality possible.
I should add that Roy is now semi-retired, and he’s had a successful career with ITS. He’s been in the industry for 40-plus years, because it’s been profitable, robust, and has provided him with a great living and retirement.
In addition to providing you with financial security, your dedication to service also accelerates your position as a whole. You become connected, understand your value within the company, and are able to move forward with greater clarity in your goals.
You’re probably wondering how you can carry this out. The ITS definition of dedication to service states that “The needs of the customer outweigh our individual needs. This focus yields benefits for the company and each employee.” And even though we think our definition is important, we ultimately need to be most aware of our clients’ definition. We need to provide the type of service they are looking for.
So how can you ensure that you are providing great service to our customers? I believe it is mostly about your mindset. If you approach your job with a positive attitude every day – even when you just don’t feel like it – the rest usually falls into place. Having a positive attitude makes it easier for you to remember how to properly use the tools provided to you in training, it helps you to use the appropriate and necessary techniques to get the job done, and it means you’ll have a happy customer.
Because in the end, happy customers are the result of appropriate service delivery, and they will keep buying our product (great service). This strengthens and secures our next opportunity to invest in our market and also gives us the opportunity to invest in you, our dedicated employee, through profit sharing. It also gives us the opportunity to invest in new assets and technology, so we can grab hold of a greater market share for our business. Those things, the benefits our company receives when you are dedicated to service, come full circle and help you achieve that bottom line we talked about up top.
When you are dedicated to service, everyone wins.
Looking for a new opportunity in the trucking industry with great benefits and pay? Visit our Careers page to see our list of job openings near you.
This post was written by Stuart Gregory
Stuart Gregory is the Greenville Maintenance manager at the ITS South Carolina operating terminal. He has 25 years of industry experience, including 20 at ITS. He’s been a driver, dispatcher, and logistics manager, and he’s worked in business development and as a start-up specialist. Stuart is driven by the values of loyalty, sacrifice, and adaptability. He believes that the key to success in this industry comes by being a self-starter.
February 15 2017, 12:00 AM, Published by Stuart Gregory