IN what is considered the heavily competitive and demanding shipping and freight forwarding industry, IpCourier, which specialises in shipping between Jamaica and Miami, has been able to move from a small start-up to a leading online freight forwarding company in just under five years. The company credits its resounding success to a culture of providing outstanding customer service.

The commitment to good customer service is ingrained in the company’s culture. This strong customer-centric ethos and a mission to be a quality leader in the package forwarding industry sees the company consistently going above and beyond to ensure customer satisfaction. Daviana Fortella, a dedicated supervisor, emphasises, how important essential customer service skills have been in the company’s growth.

“At IpCourier, customers’ satisfaction is number one. As a result, we aim for excellent customer service by instilling fundamental skills in each staff — skills such as empathising and active listening to understand where the customer is coming from, where they are, and where they want to go.

“Service knowledge, knowing what the company offers and our processes, allows each agent to better assist the customers by providing the correct information. We also encourage our representatives to exercise patience,” Fortella shared.

Stephanie Forrester, another supervisor, reinforces this commitment by highlighting their training approach.

“We ensure that at the start of training each agent is aware that our main focus is customer service and that there is a specific standard we expect them to uphold. They are trained to handle disgruntled and upset customers and not to match the energy of the customer but to empathise as best as possible. We do role play and scenarios to get them to understand and prioritise each customer,” she said.

This commitment to customer service has served the company well even during challenging periods. As IpCourier faced significant challenges during the pandemic, the company had to not only adapt their safety processes but had to implement resilient customer service strategies.

“We faced many challenges during the pandemic, but we ensured our standards as it relates to customer service did not drop. Our drivers usually collect cash payments upon delivery, and we had to change all that to strictly online for the safety of both our employees and the customers. This also allowed for a quicker service,” Forrester stated.

Strategies such as this helped the company to still serve its customers, while responding to changing needs and safety measures.

To uphold their mission and commitment to customer service, IpCourier is actively working on enhancing their customer service representatives’ skills and knowledge.

“To keep in line with our mission, we are currently seeking to provide our customer service representatives with professional customer service training sessions, workshops, as well as individual and group discussions to identify and combat any challenges they are experiencing that may hinder them from providing quality services,” Fortella explained.

Added Gavin Lindsay, CEO: “While we may not get it right all of the time, whether its with delays with the airline/customs, missed deliveries or in any other area we may fall short, we want all our customers to know that we are a work in progress and we will continue to integrate their feedback into our long-term growth strategy.”