Step Into a New Dispatch Program With STEEP

STEEP dispatch program

​Dispatchers are at the heart of a transportation company's operations, including towing and recovery businesses. Dispatchers do more than route trucks to clients and destinations – they also can be sales people, according to Mike Porter of Speed's Enterprises in Portland, Ore.

Porter developed a dispatch program called STEEP – Smile, Tone, Empathy, Engagement and Politeness – to improve the dispatching experience for customers and dispatchers. It may also help dispatchers recognize leads and turn them into sales.

“I re-evaluated the role dispatchers should play in a towing company and decided they should be sales people as well as dispatchers,” Porter says. “But they need to be taught how to sell and best represent the company.”  

He came up with the idea for the dispatching program after overhearing a dispatcher at Speed's Enterprises, a towing and recovery company, suggest that a customer use another towing business because Speed’s was busy at that time.

That shouldn't happen. In order for a dispatch operation to be successful, companies should consider three things: make it meaningful, put a face on it and create a script.

Science has shown that people are happier when they have opportunities to do something important and meaningful. It is not awe-inspiring to tow a car. But it means something to help people get home safely.

Also, if call handlers can visualize the person they’re trying to help, it adds to job satisfaction, studies show, making workers feel happy and even more energized.

Finally, prepare for the customer interaction by writing a script with the best questions and lines to say and ask.

Of course, there is more to STEEP, a 10-step process for turning leads into sales that teaches  dispatchers to handle calls effectively, efficiently and with care.

Find out more about the STEEP dispatch program by visiting https://tdrway.com/ . Contact Mike Porter at mporter@speedstowingpdx.com.

Source: Tow Times magazine

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