5 tips for dispatchers to improve communication with your drivers

Successful dispatching depends on smooth coordination between many different types of tasks. Starting with forwarders and schedulers, through warehouse workers and drivers to the clients and customers. It is important that all those involved maintain an overview and can act quickly even in the event of last-minute changes and acute problems.

Transport Management Systems, or TMS for short, already provide a remedy, such as in the planning, execution and optimization of transports. However, when it comes to trips with external drivers and subcontractors, most of whom are not in the TMS because they don't want to download a new complicated app for every trip, communication is a difficult issue. Dispatchers are usually left to their own devices, and the rest of the team has no overview when it is necessary.

On top of that, there is a large turnover of drivers. Dispatchers therefore face the additional challenge of keeping track of the constantly changing messaging services and languages in order to guarantee scheduled transport.

Clear communication with their drivers is the key, which is why we want to help you communicate with them more easily and efficiently with these tips.

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1. Keep track with messaging services

Where are your drivers for the majority of their workday? In truck stops, on highways, and at loading ramps. Or in other words, in incredibly noisy places. This often makes communication via calls and CB radios difficult, as you can't be sure that you've heard each other properly and therefore in terms of content. 

That's why more and more dispatchers are turning to messaging services, such as WhatsApp & Co., because the background noise doesn't matter and they know their message has arrived. In addition, both sides can always go through the chat history to check again what the last status or the last specification was.

Did you know?
With Heylog you can make life even easier for your drivers, as they can now use their favorite messengers like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Viber in a GDPR compliant way and therefore don't need to download any additional apps.

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2. Avoid too much technical jargon and give clear guidelines

Your communication must be clear and precise. Especially for new and external drivers, scheduling and logistics jargon quickly becomes a foreign language. In a conversation with the dispatching department, more abbreviations are quickly used than in Fanta Vier's hit song MFG. There are entire lists of abbreviations for logistics and scheduling. Some of the most common examples are:

• CQ (General call to all stations)
• QRT (Interruption of transmission)
• QRV (Ready, I am ready)

So when in doubt, it's better to communicate important information as simply and comprehensibly as possible.Only with precise specifications can your drivers also adhere to specifications exactly. It often helps to create a protocol that guides your drivers step-by-step through their transport, so they know exactly what to do and when, and they can give you a quick and easy status update.

Did you know?
With the extensive message templates from Heylog you can quickly and accurately create and send messages for each stage of the transport. Your drivers get automatic reply options and can answer you with just one click. This way you keep track of everything with minimal effort and are always up to date.

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3. Meet your drivers and be flexible with languages

In dispatching, it is commonplace to work with drivers from different backgrounds and origins. So in an ideal world, dispatchers would need to have a perfect command of many different languages to prevent miscommunication and language barriers. 

But that's not only unrealistic, it's no longer necessary with technology. Just by using online translators like Google Translate or DeepL, you can accommodate your drivers and easily understand and reply to messages in different languages.

Did you know?
Heylog recognizes the language of the messages sent and automatically translates them into the user's preferred language. This way you can communicate error-free without having to speak the same language.

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4. Take work off your drivers and yourself with intelligent functions

Ideally, the documentation of your transports is largely automated and complete, so that if the worst comes to the worst, you do not have to search through call logs, messages, etc. with the driver to justify and report possible delays or damage. Transportation is stressful enough for your drivers. So make their lives easier by using smart features to make documenting and analyzing your trips as effortless as possible.

Also, most modern systems store your documents in a central database, so you can easily manage everything in one place. Data transfer becomes a minor matter, as it happens automatically.

Did you know?
With Heylog your drivers can take full care of the transport and send you automatically or with just a few clicks all relevant information about their transports such as acceptance documents, locations and routes in realtime.

5. Improve communication in the dispatcher team

In day-to-day scheduling, it feels like 20 things have to happen at the same time. It's easy to lose track of everything in a team. The handover and coordination are stressful, confusing and often lead to your drivers no longer knowing what to do because they receive unclear information.

Good communication must therefore start in the scheduling team, otherwise the transport process and thus the punctual handover are at stake. That's why many teams divide up the transports so that there is one contact person for each transport. In weekly meetings with the whole team you can keep up to date and store the information about the different transports in shared online databases to keep track of everything.

Did you know?
Heylog brings together in one central dashboard information such as messages, documents, and routes related to your transports, you can hand over all relevant information and complete conversations to your colleagues with just one click, should the need arise.

We help you to master everyday logistics communication with Heylog.

Our goal is to simplify communication along the supply chain and provide transportation managers with the tools to successfully and efficiently manage their shipments.

Register now for free at www.heylog.com.