Muhammad Fiaz Gul, the manager of Pakistan Post’s Lahore Office of Exchange and project manager same-day delivery and EMS, discusses the project he is leading to develop and modernise customer services.
It is not necessary to have big ideas in order to bring about progress or revolution. Small, consistent, and aggressive interventions can have a big effect. This is what the Lahore Office of Exchange (OE) – one of Pakistan Post’s foreign mail handling facilities – did to improve the lives of online shoppers.
At Pakistan Post’s Lahore OE, a tradition of “customer listening” has been fostered since 2019. This was accomplished by implementing interventions for both inbound and outbound mail in the following areas:
- Incomplete or incorrect addresses result in undeliverable packages.
- Packages that have been confiscated are delivered.
- Innovations in call centres to enhance customer listening
- Improving operational personnel’s mail packing and handling quality.
- Packaging personnel are being taught how to repack shipments after a Customs inspection.
- Incomplete or incorrect addresses result in undeliverable packages.
Any company’s social presence is critical to providing a better customer experience. As a result, in January 2019, we formed a Facebook page for Lahore OE as a multipurpose social network called IMO Lahore. The aim was to teach people about international mail, provide a way for them to communicate with Lahore OE without having to call a call centre, share what we’re up to at Lahore OE, and promote Pakistan Post products and services. The page ushered in a revolution in our business, and we were showered with praise for the social platform’s creation.
Customer service at Lahore OE was limited to just two phone lines.People complained on Facebook that phone lines were still busy, so in June 2019, they quickly added a third phone line to solve the problem. In November 2019, they added a WhatsApp number to make it easier for customers to contact Lahore OE. The WhatsApp number was made public on their Facebook page so that everyone could use it. Then, in January 2021, they refurbished the call centre, making it Pakistan Post’s most creative and appealing call centre, with three phone lines, Facebook, and WhatsApp.
Read more on their website for other strategic changes brought to the operations and customer experience.