Why People Come First For This Last-Mile Logistics Real Estate Company

The logistics real estate market has been booming ever since the pandemic drove consumers to their laptops and away from physical stores. But this e-commerce-driven growth has also raised expectations among customers up and down supply chains.

To meet these demands, Link Logistics Chief Administrative Officer Sonya Huffman said the company has focused on creating an award-winning digital platform for customers as well as developing a company culture that puts their satisfaction first.

“The pandemic shifted the way our customers view our service,” Huffman said of her industry. “Many demand a higher level of service and better engagement on a digital level so they can run their business the way they need to.”

Founded five years ago, Link Logistics operates over 500M SF of logistics real estate across approximately 3,500 properties in the United States. But in addition to growing its portfolio, Link Logistics made the decision to focus on providing the best customer experience possible in a competitive market. 

The first step in this strategy was to use technology. In 2023, the company launched Link+, a digital platform that allows customers to manage their Link Logistics partnership. It gives them instant access to their property management team and enables them to easily review and retrieve lease documents, pay bills and make service requests. 

“The aim of Link+ is to empower our customers,” Link Logistics Senior Vice President of Customer Experience and Operations Kerry Hewson said. “For example, we are anticipating their need for transparency around billing practices and operating expenses. Proactively providing this transparency sets us apart from many competitors and strengthens our partnership with customers.”

This flexibility is particularly important for smaller customers, where a single person may be in charge of inventory, customer services, invoices and more. Huffman said Link Logistics wanted to allow them to manage their industrial real estate space on terms that suited their own ways of working. 

“There’s an expectation nowadays that we can do everything from our phones or computers,” Huffman said. “But when we do need to speak to a human, we expect an empathetic level of service that recognizes we’re reaching out because we couldn’t achieve what we needed digitally. This is what it means to be a partner.”

Just over a year after launching, Link+ has achieved a 78% adoption rate. In March, Link Logistics was named a CIO 100 Award winner, recognizing its ability to use technology to deliver tangible value to customers. So far, customers have used the digital platform 44,000 times to seek information they would otherwise have had to call or email a property manager to access, according to company analytics. 

“Giving customers their information instantly is the right thing to do,” Huffman said. “Empowering them to proactively access such information enhances efficiency for both customers and our own team members.”

As well as building trust with customers, Link+ frees the company’s property managers to spend more time on building relationships and addressing bigger challenges instead of being buried in smaller requests and questions, Huffman said. 

The Link+ interface is designed to be as simple as possible, but the company also created video training for customers, which it supplements with in-person tutoring for those who need it. This is because the Link Logistics team didn’t want to be seen as a completely automated business. 

“We want customers to look at Link+ as an opportunity to be more efficient while also building a valuable relationship with us,” Huffman said. “That's why we wanted to make it fun, engaging and simple to use.”

Link Logistics’ focus on customer experience isn’t limited to technology. Along with creating Link+, the team has recommitted to actively listening to customers, Hewson said.

“We want to understand their pain points, then take that information and integrate it into our business decisions,” she said. “We want them to see we act on their feedback.”

This includes negative feedback. Hewson said one customer complained about difficulty working with the company. The Link Logistics management team immediately sat down with the customer to discuss the issue and then used the conversation to refine its processes and increase transparency. The customer now has multiple leases with Link Logistics and is pleased with the customer experience, Hewson said. 

Another area of focus for Link Logistics is its own culture. The industrial real estate company has introduced ongoing training to ensure it acts as a true partner for everyone. Hewson said it emphasizes empathy and curiosity in solving problems and developing authentic relationships with the customers who use its space.

“A lot of people use the terms ‘customer service’ and ‘customer experience’ interchangeably, but they’re not the same,” she said. “Customer service is reactionary and transactional. Instead, we’re trying to proactively engage with customers, and our property managers who have gone through the training are delighted that they now have the tools and skills to help others.” 

This extends to matters that might not traditionally fall under the topic of logistics real estate.

“A win-win scenario has presented itself around areas such as sustainability,” Huffman said. “Our customers lease their facilities and may not want to invest their capital in solar panels, for example, but they want to reduce their carbon footprint. We want to partner with them to help them do that.”

By recognizing these and other opportunities to work in partnership with customers, Link Logistics plans to continue to expand its business. The young company is more agile than many competitors in its ability to react to evolving needs of customers, Hewson said.

“We’ve been given a unique opportunity to build a company from scratch and create a culture that fosters innovation,” she said. “We’re focused on making sure we leverage data to deliver the best outcomes for investors, customers and employees that really embody the principles of the company.”

This article was produced in collaboration between Link Logistics and Studio B. Bisnow news staff was not involved in the production of this content.

Studio B is Bisnow’s in-house content and design studio. To learn more about how Studio B can help your team, reach out to studio@bisnow.com.