The Courier Shop

We have been noticing lately the sad decline of  owner drivers, and their drift back into paid work.

Some of the people giving up their courier business we had spoken to to offer work, and the one thing that stood out loud and clear from talking to all of them -  they didn’t research their market prior to starting their business and were not quite sure what they were getting into.

I am often told that the UK courier industry is a saturated market, there are thousands of couriers and they are all cheap. We work in this market, and there is a vast difference between a good courier service that does what it says and a man with a van. Ultimately you get what you pay for, and that is why we are big advocates of business research and tailoring your services to the requirements of your local business community.

August is traditionally a quiet month for couriers, now is the time to do some research and see what is happening in your area.

Further investigation found that despite marketing quite heavily, new couriers were just not ready when the job came through, they were out with their families instead. Really, one courier asked us what we did with our business calls when we went to the cinema!

Self employment isn’t a hobby if you are expected to pay the bills, and if people depend  then you need to be ready and eager to take the work. How many times do you think a potential customer will call back if they only get voicemail? How many times do you call back when you get voicemail?

Yes, it’s a saturated market, yes you can make a good business but only if you focus on it, and that means at times the family go out with out you and instead of sitting there waiting for the phone to ring, you are actively chasing potential clients.

Kevin

It should come straight to you, right?

Sadly life is not like that, with good marketing you will get some work and you will find you still have to go out and get customers, you can sit back and wait for them to come to you BUT you will run through all your money first.

Being a self employed courier means if you don’t find the work you don’t get paid. If you own the removal company or are a self employed mover, then you don’t get paid. You need customers and you need to find them. You need to find profitable customers for your business.

So what types of courier work are more profitable?

Local delivery jobs are good for a courier looking to increase their local customer base. As they are local you can complete more of them throughout the day and therefore become profitably quickly. The downside is that there will be more wear and tear on your vehicle when you complete local delivery work so you need to factor that in to your prices when you look for this type of work.

Long distance jobs can be profitable for a courier especially if they can get a return load back to their home area. Make a point of calling courier companies in your delivery drop area so they know to contact you if they have a load going your way.

Specialist delivery jobs can also be profitable to a courier. Jobs such as delivering dangerous goods (when correctly licensed) can pay a premium as this type of courier service is rare, so do your research and see what type of specialist courier services are required.

Whatever delivery work you have locally, nationally or specialist remember to calculate your costs and expenses correctly so you do not underquote on your prices, if you fail to calculate your costs properly you will quickly eat into any reserve that you have built into your business.

Source: How to deliver and profit

Attracting customers can be done a variety of ways and a blend of marketing activity is good, it enables you to reach more potential customers.

As well as an online presence, you need an offline one too. Believe it or not there are some customers who don’t use the internet, they prefer traditional media.

In conclusion, get off your backside and look for the work you enjoy delivering or get a job.

Sarah

Thanks to Graham Hunt for flagging up the removal company and their attitude in this blog, Spain is not Greece

Ethics can be a hot potato, just ask all those MPs about their expenses and ethics, morals and not breaking the rules will all start coming into the conversation.

As a courier business there is no legal requirement to be ethical, it could be argued there is a moral one though. Delivering for another courier company requires that you act in a moral manner and you do not steal a customer from a courier you have subcontracted for.

Subcontracting is a trust based business aspect, if you poach customers from other couriers then sadly you will find that word spreads and you can no longer get work. Who will allow you to subcontract for the if you steal their hard won clients? Who will hand you their business on a silver salver? How will you recover your reputation?

Word of mouth recommendation works two ways, and it will work against you as well as for you. Use it correctly, be praised for doing a great job rather than condemned. Poachers in the courier world are more reviled than bankers are these days, that’s not a good position to be in.

By not carding (leaving your business card) or leafleting at collection or destination points you will avoid any potential accusations on poaching when subcontracting. You may with permission from the courier company that is issuing the work, but other wise – it’s a big no-no. What you may think is a good marketing practice in one industry may not be in another – think carefully.

So what are your thoughts? Is it good to be ethical in your courier business?

Sarah

I was surprised to see this, this morning.

LONDON – “White Van Man” is set to become the latest ad medium with the launch of a media service offering to display posters on the backs of white vans across the UK- Source: Campaign Live

It was only last week a business was proclaiming their tech would tame white van man, tech that has been available and used for quite some time . Indeed nothing new under the sun.

Upon closer examination this looks like a cracking idea, extra revenue for the owners of white vans (and as I own several, I know they are not cheap to run or maintain) as well as extra visibility for the advertiser. The downside are despite looking around the site of Posters in Transit, I can’t see what the policy on advertisers who are your direct competition. For example do couriers wish to advertise rival companies? Can you select who you promote?

What happens as a courier when you collect a job from a customer for them to see you are branded with their competitors products…

As many of us undertake ‘ad hoc’ work, we may not be able to specify our routes and journeys enough to qualify for decent paying advertisers. We will lose a days work as you can bet your life the van wrapping team only work 9-5pm Monday to Friday. Also additional work in the respect that we would have to notify our insurers that we are now carrying advertising on the vehicles.

Whilst van advertising is nothing new, this campaign does seem more prominent. It also seems suited to companies that use their own delivery vans rather than couriers. Couriers do far more miles but there are things like client confidentiality agreements, secure deliveries and high value deliveries that all require us to blend into the background – something that the advertising won’t allow us to do.

Sarah

Sarah Arrow can be contacted via sales@thecouriershop.co.uk

David Paget is the owner of UKSMF Ltd, a free sales and marketing advice site. He has put together 5 top tips to consider with your courier and parcel business marketing practices:

1. Know your customer -  The first mistake many courier business can make is not knowing their customers. Define your target market carefully through research and segmentation, then position yourself as different and as superior to your courier competitors.

2. Get your message right ? A great way to do this is to do a SWOT analysis of your courier business.

• Strengths,

• Weaknesses,

• Opportunities

• Threats

Write it all out on a piece of paper and you’ll be surprised at how focused this will make you in writing your message to your potential customers.

3. Features and Benefits – A feature is a great thing but it always needs to be backed up by the benefits of the feature. I.E. ? ?  We are insured which gives you great peace of mind that your parcel will be delivered safe and sound.  The benefits will drive the customers impulse to buy your service against your competitors.

4. Always follow up You’ve just done all of the hard work and attracted the customer to your service, spoken to the potential customer and engaged their interest? So what do you do next? You need to schedule a follow up and make sure that you do it. Conversion rates can be dramatically improved just by following up properly. Even if you lose that potential it is still wise to follow up 3 months later, maybe they still need the service that you offer.

5. Keep your marketing efforts going – Even if your first efforts bring you 5 customers at once, if you stop marketing your business will become very quiet again. Even 10 minutes a day will benefit your courier business.

Try different marketing messages as some will work better than others, when you find one that works, stick with it. Running a business is about 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration – stick with this motto and you should not go too wrong.

For even more free marketing advice for couriers, visit our friendly community over at www.salesandmarketingforums.co.uk

Look forward to your comments

Regards

Dave

David Paget
Operations Director
UKSMF Ltd