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White van man allegedly tamed…

December 2, 2009 By

Well it seems like there really is nothing new under the sun, as vehicle satellite tracking has been rebranded as the tool to tame white van man. The ‘new’ product is called “Driver DNA” and tracks the driving of a vehicle and shows harsh braking patterns and agressive driving patterns, again all things that are shown in real time with satellite tracking.  A system we use goes as far as ‘geo-fencing’ postcodes and emailing alerts when vehicles reach a certain area or postcode or breaks the speed limit. It can tell you when the vehicle is turned on, whether it’s idling – just about anything you could want to know and quite a few things you wouldn’t want to know as well.

Couriers have long used Tom Tom fleet systems and products such as Journeeze to manage their fuel consumption and where their vehicles are. Fuel is the biggest expenditure where white van man are concerned and monitoring closely is something they do. As any good fleet manager would tell you, monitoring fuel consumption is an early highlighter of vehicle faults and all vehicles are checked on a daily or weekly basis as per transport regulations, with records that prove the action has taken place.

Driver DNA hardly seems original, any good tracking system will do the same as it does and has several years heritage as well. It’s disappointing that once again white van man is blamed for co2 emissions and bad driving. Obviously the makers have never seen or drove near school run mum, who drives erratically without thought for anyone else on the road just delivering her kids to the school, reversing without using her mirrors, signaling one way then going the other. Now you know why most accidents happen close to schools. Instead of inventing the double seatbelt to combat School Run Mum, the creators of Driver DNA have just decided to reinvent the wheel with no thought to what products already do the job, that already solving the problem they proclaim exists.

2/10 for effort, must try harder is this white van womans report, you are three years behind the times.

Sarah

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Filed Under: Courier Blog, Courier Shop Admin, Courier World, Driving, Fleet Information, Legal/Accident Advice Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Guest Blog: Couriers how to promote your business

November 26, 2009 By

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

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Transport Exchange Courier Awards and Party 2009

November 23, 2009 By

Saturday evening we spent a lot of time with Ken Roast from Courier Works, Steve Lee from Concierge Couriers and Pat, Susan and the rest of the Patterson family from Pepperpot Couriers.

We were at the Hilton in Coventry and attached are two videos, warts, bums n legs and all… so you get to see what goes on when 250 courier companies around the UK meet up, have dinner and then vote on the best of the business, in our opinions.

Congrats to to all the winners and thanks to Mark Paterson for helping with the videoing – he also managed to win £400 worth of insurance from One Business as well.

Thanks to Alison and Zemina for all their effort in organising this, it gets better every year :-)

And Pat… I am level 72 on the farm and I may throw a sheep at you ;-)

Sarah

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Port deliveries – couriers – how not to incur fines

November 1, 2009 By
Port couriers for delivery
Image by Francisco Sánchez via Flickr

Delivering into ports is something that we enjoy doing here at same day couriers -Arrow Light Haulage, when starting out delivering or collecting from a port is something thats easy when you know how. If you don’t do it correctly then you will hold up the collection or the delivery and in some cases you may fail to deliver or collect. This is when the fines start to come in.

What to remember for port collections or deliveries

  • no children
  • no animals
  • 2 forms of ID thats photograhic
  • high viz jacket
  • safety boots
  • clear manifest of what is being delivered / collected

Failing to collect or deliver from a port is a serious issue for a courier, it is something that incurs port fines. This is something that needs to be taken into account when pricing for this type of work. Often a courier or courier company will think that they can do a deal and co load something with the port delivery and price it at a lower rate to win the business.

The courier wins the job but now has the port items on with other items. This means it takes longer if the vehicle is searched at port security or longer to complete the delivery itself, as its going to another destination first. When this happens the courier could miss their booking in slot and incur a fine. A courier I know racked up 30k in fines in one month, not very good for their business.

If you are looking at gaining work from portside warehouses or delivering into them on a regular basis, make sure you follow their guidelines and make sure you have plenty of time to make your booking in slot.

Kevin Arrow

Become a courier

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Filed Under: Courier World, Driving, Fleet Information, Get More Customers Tagged With: , , , ,

Skills for a courier

October 3, 2009 By

What skills are needed to become a courier? and are academic skills essential?

Aside from a current clean driving license, the main skills a courier needs is patience.

Delivering other peoples cargo or freight (or even documents)

sat navs for couriers
Image via Wikipedia

means working to their schedule and that may not always fit in with your own. Patience is a vital skill when working as a courier. There may be waiting time, or even customers absent from the collection point. Waiting is part of being a courier, waiting time (being paid to wait) is a perk of being a self employed courier, although not fo r a courier that works for a private company.

A good courier has other essential skills needed as well, these include

  • Map-reading and navigational skills – the ability to operate a satellite navigation system is useful
  • Good health and physical fitness – heavy lifting and frequent lifting is involved
  • The ability to work alone and keep to tight schedules, you will often work on your own unless it’s a two man team delivery. These type of jobs are few and far between for a self employed couriers.
  • A responsible attitude to safety, reckless people will not last long if they gain employment as a courier
  • A basic knowledge of motor mechanics is useful but not essential, a blown tyre or loose wire can make a difference to your timekeeping, a little know how helps in a big way.
  • A passion for driving and getting to know the local business community – if you don’t like driving, this really isn’t for you

A good courier company will vet and assess their employees as its important to employ the right ones for their business. Ones that are heavy handed with the freight or packages won’t last long. It’s very important that cargo arrives in one piece or a company will have to claim on their insurance. Often reckless employees are not covered by insurance, and this will come from the companies profits. If you are an employed courier you will not last very long if you are heavy handed or clumsy. If you are self employed, you will not be employed by that company again.

Academic skills are not essential but basic skills are, the ability to read and write in the English language are very important. A customer will supply documentation to go with the goods and the courier will need to be able to read this and be able to differentiate each document and match it to the corresponding loads.

There is more to being a courier than throwing the goods on the back of a van and driving off into the sunset. If you want to be successful you need to do some research. Research is a vital skill for a person looking to become a courier, it can save them money and heartache in the short term and enhance their career in the long term.

Sarah Arrow
The Complete Courier guide is an essential guide for self employed couriers looking to start their own courier business.

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