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Why couriers don’t quote by text

February 4, 2011 By
Vicky's Work Area 2006

Image by Vicky TGAW via Flickr

As a courier we get asked to quote for business all of the time, it seems on some days everyone has something to get delivered.

As a courier business we know there are some not very nice customers that prefer not to pay for their deliveries. A sad but true fact.

We are currently entering our tenth year of trading, and already in Feb 2011 I have had to issue two sets of court papers to clients who are not only avoiding payment but pretending never to have been given the information in the first place.

We don’t quote by text for a reason. If you are one of those dodgy, not very nice people then we need an audit trail to track back. We can show the judge evidence that you agreed the price and that you agreed the payments terms and since then you have been a bit of a naughty person.

We have yet to lose a case and every time we have had the court costs awarded. So it costs the customer even more.

Now we are all adults here (I hope) and we understand things get tough but bills still have to be paid and it really is unethical to try and run your business on someone else’s credit.

You can try, but it won’t happen.

If you are looking to become a courier, these useful facts are included in The Complete Courier Guide. It’s sad but true you will have some customers try and rip you off.

The good news is, the courier industry is a small industry and if you don’t pay up then the chances are the pool of couriers looking to complete your work will also dry up – we all talk to each other. Often open and frankly.

3 years ago we did some deliveries for a furniture importer, a lovely chap. He had knocked several other couriers in the area before he got to us. Like I say, it’s a small industry and one days competitor is tomorrows sub contractor… we knew that the importer had done this and we laid our terms and conditions down – we took payment up front for every single delivery.

This is not as harsh as it sounds – they took payment in advance for the furniture, they were no longer running their business on someone else’s credit and the risk to our courier service was limited.

At the end of the season they gave us some lovely furniture as a gift, they found the service we provided exemplary. They also liked the fact that we had back ups of everything. So if their customer complained about a delivery, we knew exactly who, where and why.

They also knew exactly where they stood with us. Prices were in writing, payments were agreed. In writing. No margin for error or neglect on either site.

In conclusion, if your customer wants a quote by text think about your audit trail – begin with the end in mind and make sure every step of the sales process to delivery is documented.

Kevin

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As a courier or removal company, why should you bother looking for work?

April 30, 2010 By

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.

Another white van
Image by jovike via Flickr

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

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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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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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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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