You may be surprised to find that the delivery service you provide is a core aspect of the business. Whether you’re working from home or you’re a corporate giant, the delivery service is important. It all boils down to the final impression you’re leaving your customers with. The delivery part of a small business can sometimes be tricky. Sorting, packaging and posting items yourself takes a lot of time and commitment. However, that doesn’t mean it gets much easier if you were to be delivering more. Mistakes become easier and the processes can become even more complex.
Whatever the size of your business, there is always room for improvement, have a look below at some of the ways you can achieve this:
Automatic Systems
You should aim to have everything automated. Right from the moment an order comes into when it leaves. Start by having things such as an address label produced for each order that is received. You then want to be able to track your deliveries so you can update your customers and keep tabs of the delivery drivers location. Being able to see which parcels have already been delivered on a route can be a brilliant way to update your customers on expected delivery times or of any delays. Plus this way you will be able to identify where any problems have occurred such as missing parcels. You should think about introducing software that allows you to track the parcel right from picking through to the customer receiving it.
The Logistics
Whether you are going to be using a general postage service, a parcel specialist or are going to run your own delivery department you need to make considerations with regards to the runnings of the logistics. You need to think about areas such as training delivery drivers right through to monitoring and protect your trucks on the road. You can help with this by using things such as csa compliance. As your business starts to grow you will most definitely need to think about the ways you can deal with higher-order numbers. If you’re running a small operation there is going to be a breaking point where you need to upgrade your service. If you do choose to use a logistics company make sure you are happy with their delivery protocols and they match the level of service you expect your customers to receive.
GPS
The most important parts of any delivery process are monitoring and measuring. Every single parcel should be tracked as discussed above. To help with this you may want to consider using a GPS system that allows you to see where your parcels are and when. You are then also able to monitor the timing of deliveries, this could help you to work with your drivers to improve the level of service they are providing and offer further training if they are unsure of the best routes to be taken. It will also allow you to identify problem routes where you often see high volumes of traffic.
These are just a few of the ways you can improve your delivery service, there are others. Do you have any that you can share in the comments below?