By Brian McKay
By Brian McKay
It can’t be understated how important your delivery service is to your business. Without an effective delivery service, your company is sure to fail. With an outstanding delivery service, it’s sure to thrive. You should be paying massive attention to this area of your company, considering every avenue along the way. There’s a reason why so many businesses struggle in terms of delivery, though. It’s difficult!
Let’s streamline it for you. Here are five questions to ask yourself about whether your delivery service is up to scratch.
Are You Soliciting Feedback?
There’s no possible way you can know exactly how well your delivery service is performing without feedback. You might have all the analytics in the world, but you don’t know if a driver is acting rude, for example. You might not know when customers are unhappy or simply indifferent about how your service has performed. They don’t always tell you! So, go to them and find out. Issue surveys and questionnaires on a regular basis with a view to future improvement.
Have You Thought About Outsourcing?
You don’t have to outsource your delivery requirements, but you should at least think about it. Running a competent delivery service requires some serious investment from both a financial and time point of view. Opportunities like LTS Distribution services put all this in place on your behalf if you choose to outsource. It’ll cost you money, of course, but so will establishing your own delivery service.
Is GPS Tracking Implemented?
Is your delivery service utilizing GPS tracking yet? When a customer starts to get irritable about a late delivery, it’s usually because they don’t understand what’s going on. In their minds, you could be totally lying about a delivery, and that worries them. GPS tracking provides them with a clear view of where their product is and when it’ll get to them. And, it allows you to know exactly the same thing if a problem begins to arise.
Are Your Delivery Times Pleasing Your Customers?
An effective delivery service is only as effective as your company makes it out to be. Don’t understand what I mean? Well, offering five-day delivery turnarounds and making them in three days is bound to please the customer. But, telling them their delivery will be with them in two days and making them in three days will annoy. The type of promises you make in terms of your delivery service will greatly affect how its perceived. It’s never a good idea to hope you can make a tough delivery turnaround for the sake of one sale.
Are Your Drivers Creating A Good Impression?
Unless you’re soliciting feedback as we mentioned above, you never truly know how well your drivers are performing. Sure, they might be hitting deadlines, but are they representing the company well? After getting feedback, you might find that training is an important consideration for some. Also, this is where outsourcing can be beneficial once more, eliminating the need to hire dedicated drivers. It’s important to remember that just one bad experience could damage your business.
Brian McKay is a co-founder of zenruption. He has a B.A. in Political Science from Gonzaga University and an M.B.A. from Boise State University (yes that blue field). His goal in life is to look out for the regular guy and bring as much knowledge and change to this world as he can. His purpose in founding Zenruption was to do just that and help craft the world he wants his daughter to inherit. Please feel free to email him any feedback or article ideas at [email protected]. On twitter: @brianmckay71
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/briguy71