Courier services and are some of the most important services in the contemporary era. Granted, throughout the ages these businesses have helped to build empires, transporting raw materials and goods all across the world. Now, the courier industry has set itself up as a highly competitive and profitable one, if you know what you’re doing.
If you’re interested in starting your own business, then you’ll need to understand that due to the aforementioned competitive nature of this industry, it can be quite a challenge. However, with the right research, dedication, and a great idea, you could become very successful. But first, let’s look at some of the first steps you need to take when starting your courier business today.
Do Your Research
Firstly, you need to develop a great understanding of the courier industry and identify exactly what type of services you want to deliver. Are you planning to be a same-day delivery service, with drivers transporting important and time-sensitive documents and items around the country? Or perhaps you’re offering a next-day delivery for retails services? Maybe you want to offer your services to local independent stores as a better alternative to their current options? As well as this, you’ll want to look into the services offered by your competitors and see how you can distance your business from theirs or improve on their current model.
Planning Stages
Creating a business plan is an essential step for every successful business, so try to make it extensive, covering all of your bases. At the same time, keep it simple and easy to follow. Being able to show a solid, well-thought-out business plan consistent with the best business plan template to investors is going to be incredibly beneficial to you and will make it much easier to seal the deal on getting funding. Try to cover everything from your unique selling points to your knowledge of the courier industry and competitors and your budget. If you have everything together to show you’re serious about getting into this business, people are going to have to take you and your business model very seriously.
Stick To Your Budget
After setting out your budget, try to ensure that you and your team stick to it. Factor everything into this, including your staff costs, equipment, vehicles and even possible unexpected costs from legal battles to replacement equipment. Budgeting isn’t always an easy task, so make sure you’re not tackling it alone if possible. Build a trustworthy team to help you manage your budget, or better yet, outsource the task to an accountant who can help you to get everything in order. It’s important to note that, while it’s best to stick to a budget, you do sometimes need to be flexible so be prepared and willing to change things a bit in case of those unexpected costs popping up.
Useful Tech
When it comes to your actual couriers doing their jobs, you should definitely be taking advantage of all the great tech out there today. Quality GPS devices to assist your couriers on their journey is a must have. It’s also a very good idea to install a tachograph in your motor vehicles and to invest in tachograph analysis so that you can get in depth data on the amount of time your couriers are driving for and how fast they’re going. While meeting deadlines and delivery estimates is key to a good courier service, letting your drivers break the rules of the road is not conducive to your business surviving for long. Not to mention it will help to ensure your business is being compliant with local safety standards, as well as EU rules if required.
Essential Hires
As a courier company, your delivery drivers are the most important part of your team, as your business relies upon their skill and efficiency. Ensure your drivers are well trained and dedicated to providing a great quality service. As well as this, you’ll want to consider hiring a legal expert to help ensure your compliance with rules and regulations, as well as provide you with legal guidance in the event of any legal challenges. You’ll also want to consider who will be overseeing and managing all of your couriers as well as specifically how much external guidance there will be for these drivers. Creating a contact centre to assist with this, as well as handling customer complaints is a very useful step and should be considered with care.
Customer Services
If you do choose to open an in-house contact centre that can deal with assisting customers who want an update on their delivery, people who want to lodge a complaint, or for clients looking to use your service, then make sure your team are well prepared for this challenge. Of course, there is also the opportunity to outsource this task as well. There are many external customer service businesses out there that can provide your business with this service, so you don’t need to invest in your own. This can save you a lot of money and administrative work, although you’ll lose an element of control when choosing this path.
