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Managing a delivery business is never easy. With the amount of factors that can change on a daily basis, it’s not hard to see why. You shouldn’t have to struggle with this too much, however. There are ways to make it more straightforward, but you’ll have to know how to properly manage your delivery business to do this.
While this might seem vague and complicated, it shouldn’t be. All you’ll need to do is focus on a few specific areas, such as:
- Efficiency
- Safety
- Continuous improvement
- Process optimization
You won’t have to struggle with focusing on and improving each of these areas. Using a few notable tips makes it relatively straightforward, as long as you’re willing to put the work in. Six top tips are recommended for this, as they’ll have more of an impact than you’d think.
How To Properly Manage Your Delivery Business: 6 Top Tips
1. Maintain Your Vehicles
Your company’s vehicles will be as important as your drivers to your business. Without them, you wouldn’t be able to make any deliveries. You shouldn’t simply buy them and neglect them until they’ve broken down, however. You’ll need to properly manage and maintain your vehicles all the time.
Making proactive repairs and upgrades is essential to this, and you might want to consider fleet services to help with this. By taking a proactive approach, you avoid any vehicles breaking down. Since this leads to delays and unnecessary costs, breakdowns should be avoided at all costs.
While this takes continual effort, it avoids any unneeded stress and expenses, not to mention drivers being stranded and customers not getting their packages.
2. Know Who’s Available & When
Every driver has different amounts of availability. Some work full-time while others could only be there on a case-by-case basis. Many of them could even be part-time employees. You’ll need to make sure you keep all of this in mind when you’re scheduling deliveries and planning things out.
Part-time and contractual employees could have other work responsibilities outside of your company, so they mightn’t be able to live up to last-minute bookings or shifts. Take the time to know exactly when drivers are available, and you’ll have far fewer issues in the long-term. It makes sure every delivery is actually covered and avoids any last-minute stress in making changes.
Since this can vary somewhat over time, make sure drivers feel comfortable updating you about any changes. It’ll help with your scheduling and planning in the short- and long-term.
3. Make Routes Efficient
The longer it takes drivers to deliver a package, the unhappier customers will be with the process. Added to that are the costs associated with the delivery. Every minute a driver is on the road with a package is an extra expense. Naturally, inefficient routes mean more expenses and less satisfied customers, so you’ll need to prevent it.
Go out of your way to make routes as efficient as possible. Since this can vary from route to route, you’ll need to spend time planning everything out carefully. You’ll see more than a few benefits once you’ve properly optimized your routes. You should see an increase in the number of deliveries you can get done every day.
You’ll see a lower cost-per-delivery, shorter waiting periods for deliveries, and happier customers because of it.
4. Use GPS
As efficient as your routes might be, it doesn’t always mean your drivers will follow them all the time. They could believe they know better ways to get to the delivery address, even if that isn’t actually the case. Then there’s the fact you’ll need to know where your vehicles are all of the time.
You’ll need a GPS system to properly do this. Focusing on knowing where drivers are within the context of their route is essential to managing your delivery business. If there are last-minute changes, for example, it lets you notify the drivers and reroute them much more effectively.
Invest in a high-quality system with this. These let you know your driver’s location at any given moment, and you can use this up-to-date information to make any needed changes. It makes everything much more straightforward and avoids any back-and-forth figuring out where they are.
5. Get Proof Of Delivery
Social media is flooded with videos and posts about delivery drivers simply throwing a package at someone’s door when they’re delivering. There are countless videos proving this happens. Some drivers have even stolen packages and filled out forms saying they were delivered.
When it does to a customer, you can rest assured they won’t use that delivery company again. You’ll naturally need to avoid this as much as possible. You’ll not only lose out on a customer, but develop a negative reputation if it happens often. Getting proof of delivery is a great way of making sure it happens.
Drivers need to actually carry out the delivery to get this proof, so it avoids any stealing. It’ll also make sure the package is in good condition when they’re getting this proof. A simple photo of the package on the customers’ doorstep or even a customer signature can be more than enough for this.
6. Keep Improving
Your delivery business will only be as good as the delivery process itself. The better you can do this, the better your company performs overall. You’ll have more efficient deliveries and happier customers because of it. Once you get the process to a certain point, you might think you’re done with improving it.
That isn’t the case. Looking for ways to continually improve the delivery process makes sure you can get better and better, ensuring customers are happy and costs are as low as possible. It might even be worth increasing delivery costs to make your deliveries better, as it’ll encourage clients to use you again.
The repeat business you see will more than make up for the expense. Even small areas can be worth improving, as they add to the whole experience. Don’t simply neglect this once you’ve made it “good enough.” Aim for perfection and go out of your way to get there with every delivery.
Ways To Improve Your Delivery Business
Speaking of improvement, there are multiple ways to improve your delivery business you might want to take advantage of. It’s worth taking advantage of these as much as possible. Some of the more notable of these include:
- Prioritize orders based on importance
- Schedule deliveries in as far advance as possible
- Track driver performance
- Send real time notifications to customers
- Factor breaks into your schedule
The better you implement these, the larger of an impact they’ll have on your company. You should see better delivery processes, fewer costs, and happier customers because of it. Combined with the tips to properly manage your delivery business, you’ll see a significant impact on your overall company. There’s no reason not to put the effort in.
How To Properly Manage Your Delivery Business: Wrapping Up
Figuring out how to properly manage your delivery business doesn’t need to be as complicated as you could think. It could be relatively simple. With the benefits it should offer your company, there’s no reason not to focus on it and use a few straightforward tips.
Making sure you get proof of delivery, making your routes as efficient as possible, and maintaining your vehicles can all be recommended, as can a few others. While they’ll take time and effort to pull off, you shouldn’t have an issue getting this done in time.
You’ll see your delivery business improve and expand in no time.
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