Are you looking to make some changes to your delivery business’s daily operations to increase its efficiency? We’ve got your back!
Running a courier business isn’t a walk in the park—there’s a fleet to maintain, expenses to control, and a team to manage. Still, increasing business efficiency and making it into a successful business opportunity is possible if you have a good team and the right tools in place.
But how do you increase your delivery efficiency?
The secret to increasing delivery efficiency lies in your ability to utilize resources effectively. Even the smallest changes deployed can have a significant impact on your business. That said, here are some tips to help you increase your delivery service efficiency.
1. Set Priorities
Any efficient delivery process starts with setting order priorities.
This way, you’ll be able to easily identify stops that must be done at the beginning of your route based on an order’s importance or specified calendar date. But to achieve that, you’ll need to invest in route planner software.
The best route planner apps let you set advanced parameters like priority stops and time-constraints. For instance, if you’re a courier and one of your clients needs their package delivered ASAP, you can prioritize that stop and your route planner app will optimize the fastest route for that stop. This not only increases delivery efficiency but also ensures customer needs are met, and on time.
2. Go Paperless
You want your delivery agents and other staff to stay organized, right? That goal can easily be achieved by going paperless.
Having a paperless office or processes will save you time that you’d have spent sorting, printing, and mailing filing papers. But when you go paperless, you’ll significantly improve delivery efficiency since you’ll be able to create, search, and store documents online. These online documents can be accessed anywhere and from any device.
Plus, you’ll be able to quickly find any personal or business document you need, instead of spending hours digging through piles of file folders.
3. Focus on Customer Service
In a crowded marketplace, making a positive impression can mean the difference between getting repeat customers and clients switching to the competition.
That said, your success in the courier industry depends on how you treat your customers. Do they always complain of late delivery? What about pricing…are your customers concerned about your high prices? Are they satisfied by your mode of delivery and communication?
If you answered ‘Yes’ to any of these questions, you’ll need to work on the areas of your business that are lacking.
For instance, if your customers always call to inquire about delivery progress, you could invest in a route monitoring software that provides real-time updates to customers. If communication is the problem, you could open multiple channels of interacting with your clients, ranging from social media to live chats and more.
4. Limit Unauthorized Vehicle Use
One of the benefits of investing in fleet tracking software is that you get to track your drivers and manage your fleet better. This not only helps you to track your vehicles in the event they get stolen but also helps to limit unauthorized vehicle use.
If not tracked and monitored, your delivery drivers might divert from their scheduled route to attend personal errands in-between jobs.
Worst of all, unscrupulous drivers might use your delivery vehicles for unrelated and unauthorized businesses. Such activities might paralyze business operations, cause wear and tear, and affect the overall fleet efficiency.
Wrapping Up
By incorporating the above strategies, you’ll stand to benefit from increased delivery efficiency and be able to stick to your commitments.
