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Time is money for every company and getting things completed as quickly and efficiently as possible can be the difference between a small business sinking or surfing.
Delivery is one of the most crucial parts of most small businesses. Why? Because it’s what gets your goods to people, helping your company to retain existing customers and acquire new ones.
I’ve listed three simple, actionable, and results-driven delivery tips that will help your business to save both time and money – and we can both agree that this has to be a good thing for your company.
Recommended reading: Flexible Business Ideas You Can Take on the Road
Really know all of the areas your business is delivering to
Delivery is one of the most important areas for time efficiency and one of the best tips for completing your deliveries as quickly as you can. You can do this by making sure that they are aware of every possible route like the back of their hand. The best way to do this is by utilizing a route planning software like Route4Me Route Planner.
This is something that can be tackled with software – using a satnav gives your drivers the tools to know the best routes to their deliveries. You can find a list of the 2020’s best satnavs at T3, a website that specializes in reviewing the latest gadgets.
But while using a satnav will certainly help your drivers know the areas they’re delivering to, there’s no substitute for them driving around and testing out different routes. This is because they’ll spot things that their satnav won’t be able to tell them.
So, take my advice and invest in a good satnav and make your drivers get an on-road experience of the areas they’ll be delivering to. This will help reduce the time that will be spent delivering your goods to your customers.
Incentivize your drivers to make them more efficient
Motivation is one of the greatest drivers of efficiency in any company – when your employees are motivated they’ll work more effectively, saving your small business time and money.
But it’s not simply good enough for you to say that your drivers’ incentive is their salary – they need the carrot of additional reward, along with recognition because they’re getting paid just for doing the basics.
This incentive comes from both a bonus structure and an employee of the month scheme – BrightHr has covered off the different types of employee bonus schemes you could use. Now, how you set these things depends entirely on your company and it’s culture – perhaps you want to introduce certain targets, or simply decide to reward what people for ‘going above and beyond.’ Additionally, the levels of bonus or recognition will depend on your business.
But the important thing is that you take this tip seriously and implement a reward structure for your drivers. Why? Because they’ll have the incentive to complete their deliveries as quickly as they can.
Monitor your fuel spending really closely to stop wastage
Deliveries take time to complete and your drivers have to be paid for this time. But your driver’s time isn’t the only cost associated with your deliveries – there’s also the simple fact that you need to pay for fuel to deliver your goods to your clients.
Like really knowing the areas that you’re delivering to, fuel spending is something that you can address with software – using a fuel card means that every cent your drivers spend is accounted for on a central system, along with highlighting where cost-effective stations are. You can find a host of different fuel cars at iCompario, a website that aggregates fuel cards.
But while using a fuel card makes it easy for you to spot any overspending on fuel, you need to go further and look at your vehicles. For example, they may be burning through fuel too quickly and operating inefficiently – which is even more important than getting the right software.
So, use software and get your vehicles serviced regularly to make sure that you’re not wasting money on fuel. Why? Because making these investments could save your business large amounts of money on fuel costs.
Knowing your transport routes, incentivizing your drivers, and monitoring your fuel costs are pretty basic delivery tips for your small business – but that’s the great thing about them. They’re simple to implement and can deliver real results for your company.
But don’t stop with these three things. Once you’ve implemented them, I recommend that you make it easy for your customers to return any items, track, track, track to be sure you know where your goods are, and consider if outsourcing works for you.
Trying these bonus three tips will make the delivery process for your small business even more efficient.
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