If your delivery service is inefficient, your business will struggle to survive. After your product/service is ready, the efficiency of the delivery is what wraps it all up.
The following are ways to ensure your service delivery is top-notch.
- Effective Communication
It is extremely important to always keep your customers in the loop, they have to know exactly what is going on and what needs to be done and this does not apply to your customers alone. Your employees must also communicate with you effectively while you also do the same. This will save time and ensure both parties are up to date and also ensure they know the next step to take.
- Consider Alternatives to Home Delivery
If you deliver directly to your customers, find out if there are other means of delivery, the traditional 9-5 delivery method doesn’t work for everyone. You can find out if you can deliver to local stores or if you can make use of a digital locker system in specific locations. This will make it easier for both you and your customers.
- Document Everything
This should be a given but we had to add it to the list, make sure you document every single thing. It could be a quick phone call with your customer or delivery agent, make sure to document a summary of the conversation in a “here’s what we discussed” backup mail. This will provide clarity for each party and will serve as a valuable record of ticket history.
- Crowdsourcing
Since the success of Uber, there have been numerous startups of similar platforms offering local courier services; this can serve as an additional means of delivery and will make the process faster and convenient for your and your customers.
- Make your research
Another way to improve the service delivery of your business is to make due research, check for and try to implement new market trends, tools that are used to make the process more efficient, draw out another business plan and marketing strategy if needed and go from there.
- Focus on one problem at a time
Don’t try to solve all the problems at once, focus on the most important issue or the biggest problem at the moment, make sure to solve it completely before moving on to the next one.
- Look after your delivery team
Take good care of your delivery team, they are the last contact point with your customers, they are also a unique source of valuable intel on your customers, market and competition.
- Strive for Daily improvement
When running a business, it is best to have a growth mindset. In simple terms, this means striving for improvement and excellence. Analyze your delivery process, compare your successes and failures and figure out what works and what doesn’t, in order to plan ahead and fix whatever areas need fixing. This should include looking upstream in your supply chain to check if there are any issues all the way down to your means of transportation.
- Use GPS & Automated software
This process becomes more efficient if you make use of automation. If every step is recorded from the moment the order was made to the day/time it was completed, it leaves a permanent trace that can be used later as a record. This software also makes it easier to immediately identify where there’s a problem if something goes wrong.
- Measure Performance
You cannot value what you have not measured, the only way to know if your business is making progress is to measure your performance for a specific period of time. It is advised to do this on a timely basis.
- For International orders, prepare for custom clearance
Customs clearance is a very long and frustrating process especially in this part of the world, unfortunately; for international orders, there’s no way to avoid it. Your only solution is to come prepared with all the necessary documents and make sure to bring extra cash just in case.
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