Imagine a day where you are not dealing with late delivery complaints.
For us that is every day.
As providers of courier services we know how tough it is to get your freight delivered on time. We are fortunate though – we have a process that we are going to share with you and if you follow these steps your freight will always reach it’s destination intact and when it should. The day you cease to have customers calling about late deliveries is now a few steps closer.
1. When a customer wants a delivery double check their location details
Sometimes a customer calls from one location (that you have on your database) but they want their pallets delivered to a different destination. They don’t tell you but they do tell the warehouse. This means when you schedule the delivery their isn’t enough time for subsequent deliveries because you are routing to the wrong delivery address. A quick check at the booking stage can save your business hours.
2. Manage your clients delivery expectations from the outset
If your client calls at 8am and want their pallets in Birmingham at 10am that is not a problem providing you are also in Birmingham. However if you are in Edinburgh or London you will not be able to get the pallets to their destination in 3 hours. Not even documents using a motorbike could get delivered in that time frame. If you manage your clients expectations openly and honestly then you will have less phone calls hassling you.
A good example is when we used some Removalists in Perth. We had to liase with them to get a shipment from the UK to Fremantle. Fremantle is the main cargo port in Western Australis for Perth city. From there they took over with the delivery. It was smooth and easy. Why? becasue they communicated with us. Communication is key. The client was aware that the shipment was going to be at sea for at least 6 weeks. So the client was happy when the shipment got to to their warehouse in 5 week. Can you imagine the uproar the client would have caused if they were not told a told line and were expecting the shipment in a week and then were told their goods are on a cargo ship for another 4 weeks? It would have been madness. Communication is key. I’ll say that all day, everyday!
3. When outsourcing to a courier service check that they have all the customer details…
… and that those details are correct. Email the courier the correct delivery addresses, phone numbers and details of service areas (especially if they haven’t delivered for you before). If there are issues parking at the delivery destination tell them now. The better prepared they are the more likely they are to be on time with your consignments.
4. Named contacts
Inform your courier service of the person ordering the job at collection and delivery points. If the job is a “special” or “screamer” then sometimes the general warehouse staff are not aware of it. Make the loading and unloading process faster by providing points of contact with phone numbers. A good courier company will ask for these at the time of booking.
5. Documentation
Most hold-ups at collection points involve the documents traveling with your freight. Call the warehouse and prepare them in advance for urgent collections and make the office staff aware of that days deliveries and who is collecting them. Without the correct documents a warehouse won’t release the freight and this will make the delivery late. A few minutes here can save you an hour and you avoid paying waiting time.
If you run through the 5 steps every time you outsource a delivery you will rarely have a problem getting your freight delivered on time.
Sarah
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