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Harness Social Media to Increase Your Sales – Thurrock

February 25, 2010 By

Arrow Light Haulage is thrilled to be involved with the social media workshop day in Thurrock, Essex.

We are loaning KTIA and UEL our Communications Director, Sarah Arrow and she will be providing support (as well as being living proof) that social media is useful to small businesses. As you may already know, Sarah is the most followed courier on twitter, she has more followers than DHL, Fedex and UPS combined, proving that you don’t have to be big to be found, you just have to say something interesting!

Sarah tells me that communication is a two way street so she follows people back, something that a lot of social media experts have stopped doing as they have been overwhelmed by Direct Messages from their fans. You can tell what you think on this in the comments below.

If you are a Thurrock based business who wants to join in, please give Richard a call on the number below.

Knowledge Thurrock Innovation Associates (KTIA) in conjunction with Arrow Light Haulage are pleased to offer a free workshop for local businesses entitled “Harness Social Media to Increase Your Sales”. Taking place on the 4th March from 0900 until 1130hrs in Grays, the session is ideal for small enterprise owners and managers who are interested in learning more about online social media platforms and their benefits and how to design a strategy to develop a successful, enhanced and cost-effective online presence.

For more information, please call Richard on 07500 802 311 or email r.a.snell@uel.ac.uk

I wish you a great day Sarah and Richard, I know Thurrock businesses will gain immensely from attending.

Kevin

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The postal strike – how to use your courier

October 12, 2009 By

With the Royal Mail set to strike, small businesses across the country will be affected. Here at Arrow Light Haulage we have been thinking up some solutions as to how to continue business as best as possible and where a courier is essential.

Firstly and perhaps most importantly, Parcel Force is not going to strike. That means the cheapest option for sending out parcels and packages under 5kgs is still available.

Parcel delivery Essex

So if you are a business that sends out one or two parcels a day, and send your invoices by email and pay your customers by Bacs, you will be in a strong position to carry on business as usual.

Until the 14th of October, if you click the link above to book your parcel delivery through Parcel Force and type ‘new’ at the checkout, you will receive a 15% discount.

Secondly, as mentioned above. Use bacs to pay suppliers instead of posting cheques, it’s greener and far more efficient. If you are sending invoices, send them by email too. If like us you have to send additional documentation, scan and email that too. Again it’s greener, faster and far more efficient than the Royal Mail.

For companies that use direct mail for their marketing campaigns, have a look at other methods such as an email mailshots – think of the benefits to your carbon footprint as well as the traffic to your website and the ways to reach customers that may not respond to direct mail. If you need support for this we recommend business consultant Jeff Nutbeem, he can be found via his website – Small Business Consultant

You could be really old fashioned and pick up the phone and call the customers direct and send them a tailored email afterwards. More time consuming perhaps, but may have better results. If the Phone isn’t your thing then talk to an expert, we recommend Shaun Gisbourne at Phone for Business

More importantly, when to use your courier.

Use them when you usually do -  for same day deliveries, for urgent items, for fragile items. You may think you need to use one for your every day mail service but the truth is, you can do a lot of it now via email, fax and instant messenger. These are often secure and safe, and if it really is that confidential you will already be using a courier to deliver it.

Sarah

Same day couriers in Essex

PS if you need to send birthday cards either send them with a present, arrange friend to do it if they live nearby, send a video via email – think a bit creatively! The chances are this won’t be the last strike and we can find ways not to let it affect our businesses or personal lives.

Please note, we have used an affiliate service to obtain the codes and links for the Parcel Force discount.

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Moving your office

September 9, 2009 By

The only thing more stressful than a move according to psychologists is death and divorce. In this blog we are going to share some tips to make your small business move more efficient and less stressful.

Unlike a house move moving the location of your business, if not done correctly could cost your business money. Virtually all offices moves can take place over a weekend so there is no disruption to your day to day business.

A typical busy North American office
Image via Wikipedia

A well planned office move would include booking your office removal service with plenty of notice. It should be treated like any other large project carried out by your company. The relocation experts treated as project managers as that is what they are for you. Once you have assigned this you move should run smoother and together you will assess whether you can do a staged move.

Every office has non essential equipment that may be able to be moved or placed into storage before the main move or prior to your lease expiring. This allows you actual move day to receive priority attention.

Check what equipment your office movers have, for example an electric stair climber would be very useful if you your office furniture has to go up and down lots of flights of stairs. The right type of crates can make all the difference and you will need to check that your moving company has crates or will organise their hire on your behalf.

Sometimes a few jumbo transits is far more time effective than one large 7.5 tonne vehicle. What this means is a vehicle can be loaded and sent to the new premises and the next vehicle loaded whilst that vehicle is unloading instead of waiting for one large vehicle to be packed and loaded.

Whatever you do decide to do to move your office make sure you have several quotes so you can compare the services offered.

A well planned move needn’t be stressful it can be as simple as leaving one office on Friday and going to a new office on Monday.

Good luck

Kevin

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Same day couriers – the frontline of your company

August 24, 2009 By

As a small business or manufacturer, you know how hard it is to make a sale, make the product to the customers spec and then you get it delivered…

same day couriers
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Only the delivery aspect is what your customer will recall, as it’s the main interaction with you after they have bought their product. Even though the delivery part of your service may be outsourced, customers may have a negative perception of your business.

The reasons that they may have a negative perception is the ‘scrimping’ that goes on with finding a same day courier to deliver your goods. It’s not all about saving money but cost is generally the first thing our customers ask about. Are you the cheapest at what you do? No? neither are we – we offer incredible value for money because you know by booking our same day courier services your item will actually be delivered by our team of professional drivers, it will not be transhipped, it will not be sent on a 500 mile journey to then start it’s journey to your customer and it will be delivered by people who care. No, we don’t load our vehicles like the bloke in the picture.

Does that really make a difference? yes, it does. If the delivery isn’t done correctly, you may find yourself paying for a re-delivery. If your same day courier has packaged another 15 items onto their vehicle your goods may not get to their destination in one piece. More importantly, if the goods are co-loaded they need to go with compatible items, a strong smelling item shouldn’t be packaged with porous goods. If your courier is giving you a cheap price because ‘he is going that way already’ then your items will be co-loaded.

So imagine your customer, sitting home all day wondering when their driver is going to turn up with their goods. They ring you, you ring the courier and the courier says “between one and five pm”. They picked up the goods from you that morning and you know yourself that the journey is just 90 minutes away, so why are they taking so long? You pass the message onto your customer and at 5pm the item still has yet to arrive. Your customer is stewing and has probably been on the phone a few more times, each time more upset… where are their goods? what time will they get here?

The item is finally delivered at 6pm. Just one hour late but your customer is unhappy and unlikely to buy from you again. Why? because the small saving you made in getting your goods delivered equated into a big hassle for the person receiving it.

You can avoid it. You can keep your customer happy with the delivery experience also.

Sarah

Same day couriers in Essex, delivering nationally.

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