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5 Ways To Improve Your Delivery Service

5 Ways To Improve Your Delivery ServiceDelivery is a core aspect of business. Whether you’re operating out of your bedroom or you’re a corporate giant, the delivery service matters. It all comes down to the final product you deliver to your customer. The delivery aspect is tricky when you’re a small business. Packaging and posting each item yourself takes time and dedication. But, it doesn’t get much easier when you start making more sales! Things become a great deal more complicated, and mistakes become easier. Whatever size your business, you could stand to improve the delivery service. Here’s how.

1. Automated software

Our first trick is to automate everything. From the moment an order comes into your system, it should automatically produce an address label. The software should track the delivery through your fulfillment process, checking off boxes as it goes along. This way, if something goes wrong or a parcel gets lost, you know where the problem is. That software should track the package all the way to delivery (more on that later). With software systems like this, you always know where things are.

2. Choose the right logistics company

As your business grows, you’ll begin to manage increasing order numbers. At a certain point, your small operation won’t be able to handle everything. When that happens, you’ll want to consider outsourcing your delivery system. The final part of your supply chain solutions should be a reliable delivery provider. Logistics companies have the resources to go abroad with ease, and they run their deliveries like clockwork.

3. Use GPS and telematics

The most crucial part of the delivery process is monitoring and measuring. You should track every single parcel that leaves your warehouse, and know where it is at all times. If there are any problems, you can spot exactly where the last check in was. It’s also worth fitting GPS trackers and telematics to the delivery trucks themselves. By doing that, you can monitor their performance. How fast are the deliveries? Could they be even faster or more reliable?

4. Keep customers updated

There’s nothing worse than keeping your customers in the dark when it comes to deliveries. Use the automated software, and the tracking facilities, to keep your customers updated. Let them know when the package is dispatched. Let them know when it’s out for delivery, and the best time to expect their driver. At the end of the day, your entire delivery process is shaped around customer satisfaction. Keep them happy!

5. Exceed expectations

Speaking of customer satisfaction, it’s your job to go above and beyond the typical delivery service. Your customers have a baseline of expectations. In other words, they expect the delivery on time. They expect the product to be safely packaged. All you have to do, is add a little extra flair. Good customer service on the doorstep will exceed their expectations. So will a creative or unique package. Or an extra note to say thank you for their service.

Your delivery system is the heart of your business. Execute it with precision, and always exceed your customer’s expectation!

How Top-Tier Consulting Became Available to Small and Midsize Business Leaders

Need expert advice but don’t think you can afford high quality consultants to support your initiative?
 

StrategyDriven is launching a Personal Business Advisor Program; uniquely providing affordable cutting edge tools and expert advice that until now was typically available to only large company executives and senior managers.

StrategyDriven was founded on the principle of making top-tier consulting services affordably available to the leaders of small and midsized businesses and the mid-level managers and professionals of larger companies. Over time, we learned it wasn’t enough to simply deliver a traditional consulting program economically. Our clients wanted focused advice at very specific times during their projects and possibly a few analytical tools to use along the way – nothing more, nothing less. A radical departure from the traditional consulting model that would further lower costs.

And why not? Today, business coaches commonly advise their clients via phone or video conference and legal advice and forms are available from LegalZoom. All delivered affordably. So why can’t top-tier consulting advice be available virtually and turnkey processes, best practices, and analytical tools online? They can. And now they are.

StrategyDriven’s Personal Business Advisor program provides the experts and tools needed when and where they are needed with no long-term consulting contract. Our employment of true experts, use of modern technologies and streamlined business operations ensures clients receive exceptional advisory services at an affordable price regardless of their budget. Here’s how we do it:

  • Select the Advisor – Chemistry is everything. Client success depends not only on finding the advisor possessing the experience, education, and training needed, but in connecting with someone they can relate to and trust. That’s why we offer a free initial consultation. It’s an opportunity for the client to get to know their advisor and assess how he/she can help them succeed.
  • Identify the Support Needed… No More, No Less – Why pay for a small army of consultants when all that is needed is periodic, focused advice? Our plans ensure clients have access to the experts needed in the amount wanted with no requirement to include costly staff personnel. Want a just few hours per month or full time? No problem. The client decides.
  • Select the Tools Wanted – Don’t want a lot of bells and whistles? Really don’t want to pay for the development of your consultant’s thoughtware? Purchase only the tools wanted, fully developed and maintained on our dime.
  • Determine How We Should Engage – We’re flexible and technology savvy. We employ modern communications technologies; interacting via video and teleconference whenever possible thereby eliminating the need for expensive travel and client office space. (But we will always be there when we are needed!)
  • Choose the Engagement Duration Without Being Locked-in – Business circumstances change. Clients don’t want to be locked into long-term consulting contracts. StrategyDriven’s plans renew on a monthly basis. Clients can cancel at any time.

StrategyDriven Advisors possess decades of experience helping leaders of small to Fortune 500 companies define and implement the complex, mission-critical projects needed to improve operational effectiveness and reduce costs. Isn’t it about time these people were working for you?

Click here for more information and to schedule your free consultation.

Corrective Action Program – Benefits of Documenting Adverse Conditions and Work Requests

StrategyDriven Corrective Action Program ArticleDocumenting adverse conditions and work requests is an administrative task viewed by some as burdensome and valueless. Nothing could be further from the truth. Capturing condition and request information is vitally important to the overall effectiveness and continuous improvement of every organization.


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About the Author

Nathan Ives, StrategyDriven Principal is a StrategyDriven Principal and Host of the StrategyDriven Podcast. For over twenty years, he has served as trusted advisor to executives and managers at dozens of Fortune 500 and smaller companies in the areas of management effectiveness, organizational development, and process improvement. To read Nathan’s complete biography, click here.

Corrective Action Program Best Practice 15 – Condition Report Review Meetings

StrategyDriven Corrective Action Program ArticleEffective corrective action programs promptly and consistently screen newly reported issues for their impact on the organization’s vision, mission, values, and goals. These screenings prioritize and aggregate corrective actions from all business areas with the organization’s strategic initiatives and day-to-day operations; ensuring optimal resource use. Consequently, condition report review meetings are frequently used to review and prioritize newly submitted condition reports.


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Buy the Article

Don’t need a subscription? Buy access to Corrective Action Program Best Practice 15 – Condition Report Review Meetings for just $2!


About the Author

Nathan Ives, StrategyDriven Principal is a StrategyDriven Principal and Host of the StrategyDriven Podcast. For over twenty years, he has served as trusted advisor to executives and managers at dozens of Fortune 500 and smaller companies in the areas of management effectiveness, organizational development, and process improvement. To read Nathan’s complete biography, click here.

Corrective Action Program Best Practice 14 – Establish Time Limits for Causal Analyses

StrategyDriven Corrective Action Program ArticleDetermining the amount of time required for performing causal analyses is a balancing act. The depth of issue investigation should align with its significance. Consequently, more significant events require additional time to perform the more detailed causal analysis assigned to them. Countering this is the urgency to understand and correct the underlying causes of more significant events as well as to put into place those barriers that will prevent their recurrence. Thus, it is important to establish time limits for causal analysis performance that effectively balance these two opposing needs.


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About the Author

Nathan Ives, StrategyDriven Principal is a StrategyDriven Principal and Host of the StrategyDriven Podcast. For over twenty years, he has served as trusted advisor to executives and managers at dozens of Fortune 500 and smaller companies in the areas of management effectiveness, organizational development, and process improvement. To read Nathan’s complete biography, click here.