We will talk about how to get courier contracts. Increasing revenue and profit are the goals of any company. It is important to create a marketing plan and perform work that will entice new customers specially if your going to start courier business. Among the marketing strategies that each company utilizes, there are two major ones, and both help one another, but each demands its particular approach. There are two types of marketing: inbound and outbound.
Inbound marketing: Depending on the strategy you select, customers come to you and then communicate with you to utilize your services.
Outbound marketing: differs from inbound marketing in that instead of waiting for new customers to appear, you call and try to turn them into actual clients. This article describes a four-step approach to get more courier contracts that rely on outbound activity. Our goal is to make this information useful for you.
You can get more courier contracts by following the steps below.
First Step Of Getting Courier Contract
Market research
Courier companies can provide services for what kinds of businesses?
In this step, it is essential to identify the market and what businesses offer what packages, and what their requirements, needs, and price are, as well as what the end customers are looking for.
It is impossible to attack all of the market segments simultaneously. Your potential customers should be your top priority. Several factors can contribute to this prioritization. These are some of the factors to consider.
- The number of orders and packages: The more packages and orders you receive, the more profit you make. Increasing orders involves two strategies. There are two scenarios: high customers with low orders, and low customers with high orders. These two options are on opposite ends of the same spectrum, and businesses fall somewhere in between. While receiving a high number of orders is always helpful, it should be considered whether your company has the infrastructure required to deal with this volume of work?
- Business type and industry: It’s important to know what type of business your customer runs. Online stores don’t have the same needs like restaurants, for instance. Online stores sometimes deliver orders the next day or the same day, while restaurants deliver food immediately after the order is placed. Likewise, packages may be ordered in the medical context that has to be stored at a particular temperature, in which case vehicles that contain a refrigerator are needed.
- End-user requirements: Are end-users (customers of packages) individuals or businesses? Do end customers need to know when the driver arrives at their location? How long will it take to deliver the final order to the customer? Is it necessary to follow certain delivery protocols? When determining if one is a potential customer, you must ask yourself these questions.
- A customer’s profit margin on each order: An important factor in evaluating a customer is the amount the customer pays for delivery and what percentage of that cost is his profit.
- Package size: Overall, your fleet has volume limitations when it comes to moving packages. Make sure to check the package size with companies.
- As it stands: What are its current package delivery procedures? Does it work with a courier service? How do you compare to that company in terms of advantages and disadvantages? How does the company handle moving packages on its own, or do they hire a service company? You can understand the next steps by knowing how the customer is performing at the moment.
Second Step Of How To Get Courier Contracts
Provide A Proposal
This step involves forming a proposal based on the information you know about the customer and their prioritization. See things through their eyes, what would matter to them if they were you. This proposal includes the following parts:
- Company presentation: Please provide the background to your company, a description of your activities, the type of services you offer, goals, values, and a picture of your office if you have one.
- List of potential clients: A customer’s trust is key to a purchase decision. In submitting your list of customers, you get the message that you are serving as well as that you have satisfied customers who will continue to work with you. Customer feedback about you is great if you get it.
- Pricing/Rates: In logistics, last-mile make up 60% of the cost [Link]. Having clear pricing at the beginning of the deal will facilitate customer decision-making. Considering a competitive pricing strategy that makes sense to your customer is worth considering, and in cases of high volume, a little difference will reduce your customer’s logistical expenses. It is important to note that the low price is a low-quality signal, since the quality of service plays a more important role in B2B business relationships. As shown in the table below, you can see a catering delivery service pricing:
- Vehicle Types: Describe the type of vehicles you have and their quality according to cleanliness, professionalism, and new fleet. Your proposal should include a high-resolution picture of your clean car.
- Delivery Time Window: The delivery time is an important criterion for your customers in deciding whether to buy your goods and/or services. Each service may have a different delivery time as well as a different price, for example, an express three-hour service or the same day.
- Insurance for packages: Is your company insuring packages? What is the extent of its damage acceptance? Do insurance policies cost a lot? Answers to these questions are what your customers want to know.
- Ancillary services: Likewise, if you provide auxiliary services, such as a carrier of heavy loads or a packing service, include them in your proposal.
- Technologies used (such as ETA): Organizations strive to be technologically advanced while providing their customers with the same. Providing technology-based services, such as tracking, ETA, proof of delivery, etc., to a company as a courier service provider can be advantageous for that company’s customers.
- Transparency: Be sure to mention that you use courier software that offers maximum transparency to the customer in your proposal. If your customer knows the condition and process that the shipment has undergone (history), they are more satisfied with the service you offer.
Third Step Of How to Have More Courier Contracts
Offer the proposal (Present)
Now you must find out who will present this offer to your customers, where and how.
Your decision to email, contact in person or request a meeting will depend on your customer. Nonetheless, stakeholder beneficiaries need to hear about your benefits. Therefore, you need to present your offer and the benefits of working with you appropriately to the person deciding on the customer’s organization.
The best way to communicate with your customers is to understand the customer decision hierarchy and their standard ways of communicating.
Fourth Step Of Increasing Courier Contracts
Following up and Finalize The Contract
It is essential to check in with participants with whom you have been in touch. Have they read your offer? Having read the article, what do they think about it? Do they have any other options? If your customer needs more information, let them know in the follow-up. As a delivery partner, it is important for you to fully comprehend the reasons behind their rejection.
You begin providing the service to that client after the contract is finalized.
Don’t Forget Promotions
Promotion is A good way to increase your chances of getting a new courier contract.
Test your service with your customers. Try your service for two weeks free or with a 50% discount for two weeks. This is an excellent way to send them a quality signal. Your confidence in your service is confirmed by doing so.
The amount of discount you can offer your customers is, of course, determined by your financial resources.
To Sum It Up
Getting customers is difficult, but keeping them requires even more effort. In this way, new customers can always be attracted. Customers are considering changing partner companies when competitor companies can not maintain their customer satisfaction levels.
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Originally published August 12, 2021 1:57 pm, updated Tuesday, 29 August 2023.