An objective I commonly hear from companies when discussing their delivery needs is that they make their own deliveries to their customers. They tell me they make their own deliveries for two main reasons. Reason one is the relationship. They want to thank their customer for their business. Reason two is to solicit more business.
I am going to spend just a minute and address both of these items.
Although face to face dealings with your customer are important, is it really that important at the delivery phase? First ask yourself is your customer going to quit using your company if your product is delivered by a third party? If so FedEx and UPS would be bankrupt. Do you purchase anything that gets delivered to you by a party other than the company you purchased it from? Absolutely! People don’t care who is delivering the product as long as the delivery is on time, undamaged, affordable, and handled by a friendly professional driver. The idea that your customer is going to think less of your company for having someone else deliver the end product is ridiculous.
Do you gain some relationship building by making your own delivery? Maybe. What happens when you spend 20-extra minutes making the delivery and get stuck talking about last nights football game. Including drive time you ate up an hour of your day. How many prospects or existing clients could you have contacted by telephone or e-mail in that period of time? How many hand written thank you cards could you have prepared in that hour?
Use your time wisely. You can contact many more clients and prospects on a daily basis by outsourcing all of your deliveries. What are you saving by making your own deliveries vs. the cost of all that potential lost revenue?
This is a topic that should require an in depth look by your organization. Contact Jason Martin with Goldstar Couriers & Logistics for additional information on this topic. 501.568.1099
