What makes one person different from another? An idea! Everyone has a mind, and each one has different thinking capacities. It is all about who implements their ideas and opts to see a change in the world. A similar theory applies to any business. Especially when it is a startup and currently is in its growing phase.

According to a survey, the United States is the leading country in terms of startups, with more than 70,000 startups. Be it a social startup, a lifestyle startup, or a small business in any service sector, startups hold an immense role in a country’s economy and growth rate. Every year new categories and services are added to the list of startups.

You must have heard the success stories of the delivery startups, which were once established in the backyard of the house with only a couple of drivers, but now are million-dollar companies. But there are many cases where startups failed, owners got bankrupted, and customers suffered. So, if you recently started a delivery business or are planning to establish one, let’s focus on the second part and notice where and how they failed. In this blog, we will be focusing on some strategies to ensure success in your delivery startup.

8 Strategies to Start Your Business With a Boost

1. Select Your Niche

Delivery business covers a lot of categories. From local food delivery to international couriers, everything encompasses the delivery business. So before jumping into any random category, select one niche. If you have limited funding and resources, go for local delivery services like food, flowers, groceries, pharmacy, or courier services. During the initiation phase, it is necessary to make your business as feasible as possible to generate revenue and slowly focus on expansion. Sometimes focusing on one service can make you a pro in it. So, don’t be a “Jack of all trades, master of none!”

2. Make Required Investments:

No business can start without any investments. The company has to manage various expenses like primary investments, employees’ salaries, buying/renting delivery vehicles, fuel/maintenance costs, renting storage capacity, and buying digital appliances and software. If you want to cut down the costs, make sure it does not affect your business like using a bicycle or a motorcycle for small and nearer deliveries. I prefer renting or long leasing a storage facility instead of buying it.

3. Adopt Route Optimization Software:

The major phase where every delivery startup fails is in the planning of routes and the drivers. If things are not planned properly, it may cost you a lot. Cost in terms of planning time and fuel costs. Overall, a route optimization software helps you plan and optimize routes. This is done by planning your driver routes & dispatching optimized route plans, updating them on the go and capturing proof of delivery upon successful completion. In addition, it is a great way to manage data and sales.

4. Training:

You will need employees to work for you when running a delivery startup. Drivers, package handlers, admin staff, and dispatch managers hold equal importance in smoothening the delivery process. To make them adopt the system and work efficiently, they will need training. Many logistics companies like FedEx provide crucial training to their employees. They are given the training to deliver packages in the worst weather conditions like heavy rain or bulky packages in rural areas.

5. Provide Insurances:

Delivery business comes with a constant risk of an accident. It could be due to the driver’s carelessness or bad weather. So, a risk persists on both of your company’s assets, the employee and operating vehicle. So it is necessary to insure vehicles to compensate for your economic loss and insure employees to show loyalty toward them

6. Customer Service and Customer Feedback:

It is essential to listen to customers to understand the problems they are facing. It helps you improvise the user experience. Customers hold a significant role in the growth of the company. If all the customers’ needs are satisfied and their problems are solved, they will solely make your company grow.

So make sure to arrange a customer service department that works towards a solution-based approach for all your customers’ problems. A 24/7 calling number should be provided so that customers can get in touch with the support team.

Also, customer feedback is important to study what customers feel about your services. Pass over a feedback form along with the parcel or share a link via SMS or E-mail and ask them to fill it out for you. Add various questions about how they feel about your services, time-taken for delivery, the behavior of the delivery executive, and where you should improve according to them.

7. Install Trackers:

It’s an era of smart work. Using technological equipment will help you boost your startup and lessen your hustle. Trackers will help you track the movement of all the deliveries and activities of the drivers. It will help you provide the real-time status of the deliveries to customers. You can track down the working method of your employees and increase or decrease the workload accordingly. Trackers ultimately help you increase productivity.

8. Gratitude Towards Your Employees:

Employees are the face of your startup. Gratitude towards employees is necessary for a delivery business. This is because it helps in establishing trust in the company by employees. It also helps in creating a sense of belonging, leading to job satisfaction, which can help in the productivity of an employee. It can also be helpful in building rapport with colleagues and peers, regardless of position or rank.

Final Words

The delivery startup is not an easy or a short journey. It costs you time, money, and dedication. So if you are investing everything in it, make sure to give it the best shot. Take all the necessary steps and ensure the utmost accuracy. It takes everything to make it to the top from scratch. So make sure to imply the strategies mentioned earlier and be ready to be the next big delivery startup globally.