Tag: reduce overhead costs

The Advantages of a Positive Relationship With Your Suppliers

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Collaborative post – may contain affiliate links

The relationship between a supplier and a business is incredibly important. It’s a mutually beneficial partnership that helps both companies prosper; without a supplier, businesses can’t operate efficiently and without a successful business, suppliers have no demand. It’s a relationship that can define a business’s success, but also one that can be used to your advantage if you’re willing to nurture a positive connection to your suppliers.

In this post, we’re going to take a look at the advantages of a positive relationship with your suppliers and how it can help you run a successful business.

Minimizing drastic price differences and product quality

Depending on what you’re actually purchasing from the supplier, you shouldn’t be surprised to see prices and product quality fluctuating wildly. There are a couple of reasons for this; firstly, the raw materials required to create the products your suppliers provide will always change in price.  Another reason could be the current market conditions or even political issues that are affecting the cost of importing and exporting goods.

Product quality is also a huge concern when it comes to price fluctuations. For instance, if you’re looking for concrete for contracting purposes, then it’s important to pick and stick to a company such as ridgeconcrete.co.uk that can guarantee superior slabs and high-quality products every time. If you constantly shop around for better deals then there’s no company loyalty which means you’re going to receive an average service every time. With a good relationship, you can learn more about a product’s quality, why prices are fluctuating and perhaps even receive fixed prices for being a loyal customer.

Reducing operating costs

Setting up a deal with a supplier usually involves a slight setup cost. This is because the logistics of a large delivery and producing the amount of stock you need can take some time, especially if that stock is also being bought by other similar businesses. By cooperating with your suppliers in a positive and friendly way, you’re creating a mutually beneficial relationship that helps to ensure that the supplier gets a constant stream of demand.

By creating this demand, you make it easier for the supplier to predict their profits and stay afloat. As a token of their appreciation, suppliers will typically offer discounts to businesses that purchase in bulk and have proven to be reliable customers. The fewer issues you encounter, the more likely your supplier will give you future discounts. It will also help to reduce the amount of time it takes to solve logistics issues and they are more likely to reimburse you with a generous refund if something goes wrong.

Improved customer service

As explained in this article at growingforward.net, customer service can be a big problem when it comes to profit issues. Most suppliers enjoy having cooperative relationships with customers because it helps them offer improved customer service. This, in turn, means that your customer experience will be improved.

Issues will be resolved faster, you might have a contact that you can phone for last-minute deliveries and rush orders, and they may even recommend you as a trustworthy business to companies that are seeking your services or products.

 

 

3 Tips For Running A Successful Courier Business

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Collaborative post – may contain affiliate links

Starting your own courier company is a very sensible move in the current business climate. The massive surge in online retailers over the last decade means that more parcels than ever are being shipped out and those online retail businesses need regular couriers to handle all of those deliveries. While there are already a lot of large courier companies that are well established, that doesn’t mean that a smaller business like yours doesn’t have a chance of succeeding. Some companies don’t mind using a big courier company but a lot of online retailers feel that they don’t get the level of service that they’re hoping for because that courier is dealing with so many different companies. If people are sending items that are an awkward shape, for example, they might want to deal with a smaller company that can dedicate more time to finding the best way to send their products, rather than simply using standardized boxing sizes and shipping them out.

However, you do still need to realize that you’re up against some big competition and success is going to be an uphill battle in this industry. If you’re considering starting your own business or maybe you’ve already started one but you’re struggling to get new customers, read these simple tips on how to run a winning courier business.

Specialize In The Beginning

If you just start a general courier business, you might find it hard to gain any traction because there are better established companies out there that can offer the same service or even a better service, at half the cost. They’re shipping out in such quantities that they can afford to do things cheaper than you can. You might get a few customers that don’t like the idea of working with a big company, but for the most part, people are just going to go for the cheapest option. If you’re going to get anywhere, you have to offer something that other companies aren’t, and that means specializing.

There are all sorts of different ways that you can do this. The most obvious way is to specialize in moving fragile packages and offer a custom packaging service to ensure that things are well protected. However, there will already be quite a few companies that do this so you should consider looking at something even more specific. You might decide to specialize in moving artwork, for example, which requires a lot of custom made boxes and often temperature controlled vehicles to ensure that valuable artwork isn’t damaged in transit. Maybe you could specialize in moving expensive musical instruments or antique furniture. Offering a specific service like this means that there will be less competition out there and you’ll also be able to charge higher prices because you’re offering a unique service that people are willing to pay more money for.

When you start turning a profit, you can expand your services and move into more general courier jobs but if you start there, you’re not likely to see any growth at all and the business will probably fail.

Find Ways To Reduce Prices

Courier businesses have very high overheads because you have to cover the costs of packaging, storing items, and running a fleet of vehicles. If the overheads are too high, you’ll have to pass some of those costs on to the customer if you want to keep the business afloat. If you don’t pass those costs on and you offer cheap prices that you can’t really afford, you’ll end up running out of money pretty quickly and the business will fold. That’s why it’s vital that you find ways to keep the costs as low as possible so you can be competitive on pricing.

There are all sorts of different ways that you can save money but the best place to start is always with your vehicles. When you’re first investing money in a fleet of vehicles, you might decide to save money by purchasing older ones. The only problem is, they’re more likely to break down and you’ll end up spending a lot on repairs. It might be more sensible to spend the money upfront on newer vehicles that are less likely to break down, they’ll also be more fuel efficient so you’ll save a bit of money there too.

Fuel costs are one of your biggest overheads so anything that you can do to reduce them is a big bonus. Buying more efficient vehicles is a start but you can also save a lot of money if you buy fuel in bulk when prices are low. You can store it all in a petrol storage tank so you’ve always got a good supply. Fuel prices shoot up and down quite a lot so if you get it in bulk while it’s cheap, you won’t be wasting money if prices increase again.

Focus On Branding

Branding is so important for a courier business. Your aim should be to position yourself as the go-to service for any online retailer in the area. People should associate your brand with speed and efficiency as well as good customer service. The best way to start increasing brand awareness for your courier business is to get the design right on your vehicles. It’s the best marketing opportunity that you have because your vehicles are driving around all of the time, being exposed to so many potential customers. If you don’t use that as an opportunity to build brand awareness for your business, you’re really going to struggle.

When you’re building your brand, you need to think about what the core values of your company are. For example, if you want to reduce your environmental impact then you should use electric vehicles and more sustainable packaging and make this the core of your marketing. If you can position yourself as the eco-friendly courier company, you’ll find a lot of customers will use you over competitors that don’t have such an environmental focus.

Beating the competition in the courier business is going to be tough, but the popularity of online retail does mean that there are a lot of potential customers out there so if you follow these tips, you should be able to build a successful company.

7 Startup Hacks To Build Your Business Faster

Scott AsaiLeave a comment

Collaborative post – may contain affiliate links

Building a business from the ground up can be a slow process. Many people can lose patience or run out funding if their business doesn’t develop quickly enough. If you’re eager to jumpstart your business make sure to try some these hacks…

Don’t be afraid of borrowing

Some of the best businesses were started on a loan. Taking out a business loan can give you the funding you need without having to spend months saving up. This could allow you to get things started more quickly. There are many sites where you can compare business loans to get the best deal

Get funding from investors

Another way of getting funding is to seek out investors. You may need to be willing to offer a share in your profits but in exchange you get given the money to help jumpstart your business (and unlike a loan, you won’t have to pay it back).

Save money by working from home

A lot of budding entrepreneurs feel that they need an office, but in this age of digital communication it can often be an unnecessary cost. Working from home at first could allow you to save money to spend in other areas. If you’ve got dreams of a retail business, you could even start by selling online before buying a physical store. That said, some people may prefer to get things going straight away in a physical store.

Prioritize building a website

Most people will discover your business via the web, so don’t put off building a website – it’s your most important form of marketing. You can build your own website for free using a website builder or you can pay a professional to create a website for you. Make sure to do your research into domain names – your ideal website address may not be available, in which you’ll have to find an alternative.

Stuck for business ideas? Consider a franchise

If you’re eager to become your own boss but are struggling for business ideas, you could always consider buying a franchise of a large company. You’ll find many franchises advertised online such as this opportunity to own a business brokerage. When starting a franchise all the groundwork is done for you – you already have an established brand and the parent company can provide you with all the equipment you need. You’re also using a business model that has been proven to work, making it less risky that starting your own business from scratch.

Consider a launch party

A launch party could be ideal for raising local awareness of your business – it’s ideal for shops, bars and restaurants. You can invite influential people in your area such as fellow business owners and journalists to come along and offer them freebies. This will help to make your business known in the community so that you can start building customers faster.

Get in the news

Media attention could be great for also raising initial awareness and encouraging customers. You can try contacting local new outlets or you can use a PR company. Try to come up with an angle that’s likely to hook journalists in.