As a small business, you most probably rely on shipping your goods by yourself.
Most companies cannot afford to from a partnership with shipping experts because the price is too high. On the whole, it is a good tactic.
You can create products and ship them all from one base, so you are saving a fortune in expenses.
However, because you don’t have the experience or expertise of other shipping companies, the odds are you are making mistakes. And, these mistakes are leading you to waste money.
Simply put, your shipping process is not streamlined enough to be as its most efficient and effective.
Obviously, you want to remedy that problem, and here are a few basic tricks to get you started.
Get Organised
The first and easiest trick to implement is to get simply organised. If you look at the shipping side of your business and they are running around like headless chickens, something is wrong.
Yes, business is stressful and always moving. But, you should be able to get orders organised and out for delivery within the time frame you specified.
Take Advantage Of Technology
Fortunately, you don’t have to get organised all by yourself, because there are systems that can help you.
ShipRush is a great example of technology that will make your life ten times easier. Instead of wasting time keying in numbers and information, with ShipRush you do it directly from your accounting system.
Plus, it will save important information like tracking numbers and email them to your customers. In a nutshell, technology such as ShipRush makes delivering orders much more efficient.
Don’t Promise Things You Cannot Deliver
You are not a massive business with lots of resources, so don’t pretend that you are. It will only hurt you in the future.
If you cannot deliver or ship goods at certain times of the day or week, tell your customers.
They will be far happier that you are honest and not giving them false promises.
When you cannot deliver on a promise, it completely ruins your reputation. And, as a small firm, your reputation is everything in the beginning.
Only Ship On Certain Days
To negate this problem, small businesses have come up with a clever solution: only deliver on certain days.
By shipping on say, Monday and Thursday, you give yourself more time to focus on manufacturing.
Once you start to get more orders, that will increase your capacity to make more sales and profit.
Why? Well, because instead of rushing around trying to hit tight deadlines, you can increase your output and productivity.
Then, you can deliver them on said days. Simple!
Merge Orders Together
Where possible, try and merge orders together to cut down on shipping costs.
For example, if two customers live in the same area, have the order delivered to a holding store.
That way, you can send both orders in one shipment and they can still easily pick up their delivery.
Customers who are not at home tend to like this method.
You have to ship your products to make money.
Just make sure you are not wasting that cash with inefficient shipping procedures.
