How to Start a Delivery Service

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Starting a delivery service can be a lucrative career option. Every business and individual in the country will need something delivered at some point – that’s a lot of opportunities for you!

It’s also a great option because you can keep the start-up costs pretty minimal, and there are no formal educational requirements meaning that it’s an opportunity that’s open to anyone.

Getting started

The first thing you need to do is choose exactly what the scope of your business is.

Think about things like:

• Where you will operate. Find the perfect delivery route for you where you can make the most profit from shipping jobs. Think about setting boundaries for where you will and won’t deliver to help determine your fuel costs and which customers you can take.
• Set defined boundaries for where you will and won’t deliver to – this is important to help you determine your costs and which customers you can take.
• What kind of customers are you aiming to serve. Would you prefer to work with individuals or businesses, for example?
• What type of cargo are you willing to deliver? This will be determined both by the type of customer you want to work with and which kind of vehicle you have or are willing to get.

Once you know who you are serving, you can start getting your equipment. You will probably only need a vehicle, a dolly and a phone, so this step is quite small!

You will also need to register as a small business and obtain a business license.

Naming your business

A small step, but one that many business owners get stuck on!

Your business name is important. It helps to create the first impression of your business. Ideally, it should be memorable and let customers know exactly what it is that you do.

Avoid choosing a name that is difficult to spell, too, as this will make it difficult for people to find you. Once you have a name in mind, do a thorough search online to make sure that there are no other businesses with the same name as yours or a name that’s quite similar, as this will get confusing.

It can be a good idea to buy the .com web domain at this point, too.

Getting customers

The best way to get customers is through referrals and word of mouth. Of course, when you’re just starting out, you haven’t had any jobs yet, so there’s nobody to give you a referral!

There are a few ways that you can start looking for your first customer:

• Shiply – Shiply is an online job board for shipping jobs. People who need something shipped will post their requirements, and potential couriers can bid for the work. You can see all of the bids, so it’s a great tool for researching the prices you can charge, too.
• Local business – spend some time introducing yourself to local businesses and letting them know what you do. A lot of them will love the opportunity to work with another local business.
• Local groups – join your local Facebook groups. You’ll be surprised at how often people post in them asking for help with deliveries.

Keeping customers

Once you have some customers, it’s important that you try and keep them! One way to do this is through a loyalty scheme. For example, you could offer one free delivery for every 10 deliveries or lower rates for customers with a certain number of guaranteed deliveries.