Despatches Spring Edition
A health check for your business
We all take preventative care of our bodies. We know the daily habits that are good for us, the consequences of not pursuing health and we safeguard against the threats of cancer, heart attack, bugs, accidents and even unexpected weather. But how many of us do this in our businesses? Here’s our quick guide to looking at the main health threats to business and minimising your risks.
– cancer is something that won’t necessarily Accidents – when was the last time you did a risk 1 Cancer 4 analysis of the accidents at work? The HSE advice kill your business today – but it will in the future. The biggest thing I see is a lack of a long term sales pipeline. Clients can come and go due to no fault of yours – they can move, close down or even go bust – so it is important that you take daily action to sustain your long term sales health by making sure you are taking daily steps to prevent the lag in sales that can happen if you don’t have an active sales pipeline. It’s easy to bump new sales activity when you have a busy operational day – but it needs to be done daily, weekly and monthly to ensure the long-term sales success of your business.
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Heart Attack – cancer (ie. no sales) will kill your business slowly – but no cash and that’s it. Game over – just like a major heart attack. Do you have a monthly and annual cash flow? Have you looked at the ramifications of a big upturn in sales? Do you have sufficient financial capacity for growth? These are all questions that need to be worked on to sustain a healthy business. Because whilst slow sales will kill your business slowly – if you can’t pay the bills then that’s game over immediately.
– a norovirus may not kill you but it will make 3 Bugs you feel ill and will take time to recover from – and
there are a lot of ‘bugs’ out there that can impact on your business. So, when was the last time you checked your immunity to ‘bug’s’ – particularly of the online variety? Do you have a proactive Internet fraud strategy? Do you change your passwords regularly? Do your team know of the latest threats? Is your virus protection all up to date? All of these issues are more prevalent today than they ever were. It is a must to stay informed and up to date with the online security of your business.
INSIDE: Peak Carrier Performance
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this is done frequently – and it’s well worth sticking it in the calendar to make sure you are 100% compliant at all times. Not only will an accident at work cause disruption, it may leave your company open to a ‘Claims4You’ type claim – the disruption of which can cause all sorts of challenges to your business. Keep your work force super safe, manage risks in your daily operations and make sure all your risk assessments are 100% up to date so you know that you are covered and your team are working in safe conditions.
– what happens if there is snow (or any 5 Weather other BIG weather event), and you can’t get into
the office? This may seem rather unseasonal in April but we have had snow as late as this – and it was the last big snowstorm that changed what we did here at Diamond HQ. At that point in time we had a telephone system which meant we had to reach the office to divert it. We didn’t have 4WD, so we struggled to do collections and get our teams into the office (and trains weren’t functioning either), and we didn’t have a remote communication system sorted to inform our clients of what happens in the event of snow. There’s other elements that need covering too – flooding is prevalent nowadays – or storms that can knock out electricity – so what is your plan if stuff like this happens? In the same way all the above can impact our personal health, it can impact our business health too. Stay on top of it and in all likelihood even when you face challenges, you will have a plan to respond – and thus sustain business continuity. Don’t – and you risk game over – and we wouldn’t want that now would we?
Franchise Focus
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multicarriersolutions
Achieving peak performance... Learning valuable lessons from the past The express parcel sector went through some significant changes in 2015 and as such peak demand was a bit of a scary prospect for many and with record sales predicted in the online retail world, those fears were cemented. The prospect of a peak period with a similar outcome as the well documented failures of 2014 led to some serious time being spent on ensuring lessons were learnt and disaster recovery plans were firmly in place.
So, how did the sector perform? Well, not bad at all actually, contrary to many people’s foresight. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that on the whole very well. In 2014 it was reported that an average ‘ontime’ delivery performance of 89% was achieved (I’d probably say it was slightly lower than even that), whilst 2015 saw an average performance in excess of 92%. With growth in online retail sales in excess of 15.7% compared to 2014, it was no small feat to reach the record performance levels either.
So, what went right? Firstly the retailers learnt valuable lessons from 2014. Maybe this was because the online sales phenomena (Black Friday and Cyber Monday) of 2014 took retailers and carriers alike by surprise, which in turn led to a more cautious approach to the same events in 2015.
Many retailers went one step further in their cautious approach by spreading the events usually seen over two days to two weeks. Carriers were also over-cautious, particularly because of the extensive bad press of 2014 still ringing in many people’s ears. Yodel took their planning to a whole new level with clients having to not only forecast their peak volumes but suffer substantial surcharges if those forecasts were inaccurate. Some would say this was overkill but with record performance from Yodel during peak, they answered their critics. Some would also argue that the weather was favourable for the carriers with well above average temperatures for the time of year, although there were significant disruptions in certain areas with widespread flooding. All in all, I was proud to be a logistics professional at peak for the first time in a while and the industry needs to also be proud of its achievements – It wasn’t perfect, but it was as close as ever.
Franchise Focus...
Southampton – Lucy Howells T 02380 988919 E southampton@diamondlogistics.co.uk Why logistics?
I had been working in Logistics since 2000, rising to a Senior Manager for a large National parcel delivery company. I really enjoyed working in that particular environment and my previous roles had covered Depot General Manager for 3 sites, Regional Performance Improvement Manager and also Regional Change Manager. I had also worked with Process Improvement rolling out various new processes to Depots and implementing IT changes with HHT’s and Route Planning Systems. So with my experience and love of Logistics and the customer service aspect, running my own Logistics Company was the next step.
Why did I choose Diamond?
My partner, Dave, who was running a team of 20 drivers as a service provider, was listening to Talk Sport and heard Kate Lester talking about Diamond Logistics. We found out as much information as we could about Diamond and wrote to Kate about purchasing a franchise, as with both of our multiple years of Logistics experience, we thought it would be a great opportunity. Once we had met with Kate at Diamond HQ we knew it was for us. The people at Head Office are fantastic people, all extremely friendly and welcoming. We find them to be very helpful and the training we received was superb. They are always on hand to talk to or answer any questions should we need them as well as holding regular meetings where we can meet with our fellow franchisees and swap ideas. They really have been amazing and are there to help you along the way.
What do we offer businesses in Southampton?
We can offer local businesses a complete range of delivery options for every possible type of freight anyone would wish to send. We have a vast choice of Overnight carriers, Sameday Drivers, a Pallet network and International network to work with. We offer a superb online booking and tracking system which our customer rate as better than some other carriers for the information provided and ease of use. We rate ourselves very highly with regards to customer services which is all dealt with from our depot in Segensworth.
What new skills have I learned?
Since starting with Diamond in May last year we have grown our customer base, expanded the brand name with liveried vehicles and implemented marketing all in a bid to be recognized as a great courier company. We are finding now that people are starting to contact us which makes it all worthwhile that we are being recognised in this area. We continue to work hard on our marketing and sales pipeline in order to grow our business and become the best courier company in our area.
Our Goals for 2016
Our goals for 2016 are to achieve our sales targets by continuing with our hard work, keep all of our customers happy and hopefully be in a position where maybe we could take a small holiday by training up my son, Elliot, to a position whereby this is possible.
The best courier...
Diamond Logistics are the best courier on the South “ Coas t, it all works well and the joy with Diamond is if
there is ever an issue it is resolved quickly. With the online system it makes our lives so much easier and saves us time, it quickly shows us the PODs and costs of our work and is easy to use.
They also now do our pallets and any samedays that arise. We have found Diamond to be so helpful for all of our logistical requirements... Craig Reynolds Solent Design Studio
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...and they are really nice people.
Our Mission Statement Work in mutual benefit, delivering time-critical delivery solutions to our clients. Provide great career opportunities to our team and subcontractors. Contribute positively to society on local, regional and global levels. Be a really good company to trust, work for and to belong to.
multicarriersolutions The perfect tailor-made solution for ambitious businesses Everything you need – post, parcels and pallets worldwide One clever delivery solution – multicarriersolutions Access to many carriers – TNT, UKMail, DX, and more A multitude of delivery options – road, air, sea As quickly as you choose – same day, next day, international
your
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UKMail DHL Collect+ YODEL Secured Mail TNT DX
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Keep in Touch...
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t: 01483 536 888 T 0845 591 7334 e: info@diamondlogistics.co.uk E info@diamondlogistics.co.uk
T 01268 857 854 E basildon@diamondlogistics.co.uk T 0121 667 8283 E birmingham@diamondlogistics.co.uk T 01204 896 359 E bolton@diamondlogistics.co.uk T 01202 069460 E bournemouth@diamondlogistics.co.uk
Chichester
T 01243 885729 E chichester@diamondlogistics.co.uk
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T 024 7666 6240 E coventry@diamondlogistics.co.uk
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T 020 8003 4668 E croydon@diamondlogistics.co.uk
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T 01332 897 674 E derby@diamondlogistics.co.uk
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T 01202 069 460 E dorchester@diamondlogistics.co.uk
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T 020 3603 9458 E eastlondon@diamondlogistics.co.uk
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T 01413 630146 E glasgow@diamondlogistics.co.uk
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T 0845 591 7334 E guildford@diamondlogistics.co.uk T 01708 871627 E ilford@diamondlogistics.co.uk T 01483 536888 E info@diamondlogistics.co.uk T 01604 806314 E northampton@diamondlogistics.co.uk T 01603 859401 E norwich@diamondlogistics.co.uk T 01205 347010 E peterborough@diamondlogistics.co.uk T 01752 547992 E plymouth@diamondlogistics.co.uk
T 01243 885729 E chichester@diamondlogistics.co.uk T 020 8003 4668 E sutton@diamondlogistics.co.uk T 01792 828040 E swansea@diamondlogistics.co.uk T 01793 238291 E swindon@diamondlogistics.co.uk T 01543 889601 E walsall@diamondlogistics.co.uk T 01902 595043 E wolverhampton@diamondlogistics.co.uk Unit 9, The Pines Business Park, Broad Street, Guildford, Surrey, GU3 3BH
T 01184 300131 E reading@diamondlogistics.co.uk
Slough
T 01753 257 299 E slough@diamondlogistics.co.uk
Southampton
T 02380 988919 E southampton@diamondlogistics.co.uk
Considering your next step in Logistics? Find out how you can start your own courier franchise just like these guys and girls.
Simply email franchise@diamondlogistics.co.uk to request further information.