Despatches Summer Edition
Commerce is creative. It’s time to differentiate yourself from the competition by looking creatively at how you market your business and look at innovative ways to make your business grow. Andy Warhol said, ‘Making money is art and good business is the best art’. Whether it’s content creation, new marketing ideas, or tackling different sectors than your traditional client base it can take left field ideas to enable you to stand out from the crowd. And here’s the great news – this creativity does need nurturing – so you are in for a very fun summer indeed! Personally, I get all sorts of ideas from art, literature and generally getting out and about dipping my toes into the cultural scene that’s booming in the UK. The initial reason was, of course, sheer enjoyment and it has the welcome bonus of exponentially enhancing my creative input to my business. This enables me to get all sorts of content from weird and wacky angles for my articles, my blogs and newsletter – and particularly my sales letters as I often reference the recent news and or opinion in my commentary. The further benefit is that it particularly gives me alternative perspectives in problem solving – shifting my mind-set away from the logistics sector and applying new solutions to traditional problems to come up with creative resolutions. Happy days. Here’s your homework for the summer to ensure you get all the creative input you need to make your career or business grow – and make you and your content, output and problem-solving stick out from the crowd.
Unleash your creativity...
Read
I consume over 50 books a year. And you can make it easy – Audio is a great way of consuming a book a week on my drive to work, and I always have a book with me just in case I have a journey on a train, and there’s always a book at bedtime too.
Visit a gallery
The Tate Modern opens its new wing this year and there is a new exhibition of Georgia O’Keefe that I am particularly looking forward to. Design in places like this helps us think about our image and how we want to present ourselves to the world.
Read a lot of newspapers
Now I have a top tip on this one. I subscribe to The Week – a compendium of the week’s news that enables me to get a more balanced perspective of world affairs. At the weekends, it’s the Guardian on Saturday and the Times on Sunday for a balanced view – and the best bits to read are the opinion columnists – absorb, think and allow your mind to be open to perspectives you may not have thought about. Your summer challenge is to enjoy a cultural adventure once a week over the summer – it’s so pleasurable and so beneficial to you, your work and your perspective. What a lovely summer you’ll have. Enjoy!
In this month’s Despatches we have included a Diamond Logistics branded aeroplane that you can fold and fly and share with your team.
If you need Footballs to France for the Euros or Banners to Brazil for the Olympics? Contact your local depot for more information or see the back page.
Your local Diamond depot delivers your international parcels and consignments.
We would love to see your planes in action - share your images on Facebook or Twitter #DiamondLovesLogistics
In this modern era
of the internet retailer it is fair to say that buying and selling goods has never been easier. So, why isn’t it just as easy to ship goods to consumers? One of the problems with the opportunities the internet affords us is that internet retailers very seldom sell one product, or even similar products. The birth of Amazon means that other e-tailers have to sell varied product to meet the expectations of the modern consumer.
Mixed product inventory means a mixed freight profile and there lies the problem. Can one carrier deliver all products that the retailers are marketing? Not in most cases. E-tailers are increasingly having to develop their skillset to logistics management and supplier management whereas their core skillset should be and always will be sales and marketing. It’s taken me 20 years to develop my logistics expertise, which benefits my clients – Diamond Logistics franchisees and our collective client base. It’s all about using the right logistics providers for the appropriate freight.
So, here are 3 of my top tips...
Know your audience
Are you looking to sell to consumers or businesses? There are specialist providers for both spectrums.
Get all over your facts and figures
Know what your average order value is and choose the appropriate carrier for the delivery of each of your products. If you have a premium product, choose a premium carrier – but do expect to pay a premium price. Know what your average number of items per shipment is – there are different pricing strategies at play within the express parcel sector, which can save you money! Know your average weights or sizes– some carriers will surcharge heavy weight shipments.
Know your geography
Where are your customers? Different carriers charge differently for certain areas of Britain, Europe and the rest of the world and not all carriers do this in the same way. The real challenge is in the selection of your carrier partner. Choose one provider that broadly fits and you’ll get some nasty surprises along the way. Choose multiple providers and play to their strengths and you will achieve the service but lose the strength of buying power.
Either way, it’s constantly changing. Carriers have varied focus throughout the year and you need to keep your ear close to the ground. The same goes for service – it’s a logistical rollercoaster! There is another way though, you can outsource all of the decision making to a trusted advisor, one that knows the trends, specialism and commercials.
What to know more?
Get in touch daniel.allin@diamondlogistics.co.uk
Franchise Focus...
The Diamond Team caught up with Adam and Lee, our latest Diamond Logistics network partners, to find out what made them decide to join and expand their current business through Diamond’s unique franchising opportunity and their suggestions on who’s favourite to win this year’s Euro 2016.
Lee Haines
Managing Director Diamond Logistics Northampton northampton@diamondlogistics.co.uk
Why did you decide Diamond Logistics was right for your existing business?
Acquiring Diamond Logistics was a simple decision, Diamond Logistics is now the “icing” on the cake to complement our existing facility.
What do you think differentiates Diamond from the rest?
Diamond Logistics oozes class, we offer a one-stop shop facility that separates us from the rest.
What are you looking to offer businesses in Northampton?
With our enormous firepower within the direct mail sector we can see a campaign through from collection, to fulfilment / mailing to delivery.
Where do you see Diamond going in the next 5 years in Northampton?
As long as us franchisees strive to work together I genuinely believe that we can become a leading company within our sector.
Football Fan? If so, who’s your favourite to win the Euros?
I am a huge football fan, my heart says England but my brain is telling me that Germany are the ones to back.
Adam Gaunt
Managing Director Diamond Logistics Stoke-on-Trent stoke-on-trent@diamondlogistics.co.uk
Why did you decide Diamond Logistics was right for your existing business?
I decided Diamond Logistics was right for my existing business due to already having a good knowledge and professional network in the logistics industry in Stoke on Trent. With Diamond’s well established infrastructure and my local knowledge, I believed I could achieve something really good in the area.
What do you think differentiates Diamond from the rest?
I believe what makes Diamond different from the rest is its level of dedication to the customer every step of the way. Their level of service and focus on making sure the customer is happy really puts them apart from the rest.
What are you looking to offer businesses in Stoke-on-Trent?
John and I are looking to offer a great local supported service to business owners in Stoke-onTrent. Stoke has got a great history and heritage in some of the major industrial revolutions that have happened in this country, from mining to pottery and now to a central key location in the country, I feel we can open up a great link in the Diamond network to all the local businesses.
Where do you see Diamond going in the next 5 years in Stoke-on-Trent?
My main focus with Diamond over the next 5 years is to build a brand that people know and are aware of. Being a franchise, people will only know of the business once it starts operating in their area. We want take make businesses aware we are a local run company but have great national connections to offer them the best service and rates possible for their deliveries
Football Fan? If so, who’s your favourite to win the Euros?
Obviously I’m going have to say England to win the Euros even though it’s highly unlikely with such a fresh team, looking forward to seeing how Kane and Dele Alli get on though. If I was going to put money on it, I would have to say Germany as my top team even though their form is slightly down at the moment, France could take the top spot though, they did win the Euros last time it was on French soil (1998 I believe) so you never know.
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.
Pallets to Panama. Parcels to Puerto Rico.
The perfect companion for your international deliveries Everything you need – post, parcels and pallets European and Worldwide One clever delivery solution – multicarriersolutions Access to many carriers – UKMail, DX International, DHL Express & TNT Express As quickly as you choose – economy, air, road and sea freight
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t: 01483 536 888 T 0845 591 7334 e: info@diamondlogistics.co.uk E info@diamondlogistics.co.uk
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T 01202 069460 E bournemouth@diamondlogistics.co.uk
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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 897674 E derby@diamondlogistics.co.uk
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T 01202 069460 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 01604 806314 E northampton@diamondlogistics.co.uk T 01603 859401 E norwich@diamondlogistics.co.uk T 01614 100374 E oldham@diamondlogistics.co.uk T 01205 347010 E peterborough@diamondlogistics.co.uk
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T 01184 300131 E reading@diamondlogistics.co.uk
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T 01753 257299 E slough@diamondlogistics.co.uk
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T 02380 988919 E southampton@diamondlogistics.co.uk
Stoke-on-Trent
T 01782 944016 E stoke-on-trent@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.