If you have a business that requires a lot of deliveries either to customers or to other businesses, then you are probably in need of some reliable courier services. Accurate courier services play a pivotal role in your business as they help you reach your global customers speedily. But you can’t just choose the first one that shows up on your Google search.
There is definitely an art and a science to choosing the best same-day courier service for your business. Keep reading for 7 steps that you need to undertake to choose the best international courier service for you.
Step 1 – Ask for Referrals from Reliable Sources
You probably know other business owners who use courier services regularly or you might have vendors or customers who rave about their accurate courier services. Either way, the first step in your search for the right courier services for you is to get some referrals from reliable sources. This doesn’t mean your aunt’s cousin’s sister unless she/he has a business that ships internationally.
This way you have some reliable courier services at hand who have been vetted and checked out by people whose judgment you trust.
Step 2 – Don’t Forget to Check Online Customer Reviews
Of course, you shouldn’t discount the power of the Internet. You wouldn’t buy a DSLR camera without vetting it with the online community, so why shouldn’t you do the same when searching for a reliable courier service for your business. Check out the online reputation of the courier services you were referred to in the earlier step.
You can read Google Reviews on them or you can check out what their current customers say about them, by watching testimonial videos on their website (knowing that they might be a bit biased). The more information you have about the courier service, the easier it will be to make your decision. So don’t hold back. Read up on them as much as you can.
Step 3 – Check on Their Customer Service
You might have a shortlist of contenders by this point, so now you can start calling the courier service themselves and start asking detailed questions about them. One of the most important things a good courier service will have is great customer service.
Call their customer service and ask them questions. This will give you a pretty good idea of how they treat customers and potential leads. How eager are they to answer all your questions? Do they get impatient and try to run you off the phone or are they patient enough to deal with all your idiosyncrasies?
Also, see how long it takes you to speak to a real live human being, rather than a recording or a machine. This will be important when you are trying to get hold of customer service in an emergency courier situation.
Step 4 – How Much Experience Do They Have?
Another important thing to note of – how much experience does the courier service have in your particular industry. If you have to deliver unusual entities all the time, like human organs or vaccines, you want to ensure that the courier service you choose has the expertise to handle your deliveries.
In addition, you will want to ask them how much experience they have in general. That is, how long they have been in the business. You don’t want to choose a courier service and have them disappear or go bankrupt a year or a few months after you start working with them. That would be quite an annoyance. And a huge detriment to your business reliability.
Step 5 – Ask Them about Tracking and Customer Portal
Many courier services nowadays have online customer portals where you can enter shipments, track deliveries, and pay for services. It’s quite handy to have, especially since you don’t have to wait forever to speak to a customer service agent and you have everything related to your deliveries in one place.
Make sure to inquire of your potential courier services what their tracking capabilities are. And what their online customer portal looks like. You could even ask to take an insider look at it to see how user-friendly it is.
Step 6 – Check What Areas They Cover
Many courier services have an industry they specialize in, and also areas that they cover. Ensure that the courier services you are about to choose can cover all the areas that you are interested in delivering to.
If they are an international courier service, then you have nothing to worry about. But if they are a local courier service that only delivers province-wide, then you might need to reconsider.
Step 7 – Ship a Trial Package with Them
If possible, try to ship a trial package with the courier service to see what your experience is like from top to bottom. Nothing else will give you a better idea of what your future relationship with the courier service will look like.
This way you will know exactly what to expect when hiring this courier service to be your exclusive delivery partner in the future.
What about Courier Services Pricing?
As a good courier service is worth its weight in gold, pricing shouldn’t be a huge consideration in your decision-making process. But of course, if you can find an accurate courier service that is also reasonably priced, then that’s a bonus you can’t afford to miss.
Take pricing into consideration, but do not go for the cheapest courier service on your list, just by default. There might be a reason why their pricing is so low, so don’t be fooled.
The Best Courier Service in Canada
Now you know what steps to take when searching for suitable courier services for your business. It might seem like an arduous process, but it’s well worth the investment in time, as you will be building a long-term and profitable relationship with your courier services in the future.
If you are searching for the best courier service in Canada, reach out to 10-21 Sunrise and ask about their after-hour service and handy customer portal.