Taking care of business!

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS OWNER AND FLEET OPERATORS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
1

Evening all.
Anybody involved in the SME sector will know and understand that doing business at the moment is not straight forward.
In addition to just doing business, anybody in road haulage have their own unique legislative mine fields to contend with.
With this in mind I would like to open a discussion on how best we can take care of our own business.
I’m going to start things off by offering a few suggestions of mine, which I have picked up along the way.

The business side of haulage is just as important as the haulage itself is. That is to say paperwork is everything. One lost POD could wipe out any profit for that truck for the week.

Invoice frequently. At least once a week for each customer, if not more often, if practical.
I’ve known of €10,000 cheques being held up for payment for the sake of a €50.00 credit note!

Try to add value to your haulage services. Look at who’s doing what in your area and think of ways of making your haulage business more attractive to current or potential customers.It might be in the equipment you use or with additional training ADR, Banksman and security clearance being some examples. Unfortunately these examples usually involve some financial investment but if it leads to more lucrative work then it could be worth the investment.

Know your cost base. What might seem like a good rate to me,might loose you money. Every business will have a different cost base because of individual circumstances. Its most important to know yours and when to say no to a job offer.

Profit is not a rude word ! Some days you’ll win and some days you’ll loose. But you’ve got to win more often or you won’t be around too long.

Accept the fact you will make mistakes. Don’t be too hard on yourself when this happens, try to put it down to learning a hard lesson and learn from it.

Don’t make a snap decision on taking up an offer of work. Tell your customer you’ll get back to them and take a little time to cost your job properly. It shouldn’t take more than 1/2 an hour to do this and at least then you will have a chance of making some profit.

Try to source work directly from manufacturers, as professional hauliers you may not be able to compete with large fleets on price alone but you will always beat them on service and attention to detail.
There is still a market for small hauliers to provide excellent service to manufacturing companies.

I think that’s enough to start the ball rolling, I look forward to your thoughts and ideas on better business practice.

Bill.

2

good post thanks

3

That’s a good start, my advice would be first to make your business as efficient as possible. The easiest and best way to do this is to know your numbers, do a monthly profit and loss spreadsheet (or get a nine year old to do it for you if you’re not computer savvy :laughing: ) Business is all about the money, and you will automatically start making more money once you get the numbers down in black and white as you will be shocked at how much you spend on things, you soon start to cut out a lot of the waste.

Once you have made your operation as profitable as possible then start trying to increase your revenue. If you’re getting second hand work, go direct, yes you’ll be stepping on somebody’s toes, but hey ho, all’s fair in love and war. Now finding that elusive first customer is very difficult, it’s a sales job and any salesman worth his salt will tell you that for every sale they make, they get a knock back 99 times. So don’t expect to pick up a contract straight off, it’s a long hard road, but that’s why there’s more money in it.

Something I learned from a well respected transport consultant/business advisor was a little tip to getting your foot in the door with some direct work. This bloke has been advising owner operator/small fleets for twenty odd years, runs a successful small fleet himself and does seminars tailored to improving all aspects of running a transport company, I was lucky enough to be invited to join his mentoring team and I’ve got a few O/Ds under my wing at the moment, I used this advice I learned from him with one of my O/Ds and it works. The way to get into a company is to offer to take over all their problem loads, the ones that nobody else wants, prove to them that you can do these and you’ve got your way in, sometimes you have to give a little to recieve a lot. as I’ve said, I passed on this advice and it worked out very well for the O/D concerned.

The OP raised a very good point about offering more value to your customers, it hits the nail on the head, you need to do this to seperate yourself from everyone else out there, once you start to provide a service that nobody else offers you become the go to guy, rather than the one they call when nobody else wants the job :wink:

4

Afternoon all,
I hope my earlier posting proved helpful and let me preface this one by saying please don’t be offended if some of my advice appears obvious to you. I don’t intend to be a “know it all”, just someone who has made mistakes in the past whilst operating my own haulage business and probably will continue to make mistakes in future.

Costing a job or new work.
As other contributors to this discussion have stated, knowing your own business costs is vital.
Just because Joe Blogs Transport undertakes the work at €250 per load doesn’t mean its either viable or profitable !
Start by including your known standing costs, wages ( including all tax contributions ), vehicle repayments, road tax and all business insurances, servicing and repairs, telecoms, audit fees, depreciation etc.
Average these out over a year and divide by the anticipated working days available in that year.
You should now have a pretty accurate figure for your daily standing costs.
Next try to anticipate your fuel usage for the required job, allways err on the side of caution, if you think 8mpg will do the job then price it at 7mpg, as this will give you some tolerance on your fuel allowance for that job.
Next thing to allow for is allow in sufficient time to complete the job, within your legal hours.
There is no point in pricing a job for two days if you end up paying your self or your driver three days to complete it.
At this stage you should be able to price work competently.
All this may seem obvious to more experienced hauliers, but it pays to know your costs so as to give yourself a chance of making some profit.
To sum up… Cost plus profit equals price.

Spread your risk.
In its simplest form, I’d rather ten people owed me €2000.00 than one person owe me €20,000.00 !

Embrace technology.
I find my smart phone an invaluable device, it converts my cab into a mini office with email, maps, phone book and internet access all available to me.
When quoting for new work whilst on the road, I’ll get the customer to email me their requirements, which I can work on but also I’ll forward this email to my office for printing as a hard copy for my records, then if there is any misunderstanding at a later stage I’ll have my hard copy as a back up.
The spoken word is easier to deny rather than a printed copy.

Regards for now and take care of your business,
Bill.

5

All very useful, but why start a new thread for each post, it would be better all in one place :bulb:

6

Good morning Newmercman,
A good point well made, as this posting lark is all a bit new to me its now my turn to take some advice from old hands on here !
As you mentioned in reply to my previous thread its all about adding value to the services to existing and new customers.
You raised a good point in stating by being willing to take on the not straight forward work for customers this then becomes your speciality and a way of opening further doors of opportunity.
In some sectors of industry a flat trailer with pin sockets, chains, straps and a set of quality sheets is now viewed as specialist equipment !
By adding some quality training to this equipment, such as a slinger/banksman card for the driver, you now have the edge on other operators chasing the same work.

Never forget, your customers,customers could potentially become your new customers !

Regards,
Bill.

7

the two topics have been merged into one !

8

Know your fuel figures, we still come accross far to many times of sub-contractors who dont have a clue about their fuel usage.

IIt cannot be guesswork or some average, it need to be percise to at least two digits after the dot.
It can mean the difference between a loss and a profit, measure your fuel per journey / destnation and document it so you can look back.

We have some fantastic subbies, with great equipment but the moment you chalenge them about fuel, they turn red and dont have an answer.
Running a business and especcialy a transport business is not a hobby, and fine if you like a V8 or 1000bhp, not a problem, as long as you know what you like cost extra per journey.

I mean if you like a V8 and you know that it will cost you £ 100,00 a week extra, and you’re are happy to take that out your salary not a problem, as long as you know.
The problem comes when you hear people say “just fill it up when empty” than you wonder how they ever could price their jobs.

9

Exactly right…running a haulage business is not a game,its serious business.
I’ve always thought that many hauliers are big on hard work, but coping with the business side of their business can be their Achilles heel.
It still amazes me that after jumping through all the hoops to get their business up and running along with their own personal financial investment,they then lack the confidence to source their own quality work directly for the manufacturer or customer.
In my experience, work which is subcontracted is not profitable, if it was then the principal contractor would retain it for themselves.
I understand many fledgling haulage companies must start somewhere and subcontracting gets many started,but as soon as possible it must be in your business development plan to acquire direct work.

Its your business, your future, take good care of it.

Regards,
Bill.

10

Big balls Billy:
Evening all.
Anybody involved in the SME sector will know and understand that doing business at the moment is not straight forward.
In addition to just doing business, anybody in road haulage have their own unique legislative mine fields to contend with.
With this in mind I would like to open a discussion on how best we can take care of our own business.
I’m going to start things off by offering a few suggestions of mine, which I have picked up along the way.

The business side of haulage is just as important as the haulage itself is. That is to say paperwork is everything. One lost POD could wipe out any profit for that truck for the week.

Invoice frequently. At least once a week for each customer, if not more often, if practical.
I’ve known of €10,000 cheques being held up for payment for the sake of a €50.00 credit note!

Try to add value to your haulage services. Look at who’s doing what in your area and think of ways of making your haulage business more attractive to current or potential customers.It might be in the equipment you use or with additional training ADR, Banksman and security clearance being some examples. Unfortunately these examples usually involve some financial investment but if it leads to more lucrative work then it could be worth the investment.

Know your cost base. What might seem like a good rate to me,might loose you money. Every business will have a different cost base because of individual circumstances. Its most important to know yours and when to say no to a job offer.

Profit is not a rude word ! Some days you’ll win and some days you’ll loose. But you’ve got to win more often or you won’t be around too long.

Accept the fact you will make mistakes. Don’t be too hard on yourself when this happens, try to put it down to learning a hard lesson and learn from it.

Don’t make a snap decision on taking up an offer of work. Tell your customer you’ll get back to them and take a little time to cost your job properly. It shouldn’t take more than 1/2 an hour to do this and at least then you will have a chance of making some profit.

Try to source work directly from manufacturers, as professional hauliers you may not be able to compete with large fleets on price alone but you will always beat them on service and attention to detail.
There is still a market for small hauliers to provide excellent service to manufacturing companies.

I think that’s enough to start the ball rolling, I look forward to your thoughts and ideas on better business practice.

Bill.

are you trying to teach us how to ■■■■ eggs or how to undercut you :question:
neither would be good for your business practice would it :question:
do you work for DHL BY ANY CHANCE

11

Hello everyone,This post has been very intresting and imformative.I set up my own haulage company this time last year with one truck doing traction only work.I have been working in this industry for approx 13 years and have gained a lot of experience along the way.I knew it wasn’t going to be easy and I knew I would never be a millionaire but I had no idea that it would be this hard.For a start the banks just do not want to know and to get any help whatsoever seems impossible.I approached my local enterprise for help but apparently they do not deal with my industry and to give me any help would mean that I would be giver an unfair advantage on other haulage companys in my area.Every one wants paid in 30 days but I am lucky if I get my money in 45 days,I do not need to tell you guys.I am determind to carry on though as I have sunk every penny and then sum into my business.As you have probably guessed I am new to this and if anyone has some good advice for me it would be very appreciated.Thanks for reading this,Take care people

12

Skye Trucker:
Hello everyone,This post has been very intresting and imformative.I set up my own haulage company this time last year with one truck doing traction only work.I have been working in this industry for approx 13 years and have gained a lot of experience along the way.I knew it wasn’t going to be easy and I knew I would never be a millionaire but I had no idea that it would be this hard.For a start the banks just do not want to know and to get any help whatsoever seems impossible.I approached my local enterprise for help but apparently they do not deal with my industry and to give me any help would mean that I would be giver an unfair advantage on other haulage companys in my area.Every one wants paid in 30 days but I am lucky if I get my money in 45 days,I do not need to tell you guys.I am determind to carry on though as I have sunk every penny and then sum into my business.As you have probably guessed I am new to this and **if anyone has some good advice for me it would be very appreciated.**Thanks for reading this,Take care people

Get out now while you still can. The alternative is blundering on and having someone else make the decision for you later…

13

Rob K:

Skye Trucker:
Hello everyone,This post has been very intresting and imformative.I set up my own haulage company this time last year with one truck doing traction only work.I have been working in this industry for approx 13 years and have gained a lot of experience along the way.I knew it wasn’t going to be easy and I knew I would never be a millionaire but I had no idea that it would be this hard.For a start the banks just do not want to know and to get any help whatsoever seems impossible.I approached my local enterprise for help but apparently they do not deal with my industry and to give me any help would mean that I would be giver an unfair advantage on other haulage companys in my area.Every one wants paid in 30 days but I am lucky if I get my money in 45 days,I do not need to tell you guys.I am determind to carry on though as I have sunk every penny and then sum into my business.As you have probably guessed I am new to this and **if anyone has some good advice for me it would be very appreciated.**Thanks for reading this,Take care people

Get out now while you still can. The alternative is blundering on and having someone else make the decision for you later…

You missed the ‘‘is that you Harry’’ opportunity there.
Denis will know who it is.