In this scenario, our client was looking for ways to streamline his delivery processes, and keep his customers better informed about product deliveries. However, what he hadn't counted on was that he could also take advantage of what turned out to be some serious benefits.

Improving your business profitably, reducing costs and increasing customer satisfaction may not seem like the domain for using SMS marketing, so we'll paint a picture of how those things could happen with your small business.

Mark's challenges are multiple.

• Phone calls for scheduling deliveries, and arranging pickups, completed by his salespeople, are made in quiet periods during the week, often up to 3-4 days after the goods have arrived.
• Delays in making delivery arrangement calls result in a higher number of incoming 'product availability' calls (at inconvenient times)
  
• Customers then need time to arrange to have payment available on delivery.
• Mark's stores are full of more customer deliveries than he has available room for, meaning staff often have to 'juggle' deliveries to suit the accessibility of stock in the over-full warehouses.
• Many customers are not at the delivery address on time, resulting in delays to the whole day's deliveries, as well as drivers having to return to an address later in the day. 

The effect of  these are:-

• Mark's stores deliver less products per 'run', and vehicles travel more kilometres than they should.
  
• Delays in deliveries and pickups impact Mark's cash flow significantly,
• Salespeople are frequently answering delivery queries, or handling pickups when they should be on the 'sales floor'.
• Mark's customer satisfaction levels are lower, due in part to a number of irate phone calls received as a result of delays in delivery notification.
• His salespeople are also often adversely affected by the attitude of those irate callers, resulting in 'lost' sales.
• Mark cannot hold as much stock in his warehouses as he needs to satisfy 'impulse' purchasers.

The Solution

Mark decided to implement our SMS Messaging for Small Business. 

His administrative team now use the service to advise customers that their product had arrived, to remind them of pickup days and times, remind of any outstanding monies, co-ordinate scheduled deliveries and to re-confirm delivery day and times with his customers, even during the actual day. As a result,

• Mark's customer satisfaction measures have gone up, resulting in more referrals from more customers.= More Referrals
• Better planning & better communication have resulted in more deliveries completed each day, with less kilometres travelled. = Less Costs
• A majority of pickups are now completed in quiet times, resulting in more sales people being on the floor during peak selling times = More Sales
• His sales people respond to less phone calls, with less irate customers, resulting in his sales people being on the floor more often (with a better attitude) during peak selling times = More Sales
• The average length of time that a customer delivery or pickup is held has been reduced at each store by around 4-7 days = Better cash flow
• Mark now has more space in his warehouses, which has allowed him to increase stock of his faster moving lines to capture 'opportunistic' sales = More Sales

By any measure, this project has been seen as successful, both in in planning and in implementation. If this scenario sounds like your small business, contact us.