Wednesday, May 29, 2013

People skills - How any SME can win a transport contract

Some of the technical expertise that seems to apply to winning clients can seem intimidating. But SME’s have simpler ways to get a transport contract.

If you are running a business in a haulage industry packed with huge mega-companies and thousands of SME's, confidence about your client list can wear thin. It can seem that there is so much technical knowledge and jargon to winning jobs away from your competition. Yet there are simple, effective, and very everyday things you can do to feel that more clients are ever in your grasp. And the need to wrap your head around these means and grow your list for the future is vital. Just as a restaurateur does not take a day or two of at whim, so to a SME run in the haulage industry cannot sit on its hands waiting for tomorrow's client, indeed, even for the ones after that.

How do you present?

Even if your prospective client knows you have great vehicles and has heard of your competitive rates, if your dress and attitude reek of laxity, he or she will at the very least be reluctant about future transport contracts. This particularly applies to those swift meetings when you are hoping to impress new clients. This is why you must present well. In the end, agreements are made partly due to the deal and partly due to the person offering it.



How well do you connect?
Rapport means people are more likely feel safe making transport contracts with you, for the first time or as a repeat customer. The firm handshake, warm smile, and assured manner combine with taking time with people on a human level to build a connection. The importance of this in getting repeat business is underestimated. Remember, all personal contacts, from business acquaintances to the clients at hand, all offer leads for further clients.

 
How do you get your message across?

Since every chance you have to communicate with people who down the road may sign transport contracts with you is a golden opportunity that can turn on the quality and style of your communication, whether off your website or from your mouth, be ever prepared to do this well. After all, these agreements are ultimately words in discourse. Heavy, legally-binding words, but speech and ink on paper or screen no less. This is why being well-versed in spoken, written, and online communication is so vital.
How are you known?

When hunting transport contracts, marketing is not always the same as reputation. Word-of-mouth quickly spreads about your brand no matter how you sell it, so make sure it isn't tainted by poor past relationships with former clients. Marketing is a well-known must, but your future clients also count your status as a quality provider.
How much do you know?

You need to do your homework to gain transport contracts. Every ounce of research that is done into the market, your client profiles, potential new niches and the future clients you wish to target will pay dividends. Some people are technocrats, and there is no denying the value of the personal touch when operating an SME in this hectic haulage environment. Yet, no worth their salt were ever won by sheer charm alone.

There’s An App For That: Make Your Courier Job Pay Better!

Taking care of the backend can help turn that courier job into a thriving business with these tools and apps!

We use smartphones and other mobile devices for almost everything– and if you’re in the delivery industry, chances are, it’s been instrumental in making that courier job easier! With traffic monitoring apps, various kinds of maps, different types of online communications, location tracking programs and more, it’s never been this easy to be a courier, especially when you’re high tech and mobile!

Getting the specific courier job done efficiently and quickly isn’t the only reason to have great apps on your mobile device. If you want to go from just making doing the job easier to really building a business, there’s help to be found online too! Check out these business tools available online for your mobile to help build your business!


Apps For The Entrepreneur

That first courier job is the first step to growing your business– every job you take is a step towards your goal. Making the delivery is only one part. Unlike in a larger set-up or being employed in a company where there is a different department to take care of paperwork and collections, being on your own means you will have to take care of that end of the job as well. Good thing, there apps that make doing that easier for you!

Accounting And Bookkeeping Apps. One of the hardest thngs about a business based on the courier job is that unlike in the regular arenas, there are no specific prices for the service and raw materials, which is why it can be pretty hard to gauge whether or not that courier job you take is profitable or not.

Your only basis is to compare the time and effort (and, perhaps wear and tear on your vehicle plus fuel) costs to the fees you receive for that specific courier job. Freshbooks is an app that lets you “log in” and “log out” so you can keep track of your time and mileage, as well as export them for invoicing. Outright, on the other hand, is a bookkeeping app that tracks income against expenses and helps in creating reports you need for documentation.

Money Management

Business is fairly simple, if you get down to it, whether it involves sales, production or that courier job. In principle, the trick is to ensure that the money you make far outweighsyour expenses. Making profits, increasing savings and making sure you’re not losing money is also easier with the different apps online!

For keeping track of expenses, there’s Expensify– a great tool available on IOs, Android, Palm and Blackberry. With it, you can track mileage, take pictures of your receipts and sync them to imported credit card transactions and analyze expenses against every courier job. Mint, on the other hand is a popular app that helps you create and analyze your budget to find areas where you can save!

So take that courier job and take care of the backend easily with free apps and tools–and see your business thrive!

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Machine Design Method translating client’s design to the marketing goals

One of the most important Professional functions of mechanical Blechbearbeitungsmaschinen engineering is machine design, that is, creating new devices or improving existing devices in an attempt to provide the “best” or “optimum" design consistent with the constraints of time, money and safety, as dictated by the application and the marketplace. Newcomers to mechanical design activity, even those with well-developed analytical skills, are often at first frustrated to find that most design problems do not have unique solutions; design tasks typically have many possible approaches from which an “Optimum” must be chosen. Experienced Machine designers, on the other hand, find challenge and excitement in the art of extracting a ‘best choice’ from among the many potential Solutions to a design problem. Transformation to the frustrations of a newcomer into the excitement experienced by a successful seasoned designer depends upon the adoption of a broadly based design methodology and practice in using it. It is the objective of this article to suggest some based design methodology and demonstrate its application by adapting it to many different important engineering design scenarios.



Monday, May 20, 2013

Get Ready for the First Self Employed Courier Job of Many

There are some basic things you can do before you start a business. Here is how to make your first self employed courier job the first of many to come.

Starting anything new can be daunting. No doubt the reason you embarked on working for yourself in the delivery industry is that you saw an opportunity and you wanted to grab hold of it. But even with your vehicles on standby, your company name registered, and your client base targeted, you may wonder at the chances and odds of your success in a competitive industry during tough financial times.

But, caution does not equate to fear. There are simple actions that you can take to assure yourself that this new enterprise is no wild fling, but rather a sound venture.

Solid infrastructure

No doubt your vehicles and equipment will be ready for your first self employed courier job, but you need to consider the long-term future of your venture. Since times will change even in business, many new independent enterprises suddenly find themselves victims of success when their equipment cannot match increased business. Hence it is vital that before you do anything else you make sure your infrastructure is prepared for the long term.


 
Clear marketing

Since you are the boss, owner and worker of your company, you are the person who recognises your market and knows what sets you apart from the competition. Regardless of how you found that first self employed courier job, you need to know how you will get your next one, and and the ones beyond that. Keeping this in mind, a simple but clear marketing strategy aimed at brand awareness among your market will help you build a long term client list.

Long-term goals

This raises the point that a long-term vision for your business is essential from the get go. A solid way to assure that not only your vehicles, but your overall business process runs smoothly for the long term, is to think of your first workload as a piece in a chain. The initial self employed courier job points to the next. With it, you build business relationships, develop a reputation, organise routes, test your financial and operational processes and get your brand out and among the people.

Precise financial planning

While it can be simple to start off on your first self employed courier job with merely a vague sense of the debts you expect to repay and hopeful profit margins, an exact understanding of your cash flow requirements and strategies to deal with loss will secure you for the future. It doesn't matter how easy the first delivery is, down the track sound financial planning will save you. Regardless of your background or confidence with numbers, the time you personally spend assessing your collateral and preparing for loss will set the foundation for all of your business hopes, and eventually dig you out of any bad times that may come by.

Saturday, May 18, 2013

Finding the best Project Management Software for your business

Good project management begins with good organization. Too many projects fall apart due to a lack of communication. Having the communication structured and organized is the first step to effective project management. There are companies that recognize this fact that offer project management software for business applications. How do you go about finding the best project management software for your business?

First, the best project management software for your company depends on the size of your project or business. For small businesses or for individuals working as consultants on a project basis, you probably do not need to invest in project management software that includes server applications, network management or monthly maintenance. You can find free project management software online that can help you manage smaller groups and projects.

But if you are a larger company who has a team of ten or more, it may be beneficial to find project management software that is more in-depth. If you have Office 365 or the business application for Windows 8 then you probably already have SharePoint 2013, which incorporates project management software in their packages. If you do have a system like that or other software that incorporates project management software, then you will be able to manage your team projects with the same accessibility of social media.

Any project management software these days should allow your users to interface with each other through a chat feature. On top of that, the best project management software allows easy uploading of documents to a centralized location accessible remotely by members of the project team. Having top of the line search capabilities within the system helps to locate any new documents or project changes quickly and easily. Many of these software companies also include mobile capabilities, allowing your team to access important project documents while working off-site also.

Lastly, part of the reason you may want to pay for your project management software is the enhanced security features of many paid subscriptions to project management software. Most of those types of management programs include the cloud technology allowing access to sensitive and private documents maintained on a remote server. You want to maximize the privacy of your work and the propriety of your projects, so whether you go with free or paid project management software, make sure that the strong security features are included.

Friday, May 17, 2013

How to Expand Your Business as a Courier Driver

Guidelines on how to expand your courier driver business.
    Expanding any business, particularly in the erratic situation the global economy is currently in, can be difficult to say the least. However, when it comes to courier drivers, some are happy to run small-scale businesses, while others want to take things further.

Here are some simple guidelines on how could do just that :-

Invest in Your Drivers and Vehicles

     Let’s start with the obvious. Business expansion does involve investment, both in terms of money and resources. So the first priority on your business plan should be to consider your options in investing drivers and appropriate vehicles.

     For example, you may want to invest in a couple of larger vehicles, if you are planning to provide delivery of heavier goods. Conversely, you may want to broaden the area coverage to which your courier drivers will work; in which case you would need to invest in more bicycles or motorbikes.

Make sure your new vehicles have insurance cover, in event of any accidents or damage caused.

     However, vitally, treat your courier drivers well, by providing competitive pay and being fair to them and they will be loyal to you and help your business grow further.


Courier Vehicles
Courier Vehicles ©2007 zyphbear under a Creative Commons Attribution License
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zyphbear/445928859/

Make Yourself Available

      You may consider getting your business sub-contracted to other courier companies. This has seen to be an effective way of getting more work, but with little effort applied. All you have to do is to advertise (either in local print media, or better still online) that your courier driver service is able for hire and you should see other courier companies responding.

Join a Courier Network

      While you may feel a bit weary of the possible competition this suggestion seems to provide, please do not be. By joining a courier network you can utilise the members and have an entire virtual fleet of courier drivers at your fingertips. There will always be staff available for hire to help you empty your loads as and when you need them.

Staying Focused and Positive

     As mentioned earlier, business expansion requires money and resources, but it also requires time and focused dedication. Keeping your eye on the ball as to how your expansion plans are developing is crucial.

Staying Healthy When Working in Courier Jobs

How to stay healthy when working in Courier Jobs? Working in courier jobs typically involves flitting from one place to another via driving a van or a large lorry, or riding a bicycle or motorbike.

No two days are ever the same in this vocation, but they can lead to having an unhealthy lifestyle, as it is very easy to get tempted into having fast food, while you are ‘on the go’.

Consuming such food hampers energy levels and can damage your health in the long run. So here are some tips which you could use to help stay healthy when you are working in courier jobs.

Packed Lunches

Preparing a packed lunch may feel like a bit of a chore, but it definitely has long-term health benefits, as it does in saving you heaps of money too.
All you would need is a sandwich, some fruit or nuts, or maybe an energy bar and a fruit drink. This may not be as appetising as a burger, but it will keep you going for the rest of the day.


A healthy packed lunch
A Healthy Packed Lunch ©2010 IrishFireside under a Creative Commons Attribution License
http://www.flickr.com/photos/irishfireside/4809469243/

Avoid Snacking

Where possible, try to avoid snacking on chocolate or rich biscuits during that afternoon energy slump we all typically feel and something which working in courier jobs could bring on. If carrot sticks do not quite take your fancy, go for biscuits which are low in fat and sugar levels. These accompany your tea or coffee break nicely indeed.

Taking Pit Stops

Rather than driving further than you need to, simply stop off when you feel peckish and refill yourself so that you feel ready to get back on track again. Certainly, one of the perks or working in courier jobs!

Sleep Right

It is a known fact that the lack of sleep can cause driving problems and lead to accidents. As driving is key when working in courier jobs, make sure you get your regular 6-8 hours of good quality sleep, so that you are fit and fine to work.

Being in Demand

Courier jobs are demanding in nature, especially in physical terms. So, it is necessary that you ensure you are in good health and have strong fitness levels in order to carry out your duties efficiently and enjoyably.

Technologies for home


The advancements in technology have created a change in our lifestyle. There are many technologies which help you carry out any work within seconds. The security aspects have improved drastically thanks to the latest technologies. There are many kinds of security aspects to be kept in mind while building a house but nowadays with the help of latest technologies we can relax a bit. The Intercoms help in communicating and there are many advanced technologies in intercoms too.
The Intercoms are an essential since it improves the security. They save time and energy of a person as they can communicate with others without moving from their place every time. Intercoms are of many types and one has to choose the type according to their needs and utility. Gone are the days when people were using intercoms with cords. Now cordless intercoms have replaced old types. The intercom systems for home have created a secured lifestyle. The video door intercom system helps you see the person who is at your door step. You can buy intercoms through online stores and there are many promotional offers too. 

Bike Courier Chic: Trends from the Delivery Industry

The humble workers in owner driver jobs do more than just delivering goods. The industry has been setting fashion trends for years without even knowing it!


Cap
Author's name: strollers
Copyright Info: ‘cap’, © 2005 strollers, used under a Creative Commons Attribution License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Did you know that there are trendsetters in the delivery industry? Yes, there are! Those who work in owner driver jobs have come up with trends that have influenced general fashion as we know it.

The Messenger Bag

People in owner driver jobs, will be seen using the single strap messenger bag. This is one of the most popular accessories today, originally worn by bikers and cyclists. Today many commuters can be seen using this bag to carry their documents, and even their iPads in! This smart accessory not only looks aesthetically pleasing, but also serves its purpose. Even high-end fashion designers, like Louis Vuitton and Georgio Armani, have taken to this particular style of bag.

Body-skimming Clothing

Body-skimming clothing used to be worn by women; however, the delivery guy challenged convention and changed this! Delivery men can now be seen sporting their skin-tight clothing, which has made it popular for both men and women.

It is actually people working in owner driver jobs, who we need to thank for introducing this! Originally, this clothing was designed for cyclists so that their clothing did not catch on the cogs or their bicycle gears.

Caps

Caps are becoming increasingly popular and are also practical for those who work in owner driver jobs. These not only protect the head but can also look trendy.

Below-the–knee Cut Pants

Rap and Hip-Hop culture can take credit for this one. The trend of oversized jeans and baggy trousers were modelled by famous rappers, thus, popularising this style.

During the fifties the ‘below-the-knee-cut-pants’ were called ‘pedal-pushers’. Obviously, the name is derived from cyclists who wore these to avoid catching their clothing on the uncovered gears. Today, this trend is worn by both men and women cyclists.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

The software of 3D designs

There are several programmes used to create 3D engraving designs. They allow designers to visualise the final product for their customers.

Designers who specialise in creating stunning 3D engraving designs for sketches often use special design programs that allow them to render works ready to be engraved by the laser etching machines. The programs they often use to help render these designs are ArtCAM, AutoCAD and Gravograph. By using these programs, designers can create a bank of images that are perfect for those events, gifts, awards or commemorations that already have a fairly large bank of images that can go alongside them, such as sporting events like golf and tennis. But, for the works that are a bit more personalised, the designers can work with you to create bespoke images that are perfect for you or they can take an image that you provide, and by using the software programs and their knowledge, they can render the images ready for 3D engraving. By choosing to create a custom etching in glass, your final product will be stunning and unforgettable, and perfect for the recipient to place in their home or office in a place of pride.



ArtCAM

With its express version, Declam’s ArtCAM software programmes offer designers the option of 64 or 32 bit versions so that they can get to know the software better before stepping up to the more memory heavy versions to get the best possible 3D engraving files created. With the programmes designers can create 2 and 3D designs that are ready to be made into files that can then be passed onto the etching and laser engraving machines that will be able to render the design in glass in precision replication that will be the perfect gift or commemorative item for you and your event.


AutoCAD

By giving the designers the ability to render the images you, as a customer, provide into 3D renderings before they are made into laser, 3D engraving files, they are able to see what the final product will look like and be able to better help you create the best final result for you. Autodesk’s AutoCAD software programme is designed for the purpose of making files that are capable of being transferred into the engraving machines. Not only for the use of graphic designers, the AutoCAD programme also is great for those who are interested in architectural and artistic 3D renderings of their designs. AutoCAD takes advantage of the ability to move more free-flowing artworks into computer ready images and files that can be tweaked to make sure that the final product is going to be one that you, the customer, is satisfied with.

Gravograph

Gravograph is an industry-leading programme that is unique in its focus on the process of creating files for 3D engraving designs and laser etchings. Many designers use the programme to facilitate the engraving of Braille, photos, scales, dials and letter cutting. Gravograph is created to work with current design software programmes and the Gravograph suite is a powerful tool for those designers who are focussed on the process of engraving 3D images into glass, and by working with designers who use this programme, you will be certain to get an excellent idea of the final version of your bespoke 3D engraving.

Friday, May 10, 2013

Technologies to stay healthy


The evolution of technology has created a change to our lifestyle. With the help of technologies we live a sophisticated lifestyle. The technology helps us to stay at ease and we are able to anything by sitting at home. Daily work is carried out with the help of technologies and we can’t deny the fact that we are dependent on technologies. 
There are some addictions in life which are very difficult to let go. Drinking alcohols and smoking cigarettes are very harmful for health. But many people tend to get addicted to these habits and find it difficult to quit. The electronic cigarette helps people stay healthy since it doesn't cause any harm to our body. The electric cigarette ignites odorless water vapor which doesn't affect the lungs like the tobacco smoke. It operates with the help of battery which are re-chargeable and the lifetime of this cigarette is high. The electronic cigarette starter kit are available in online stores. This technology helps to prevent cancer caused due to smoking tobacco. The technologies have not only made our life sophisticated but also help us stay healthy.  

Advantages of social media


The technology has improved drastically has years passed by. There are many technologies we use which have become a part of our lifestyle. We tend to forget that they are technology since we are used to it. Social network is an evolution of technology which has a wide scope of development. The social networking sites not helps people stay connected but helps in spreading news within seconds. 
There are many other aspects of social networks like marketing. We can advertise any products very easily with the help of social media. The appropriate way to publicize a new product can be done in social media. There are many applications which are associated with social media which helps in sharing any news instantly. The fastest way to share any information is by posting a picture. A picture can provide lot of information and there are many applications which help in sharing the pictures instantly while you’re mobile. The famous application which is used by many people is Instagram. It’s a popular application is very useful in editing and sharing pictures instantly. In social networking likes and followers are widely used terminologies. The real Instagram followers helps in promoting your pictures shared in Instagram. You can buy Instagram followers through online which helps people publicize their Instagram profiles.