The transport industry is a relatively safe start-up business to invest in because it doesn’t take a lot of effort or equipment. Unless you want to brand your own fleet of vehicles, there really isn’t much setup required besides renting out a location for your depot and installing some software on a computer.
But like any other business, it’s not completely foolproof. Yes, starting a private transport business is relatively safe, but you can mess up and destroy your business before you get your first client if you’re not careful.
Test All Your Drivers
The standards for a driver are fairly low. After all, with GPS devices and smartphones, you don’t actually need to know the area you’re driving in. As long as you can use basic software, you’re good to go.
However, this doesn’t mean that you can just take any random driver and have them work for you. It’s important that they Stay DOT Compliant by taking a drug test before you even consider them to work for you. You also need to consider the status of their vehicle. Is it insured? Is it official? Or is it some random car they don’t own and just stole from somewhere?
Make sure that all your drivers meet the standards you set. It can be difficult to tell the difference between a fraudster and a novice driver, but with a quick interview and a bit of experience, you’ll get enough drivers to work for you in no time.
Use Traditional Advertising Platforms
Sure, you can use Facebook and Twitter or other forms of online advertisement, but you’re targeting the wrong crowd.
Let’s face it, unless your transport business covers the entire state or a country like Uber, then chances are people won’t use your service because you’re confined to your area. Instead of trying to attract a wide audience, make sure that your private transport business is the best one in your area. Specialise in local services, and don’t spread your wings too far.
Use traditional advertising such as flyers, newspaper adverts, and business cards. Some of it could be seen as spam, so make sure not to overdo it. You want to attract customers that are local to your area, not people who are on social media and thousands of miles away!
Install Proper Software
There are loads of different applications that you can utilise to make tracking drivers easy. Take a look online and you’ll find dozens of solutions which can connect to GPS or mapping services. You’ll be able to monitor your drivers online, and they can access the system with just a smartphone app.
You can send them locations for their next pick up, and it’ll tell them the amount of money that has to be paid (unless it’s already paid for), the destination, and even the names of the people who’ll be entering the vehicle. It makes managing the business extremely easy, and you can do it all from the comfort of the depot at a computer. You don’t need to call anyone, you don’t need to chase people down, and the system does all the hard work. You could even hire an employee to work at the computer while you relax at home!
