Beans Route will help you convert a Delivery Trial into a Customer.

Navigating a delivery trial can be the difference between winning or losing your next shipper contract. Trials can open doors for future deals, whether you are working with a shipper who is your ICP or trying to open up a new vertical for your company.

Trials are invaluable for companies before adopting a new technology or vendor. Operations leaders on shipper and carrier teams need to know how to land trials and turn them into mutually beneficial deals. 

Delivery Trial Framework

Once the initial sales discussion and RFP due diligence are complete, more prominent shippers prefer entering limited trials with their new carriers. Both parties must be on the same page about critical metrics, specifically managing your shipper's expectations around payment, due diligence, delivery specifications, and skill requirements. Let us look at the most important things to keep in mind:   

Timeline 

The precise start and end dates are relatively easy to decide. Most of the time, they are a relatively quiet period for the shippers unless they face a significant setback from their existing carrier which might expedite the timelines. From the carrier's perspective, it's essential to negotiate for a shorter pilot period, say 2 - 4 weeks, as it takes away focus from existing business, plus it is better to leave the customer wanting more.

Pain Points and ROI 

Before starting the pilot, it is critical to know the shipper's experience with their current carriers. The pilot is a tremendous resource drain on the shipper's end as well, and usually, there is an excellent reason why they are testing out new partners. Knowing those reasons can help you nail the pilot. What are some of the issues the shipper faces with their existing carriers? How does it impact their top-line (growth) and bottom line (profits)? Are they facing high costs, failed deliveries, delayed deliveries, damaged shipments, complex workflow challenges, or all of the above? 

Pricing

Carriers should not do trials at cost. At cost is a negative margin because you are taking your best drivers and dispatchers away from your existing clients, which could result in marginal losses across a few other areas. Ideally, delivery trials cost the same as current customers are charged. How much you get paid can vary based on the delivery specifications: 

• Time windows
• Time tracking
• White glove
• Customer notifications and surveys
• Custom scheduling
• Stop density
• Driver skills
• Vehicle requirements
• Branding requirements on uniform or vehicle

The above photo is an example of how you can work out how much to charge the shipper based on the inputs from the shipper and your labor and fuel costs.

Measurement 

Once the pricing details are all hashed out, your operations team must build a template with all the daily tracked metrics to successfully close a deal with a customer.This step must be completed before starting any new delivery pilot.

Next Steps

Finishing the last mile in 2023 will prove challenging without the right ecosystem of location data technologies to support your efforts. Learn how Beans Route can help.