The secret of a successful courier service is providing services not available from the bigger firms like Fedex and UPS, such as local, same-day service, or finding a profitable niche, like medical specimen deliveries. What delivery services should you offer? A business plan can’t tell you that, but your customers can. Instead of wasting your time and energy coming up with an elaborate business plan, just get started. Have one of the many web-based printers (just search “printed notepads” to find them) print notepads to hand out to prospective customers in your area. One marketing tip is to offer new customers a gift certificate for one free pickup/delivery. This let’s them test your service at no cost, and makes them much more likely to call you the next time they need a same-day delivery.

You’ll quickly learn who will be your best customers, as they now have your contact information and will call you when they need packages or documents delivered locally the same day. This takes care of the biggest problem a startup business has – cash flow. Once the money is coming in from deliveries, you can prospect for more businesses in your area that are similar to the customers you now have.

Regardless of how much planning you do, it’s only a hunch – an educated guess about how well your business will do. The danger is, by spending too much time on planning, you’ll have less time and energy to try new marketing ideas to find paying customers. The secret is to test your ideas as quickly and cheaply as possible, then improve and refine them. Handing out notepads with your contact information and a catchy slogan is a great way to do that.

Here’s another “quick & cheap” way to do a simple courier business plan for your new courier service business. If you plan to borrow startup money from friends or relatives – the most common source of funding for new businesses – do an “executive summary” business plan to show them that you’ve done your homework. It should cover the business plan basics, with an overview of the business, a market analysis with a look at the competition, and an estimate of your first year’s sales. It assumes that you will not have employees to start, or buying or leasing property and equipment. Here’s a sample:

ROADRUNNER COURIER SERVICE – BUSINESS PLAN

Business Overview: Roadrunner Courier Service is a new courier service based in Bend, Oregon, specializing in local, same-day deliveries. Roadrunner can transport documents and parcels to customers within a 40 mile radius of town. Our customers are medical professionals, attorneys and local businesses who need reliable, same-day services not offered by the larger service providers, such as Fedex and UPS.

Market Analysis: The demand for reliable, cost-effective delivery services has been growing in the area for several years as the town’s population continues to grow. In addition to a growing population, there are more customers who require faster service, ranging from “stat” medical specimen deliveries to time-sensitive legal documents to “just-in-time” parts deliveries to local manufacturers. There is only one other local courier service in the area, and we believe there is ample room, due to our growing local economy, for another reliable courier service.

Marketing Strategy: The marketing strategy of Roadrunner Courier Service is to provide dependable and exceptional delivery services to businesses and professionals who have a regular need for pickup and delivery services. This will insure that Roadrunner will have a regular, steady income from repeat customers. The second part of our marketing strategy will be to gain customers who need courier services occasionally, such as last-minute parts and supplies delivered to a contractor’s job site, plans deliveries for architects and engineers and documents and materials for local government agencies.

First Year Goal: Based on the size of the local delivery market and the fact that Roadrunner will be a one person business, our sales projection for the first year is $45,000. We plan to build our customer base through direct contact with prospective customers and word-of-mouth referrals from happy customers to continue to grow our sales, focusing on the most profitable types of deliveries.

In a computer dispatched courier service, the computer at the center would determine which vehicle would be best positioned for handling the fats delivery of the packages and would dispatch that vehicle for pickup. Using such advanced systems, the companies are able to provide efficient delivery of the goods and also the consumers get fast and reliable deliverance. Yet another thing is that the system potentially lowers delivery costs thereby giving the consumers cheap courier service. If the company is using the GPS systems, the consumers would be able to trace the delivery of the package by monitoring the GPS location of the courier on the web. The courier would also provide confirmation and date of the deliverance through web or via email updates.

Since the services and way they provide it vary with each company, it is important to find a courier service that would best fits your needs. People would generally want to send things across the country or across the state. If you are planning to move the things across a local place, it is better to find a company that specializes in your locality and would make quick delivery possible. Secondly you have to consider the cost factors. Find a courier service that can give a very close estimate citing the charges and time frame of the delivery. This is important since the cost and delivery dates make a major part of the requirements. If you wish to get email updates and also web tracking of your delivery, better go for a service which uses modern technologies in their operation. Finally it is not always good to jump into a conclusion soon after finding a company. Try to shop around and get as many estimates as possible. Different companies may have difference in delivery time, quality and costs. You would surely find a cheap courier services if you spend some time in research.