How to Start a Courier Service Business

As our technology continues to advance making the world more interconnected and globalized the demand for more business services continues increases. The courier service is one such business that has seen a huge increase in demand over the past decade. Starting a courier service business at this time might be a perfect opportunity to capture the ever growing share of this particular market.

Launching and growing a courier service business is not an easy task. Hopefully the steps in this article will help you start and expand your courier business successfully

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Money
• Time
• Marketing materials
• Business knowledge (optional)
• Good communication skills

1. Step 1

   Begin by drafting a comprehensive business plan. Your business plan should include a mission statement, start up costs, operating expenses, projected revenue, competition, marketing analysis as well as many other important components that belong in a completed business plan. Writing a business plan can be somewhat challenging, so utilizing a resource such as bplans.com (see resource section) can help you write an effective business plan.

2. Step 2

   Register your corporation.
   
   Come up with a name for your company and make your company official by registering it. Choose the best business structure for your company based on your needs and wants. Some of the business structures you might consider are Corporation, Limited Liability Corporation, C Corporation, Sole Proprietorship and others. Each one of these forms of business has its own specific advantages and disadvantages. To find out more visit the IRS website (see resource section) for explanations of each of these business structures.

3. Step 3

   Once you completed all the legal paperwork associated with your company get some introductory marketing materials. Brochures, post and business cards are essential marketing tools for any start up business. Use a company such as Vista Print (see resource section) to print out business cards, brochures and other inexpensive promotional items for your courier service business. In the marketing material mention all of the available services that your company will provide and the prices you will charge for each service.

4. Step 4

   Prepare a car. Are you going to use your personal vehicle or buy a separate one to use for business?
   
   Constantly making deliveries will put many miles on the car that you use, so make sure whatever car you pick is reliable. The car should not only be reliable, it should also have ample cargo space to accommodate large delivery items. Additionally, make sure your business car has proper insurance.

5. Step 5

   Find clients.
   
   Without clients you won’t have a business and make any money. To find clients send out post cards, brochures and visit various places to solicit business. Go around hospitals, large business offices, and retail stores to see if they can use your services. Tell them that your company is available to deliver anything they need at any time of day or night. Many hospitals need to make emergency deliveries at odd hours of day or night and can not rely on traditional delivery companies such as UPS and FedEx, so this is where your company will step in and offer courier services.

6. Step 6

   Grow your business.
   
   Continue to expand your client base by building up a good reputation and acquiring more clients. Make sure that every job you take on is done in a professional and timely manner. There is nothing worse for a business than having a bad reputation, so make sure you establish a great one with your clients.
   
   As your business expands consider hiring more delivery drivers to accommodate your growing client base.