Subject: Re: Delivery
Date: Sat, 21 Jun 2003 23:03:13 EDT
From: AeraDeco@aol.com

Hello there. I was home-based for almost five years until this past January, 
so I can speak a little bit on this topic.

The first and foremost thing you are going to need to get a delivery business 
going (at least from my experience) is the ability to accept credit cards. 
Considering that I would say 95% of all orders are going to be placed with you 
by phone, unless you want to drive out to collect their money first and THEN go 
make the delivery, it's the only way. In addition, nowadays many people look 
at you as if you're from the Stone Age if you're not accepting "plastic" so I 
would certainly look into it ASAP if you don't already accept them.

Next, you face the biggest obstacle that all home-based businesses face...how 
are you going to promote yourself? It seems like many of my calls for 
deliveries come right from the Yellow Pages, so you will need to develop a way to 
generate the sales. Yes, you can certainly do them through more grass roots 
methods, but your exposure is going to be limited to the smaller numbers of people 
who see your work.

You're also going to have to have some kind of decent sized vehicle to make 
these deliveries in. You certainly don't want to be seen "cramming" an 
arrangement into a compact car or trying to wedge it from the back seat when you get 
to the delivery point.  Also, be sure you have signage on the vehicle; it works 
as a moving billboard, and yes, people DO see them and you CAN get calls from 
it.

However, I think the biggest uphill battle you're going to face with being a 
"weekend warrior" when it comes to deliveries is that you're ONLY going to be 
able to do it on Saturdays and Sundays. If I'm correct here in my assumption, 
you're looking to do birthdays, get wells, that kind of thing. I'm not sure 
about the rest of the readers in BHQ Land, but the vast majority of those orders 
that I get are Monday through Friday. 

See, it's been my experience that most people who want to send someone 
something do it because they won't necessarily be able to give it to them 
themselves, like when they are at work. That's one of the reasons Valentine's Days that 
take place on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays have low in sales for most 
people. There's not necessarily the need to send them something when they can give 
them something themselves later on or just take them out to dinner that night, 
etc. 

The types of deliveries that we do on weekends that are NOT decor related 
tend to be just simple bunches of balloons that are going to be used at a party 
by someone who didn't have a car big enough to fit them all in. To my 
recollection, I may have had one....perhaps two...deliveries on a weekend day. One was 
for a baby shower and the other for a graduation. All the rest have been 
Monday through Friday.

I can only speak for myself and my experiences, of course. Perhaps some 
others will help chime in with their feelings as well as some more seasoned 
veterans with delivery experience.

Steve Jones
Aeration Decorations
Cincinnati, Ohio
www.aeradeco.com


Steve Jones
Aeration Decorations
Cincinnati, Ohio
www.aeradeco.com