How to increase your profitability by finding return loads

How to increase your profitability by finding return loads
 
Particularly if you’re an independent or a small haulage business it’s crucial to create opportunities for minimising the time between loads. Finding a return load for your HGVs can help to ensure that journeys are not wasted and that your business is operating at maximum efficiency and productivity. This is a great way to mitigate costs and improve profitability as well as building relationships that can enable your business to enjoy greater long-term success. So, how do you do it?
 
Ask your current customer
 
It’s a simple but effective approach that many people overlook when it comes to finding return loads. It may be that the customer you’re making a delivery to already has a return load that you could integrate into the HGV journey. This can be beneficial to the customer, as it’s more cost effective, and also provides more opportunities for work for your business. Flexibility here is key – in advance of the journey there may be no current need for a return load but this could all change by the time you arrive to make the initial delivery. Being able to accommodate any last minute requests can provide a boost in profitability terms.
 
Use a haulage exchange
 
A platform specifically created to facilitate finding – and accommodating – return loads can make life a lot easier when it comes to setting these up. A haulage exchange is designed to make things simpler for industry businesses and also for customers who may be looking for anything, from an entire load quote to a small amount of space on an HGV trailer. There may be a requirement to demonstrate compliance with certain compliance standards but doing so could open the door to a much wider range of work from customers that your business might not otherwise have been able to reach. Some haulage exchanges also offer a range of other features, such as providing real time tracking and integrating technology that makes it much easier to facilitate payments etc.
 
Tap into the local network
 
Making connections with other haulage businesses in the area can create a wealth of opportunities for return loads. These may come from bookings in advance but often it’s the last minute jobs that other businesses will be looking for additional local support for. The key here is to ensure that you’re well known in the local area and that you’ve established a benchmark of reliability and trust. That will make you or your business a logical first choice where others need support when it comes to return loads or extra journeys. A simple online search will help you to identify other businesses in the area where this kind of local partnership could be beneficial. Reach out to make contact, whether via email or by going into offices in person, and make it clear what you’re able to offer in cost and flexibility terms.
 
Securing return loads can have a very positive impact on your business and there are a number of simple ways that you can do this.