Search by keyword

As no doubt many of you will have seen, you can now search by keyword on the search pages.

We had a number of providers giving us feedback that they would remember what the actual shipment was but when they came back to the site, completely lost it amongst the thousands shown!

There is an ability to "watch a shipment", and this is located at the top right of shipment pages. However, this new ability to search by keyword should really help. You can also type in the shipment id number here and it will take you direct to the shipment listing.

Keep an eye out for search by country which will launch soon also. We're also tidying up the bid placement form, to make the process as quick and seamless as possible.

Hope you enjoy the changes.

Top Tips For Transport Providers

To help our transport providers get the most out of Shiply, here are some of our top tips which helps you get more bids accepted!

1) Fill out your profile page

This is the space where we let you write about your business. It is your space to really sell your business and it's uniqueness to prospective customers. Use it wisely. We have seen great profiles and we have seen some really awful ones!

Make sure you cover the fundamentals, how many employees do you have, how many vehicles, what year were you established etc etc.

You really have to look at your profile through your customers eyes. Would you choose the provider with a one sentence long profile or the one who has made an effort and uploaded their company logo, specified their insurance levels and written a professional, concise 6 paragraph long profile?

Spelling mistakes look sloppy, and customers will think your work will be too! So, be sure to run your profile page text through a spell check, like the one in Microsoft word.

2) Upload a photo to your profile

This makes a big difference. We recommend a photo of yourself, your team and/or your vehicle(s). Customers like to see the real people behind your company. Don't miss out on this important element of your profile page.

3) Chase feedback!

Just like eBay, customers often never get around to leaving feedback after a transaction if all goes well. But you can bet your boots they will remember to leave negative feedback that one time something goes wrong.

Ensure you protect your feedback score and participation on Shiply by asking those customers who have not yet left you feedback to do so.

We do send out email reminders, however often a quick phone call, or better yet a request in person upon delivery usually does the trick!

4) Keep on top of open bids

There is nothing worse than having a bid accepted which you can no longer service. Keep on top of your current active bids on at least a daily basis. Better still, if you know the latest date upon which you can accept the order, please put an expiry date on your bid.

5) Put information with your bid

Placing a bid with no additional information just looks a bit lazy, and customers notice this. Understandably they want to feel valued and like you have taken more than 2 seconds looking at their shipment request.

Be unique, tell the customer how you will carry out the work and any other information about your bid which will be helpful to them. Show that you care and that you want the job.

It is these little things which can mean the difference between 1st and 2nd place in any transport auction. Making that extra effort goes a long way.

6) Make use of custom email alerts

There are a few thousand shipments live on Shiply now, so sifting through all of them can take hours. Make use of the search filters to get the type of work which interests you, is along a similar route or is local to you.

Once you have a search criteria you are happy with, you can save it and have emails alerts sent to you daily with new shipments which match these.

This is an enormous time-saver!

7) Communicate!

Without a doubt the single most common reason for negative feedback on Shiply is poor communication. Negative feedback will cripple your account and you will find winning work on Shiply harder and harder. Excessive negative feedback will result in suspensions and even expulsion from the marketplace altogether. You only have one account and one chance on Shiply, you will not be given another, so work to protect your feedback score, it is so vital.

Remember, when your bid is accepted, the customer is waiting for you to contact them. Be sure to get the relationship off to the best start by doing this ASAP, don't wait or expect them to call you.

Right from bid acceptance through to delivery, you must be contactable during normal business hours. If you are not, there must be a facility for them to leave a message and for you to respond in a timely manner.

We hope the above tips will help you get the most out of Shiply long into the future.

Fast lane to recovery

How well prepared is your transport company should a disaster strike?

Disaster recovery plans are something we at Shiply have had in place since the very early days.

You should always plan for the worst so that if and when the unexpected strikes, you are in a strong position to react quickly.

The importance of this was recently demonstrated by Australian courier firm Couriers Please. Whilst in Britain we haven't seen anywhere near the level of natural disasters compared with Australia's bush fires and flash flooding we do still have problems which arise, it's a matter of when and not if.

You cannot plan for every eventuality, however ensuring the main boxes are ticked and you are prepared is critical regardless of whether you are a one-man-band or an international haulier operating hundreds of vehicles.

Couriers Please had their call centre in Homebush hit by a storm, wiping out their communications. At first they thought this would be restored in a few hours, it turned out to be 8 days! Imagine what that would be like here in the UK with BT!! You might be lucky to get connection back in a couple of months!

Using Couriers Please as a case study, they immediately forwarded calls onto their other call centres so customer service disruption was minimal.

And the flooding hasn't been the last disaster, either. Alderson says there was another situation where head office burnt down and there have been other communication outages since.

"We knew exactly how to deal with it," Alderson says. "What you think won't happen, will."

How would your business cope if your land line and Internet connection were wiped out? Do you have a backup plan to keep communication channels with your customers open? If your vehicle was involved in an accident, do you have access to other vehicles which could undertake the work? These are just some of the questions which are so vital. A couple of hours of thoughtful planning can really make a difference.

After all, would you rather plan now for 2 hours or work out how to recover when you are knee-deep in crisis and not thinking straight! It's a no-brainer, everyone in the organisation should have access to these plans so that when the unexpected does strike you can react rationally.