4 Steps to Start your Independent Delivery Business
Tonquin is a purpose-built platform that allows anyone to create, operate, and manage an independent delivery business specifically for auto part suppliers. There are thousands of auto part suppliers across the country that do hundreds of millions of local deliveries every day. This is where you come in.
Step 1. Get to know your tools
The Tonquin Delivery Provider App
The Tonquin Delivery Provider app is your complete tool that allows you to:
Create customers
Service customers
Get paid
What you need to know. On the home screen, you will see pins. Here is what they mean.
Gray Pins
These pins represent potential customers. If you have an auto parts store that wants to become your customer, locate their gray pin on the map and click on it. This will allow you to begin the process of creating them as a customer so that they can use your services. Once created, you will be their Managing Provider!
Blue Pins
These pins represent active marketplace customers already being managed by another Provider, or you if you created them! Customers can be created by any marketplace Provider or Tonquin. Even if you aren't their Managing Provider, you can still service them if they have gigs available for the on-demand network in your area.
Red Pins
These pins represent marketplace customers with scheduled gigs available. Click on these pins and you'll see the gig details for the earliest gig available of that location. There are two gig types that will appear here. Hourly gigs (Charters) and scheduled routes (Shuttles). Simply click “Accept” to take the gig!
The Tonquin Provider Dashboard
The Tonquin Provider Dashboard will be your one stop shop for accessing information about your customers, service analytics, and resources that Tonquin will provide to assist you through your journey.
You can access your dashboard 24/7 in a web browser by going to Provider.Tonquin.com and login using your existing credentials.
Data and analytics will be useful as a temperature check to see how well you're performing your services. Potential customers will appreciate and want to see this type of information.
This dashboard is constantly under construction so check back here frequently!
Step 2. Get to know your potential customers
Tonquin designed it's tools to fit the delivery needs of auto part suppliers perfectly. Making it as simple as possible for someone to start up a delivery service for an auto part store in need.
There are three things you need to know.
1. Why do they do deliveries?
The average auto part store does about 1000 deliveries per month.. yes per month. These are local deliveries to their business customers. So not some random person that buys an oil filter online, no they do the majority of their deliveries to mechanical and collision repair shops.
2. Why do they need you?
Most auto part stores already staff employed delivery drivers and have their own delivery vehicles. They need you because they don't know when their customers will place orders and they're required to get them their stuff really fast. So if they are understaffed or busy, they will need your services to get the job done.
3. Why is it a value to them?
Your on-demand services (per delivery, per hour, or per route) are valuable to an auto parts store because it's typically a better service and more cost effective for them. Since you're incentivized to make your customer happy by providing a good service in order to keep them as a customer, everyone wins (employed delivery drivers aren't really incentivized to hussle). It's typically more cost effective because they only request and pay for your services right when they need them (as opposed to hiring a driver and having them sit around when it's slow).
Step 3. Using those three points above, it's time to sell.
To begin acquiring auto part store customers to use your delivery services, you'll have to sell to them.
The best way to market your new delivery service is through face to face direct sales. Go to these stores and talk to someone. The best people to talk to would be a store manager or commercial parts manager. Share those three points above and you'll be well on your way to getting a customer.
They will want to know or think two things:
Can I trust this?
Most auto part store locations are corporately owned, so you will most likely hear that they need to get management approval before they can sign up.
To get over this hurdle, you can have them contact us at (855)484-2420 or support@tonquin.com.
Alternatively, you can share that Tonquin is already an approved vendor for Advance Auto Parts, Napa Auto Parts and Auto Plus. Lastly, it could help to build credibility by stating that Tonquin is being used by 100+ auto part stores, across 5 states.
How much does it cost?
Signing up a customer and giving them access to their logistics dashboard (the tool they use to request delivery services) is FREE. What they do have to pay for is any of the delivery services they request. Those being on-demand deliveries, hourly contracts, or scheduled routes. You will get access to a rate card that you can print and give to your customer.
Representatives from Tonquin will be reaching out to provide helpful materials that you can leave behind (including the rate card) and use to sell your services.
Step 4. Follow up, stay consistent, and close
It may not come on the first encounter but you'll find that the one time you stop in and they need your help because of some situation that's going on, you'll find yourself acquiring a customer!
All you need is their email to start the process and everything else from their is entirely automated.
Once they get access to their logistics dashboard, they will be able to assign you deliveries, place hourly contracts and routes to the marketplace (which you can accept) and you'll be on your way to establishing a valuable customer.
It's important to get an idea at what capacity they need your services so that you can prepare to be there for them when they need it.
