Canceling Gigs - Impact to your Customers & 3 Actionable Suggestions

At Tonquin, our job is to help Providers succeed. We do that by helping to educate Delivery Providers about auto parts stores' businesses and what they look for the most as it relates to using services of Independent Delivery Providers on the Tonquin platform.

In this post, we'll be explaining the impact on your customer when you cancel a gig, specifically an hourly gig (a Charter), and three ways that you can take action to perform a better service.

First, we'll give you the the short version of the impact to your customers.

The impact [short version]: Your customers literally lose money. 

The impact [long answer]: When you cancel a block of time that you previously accepted, specifically with less than 24hrs until the gig is going to start, your customer is left to either quickly find another solution to fill the gap or they're left short handed. Their end customers (who you delivery the parts to) are affected by not getting their parts on time or at all because there's no one to deliver them. This directly impacts how much your customer can sell during that time.

Here is what this looks like.

Customers, the auto parts stores, request Delivery Providers for blocks of time to fill gaps in their driver schedule. They know roughly how many deliveries will need to get done throughout the day so they know ahead of time where they might need some help.

Repair shops expect their parts to arrive quickly which means the number of drivers that an auto parts store has available directly impacts how much product (parts) they can sell.

When an auto parts store schedule's a block of time that you accept, that auto parts store is relying on you to show up so that they can sell their parts, deliver them to their customers quickly, and keep their customers business.

When you cancel that block of time that the auto parts store expected you to be there for, they are left short handed and the physical number of deliveries that they can possibly do during that time drops.

When they are left short handed, there is a significant impact to the number of deliveries they can do in that time. Which impacts the overall sales that they can do and leaves their commercial customer unhappy.

Coming soon, auto part stores will have the ability to block certain Providers from seeing their gigs. If you perform a good service, you will have nothing to worry about. However, if you cancel gigs frequently there will be a higher chance of getting blocked. This will be a decision purely made by the auto parts store so that they can continue to rely on the platform and choose to only work with Providers that are reliable and do a good job.

Here are three suggested actions you can take, and maybe are already taking, to solve and improve upon this as a Delivery Provider.

We hope this allows Providers who like and rely on Tonquin for meaningful income to continue to be successful, have opportunities to grow their business, and provide the best services for their auto part store customers.

Please, contact us if you have any questions or concerns!

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:

1. Create customers

2. Service customers

3. 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.

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Red Pins

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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.

For more information or questions, text us at (855)484-2420 or email us at support@tonquin.com

Atlanta, Fort Myers, & Binghamton

The Tonquin platform is now available in three new markets! Independent Delivery Providers in Atlanta Georgia, Fort Myers Florida, and Binghamton New York can now sign up and get access to Tonquin's purpose-built tools to start an independent delivery business servicing auto part suppliers.

There are over 350 aftermarket auto part suppliers across these three markets, in addition to numerous independent suppliers and OEM (original equipment manufacturer) suppliers, a.k.a dealerships. Suppliers in these areas can now join and get access to the growing network of delivery professionals building businesses to serve their needs on-demand and at any capacity they choose.

For the entrepreneur that wants to operate an independent delivery business or add to their existing business, there are 350+ potential customers that await and millions of deliveries that need to be fulfilled.

Providers, to learn more about this opportunity and get insights about how to market, sell and acquire customers using the Tonquin platform, go to Tonquin.com/builders or contact us.

Suppliers, to get started, keep a lookout for Providers in your area that may be approaching you or trying to reach out. They will have tools to create your account and become your Managing Provider. Alternatively, you can get started by signing up through Tonquin. Contact us to create your account or learn more.

Shopify for Last-mile Delivery - Tools to Start a B2B Auto Parts Delivery Business

Tonquin is announcing a significant change to the overall opportunities possible for individuals seeking ownership and scale of a delivery business. Now with Tonquin, Providers can simply sign up to work on-demand or start from scratch building a truly independent delivery business. Auto Part Suppliers that become customers of Providers building their businesses will experience aligned service goals and the accountability of someone managing their successful use of the platform.

You might be thinking, "what could this mean?" Isn't Shopify an ecommerce site that helps people build online businesses to sell things? And if you thought that, you would be correct. Shopify is a marketplace that brings software tools together in a way that makes starting an online ecommerce business simple. So now you're probably thinking, "how does Shopify have anything to do with the last-mile delivery… of auto parts?" That is also a valid question. Let me tell you.

Tonquin is changing how everyday people can use the tools that the Tonquin platform provides to create an independent delivery business. Much like how anyone can go onto Shopify.com, sign up for an account, and begin creating an ecommerce store with some pretty simple tools— Tonquin has made those same achievements possible but for the creating, managing, operating, and growing of a last-mile delivery business. Let me explain.

People mainly go to Shopify to start a business online selling something that they make. To start, they use the ecommerce site builder and built in payment processor. With varying degrees of personalization, that's pretty much all you have to do to get started. Inspired by the utility, attainability and empowerment that a platform like Shopify gives to millions of people to start the journey of small business independence— we saw an opportunity to do the same with a service business like the last-mile delivery of auto parts.

So with this inspiration, we've refactored our tools (mainly the Delivery Provider App) to now allow anyone to start an independent delivery business servicing auto part suppliers from scratch. And most importantly, altered rate structures that allow for higher yields, business growth and true scalability using the Tonquin platform.

Getting started is free for both the Provider and their customers. Using the Delivery Provider App, a Provider can create customers and service them per delivery, hourly or per route all seamlessly through the app. Creating a customer gives that customer access to their own Vendor Logistics Dashboard. This is where the auto part store will have access to tools they need and be able to request platform-enabled delivery services in multiple ways. Tonquin's automated payment tools process the customers payment and pays the Provider.

How does this restructuring benefit auto part suppliers? Simple, an auto parts supplier's need to service their customers drives more people to want to create delivery businesses fulfilling that need. With natural competition in the marketplace, this creates an alignment of incentives to consistently perform and provide a good service. And because Vendors only pay for the services, Providers will want to make sure their customers are always deriving as much value and use from the platform as possible but at the same time, be able to not singularly rely on one customer if their services aren't needed.

With each service requested, a percentage of the cost is paid as a management fee to their Managing Provider (the Provider that creates their account). This creates two ways to generate revenue as a Provider— perform services for customer(s) and or other vendors on the platform, and earn the management fee from a customers use of the platform.

Just like any business there will be an endless number of ways to grow. Maximize service revenue by working closely with a single auto parts store in a local area and be available to them as often as possible. Maximize management fees by working with a prevalent brand like Napa Auto Parts or Advance Auto Parts to set up a portfolio of their locations and show them how to use marketplace enabled services to improve service to their commercial customers. Invest in acquiring and on-boarding other marketplace delivery providers in a local area to be available to service customers so that you can continue to grow. Or do a combination of both of these paths. The opportunities are endless. And as much as we're comparing this shift to a company like Shopify, the best part is that the best way for anyone to acquire an auto part store as a customer, will be to go in and talk to them. No out of the gate need to do crazy spending on advertising— all one needs is a phone, a car, and ambition. This is a huge benefit to operating a local service business as opposed to an online ecommerce store. Everyone is within reach.

The seamlessness to this process is all made possible because Tonquin's tools have been designed specifically for last-mile auto parts delivery and the auto part suppliers using them which makes acquiring and onboarding auto part stores as customers super easy. Combined with the business case that auto part suppliers are constantly in need of delivery drivers to service their high value business customers and looking to save on the cost to do so, this creates a dynamic of aligned incentives for individual providers to want to perform and grow. Selling their services, the services of other marketplace Providers and all of the additional benefits that a marketplace enables.

Coming soon, Tonquin is making the platform available in three new markets for anyone to sign up and get started for free. Included in the new account tier will be access to a Benefits and Resource marketplace that will make starting even easier. And with Tonquin's job being to support alongside anyone making the leap. We're very excited to begin empowering individuals to build and grow in their cities. And we believe that this is just the beginning!

Providers already on the platform will be converted into Basic accounts and must send a request if they wish to upgrade to a Builder account. Otherwise no action is necessary. Please visit Tonquin.com/builders to view the list of available features based on account type and the new abilities to earn through the platform.

No action is required for Vendors already on the platform.

Delivery Providers - A View of your Updated Tonquin Delivery Provider App

Starting January 3rd, the app that you currently use to do on-demand shipments for your auto part supplier customers is getting an upgrade! In order to support the new capabilities, Charters (allows you to do deliveries for a single Vendor for a block of time and fixed hourly rate) and Preferred Provider (allows you to opt into a Vendor being able to directly assign you on-demand shipments while online), we had to overhaul some of the Tonquin Provider app.

Starting with the home tab, most of the updates were made here. We'll go through them one by one so you know what to expect on launch day.

First, let's point out a major change to the opportunities that Delivery Providers will now have available because it explains why the app is set up this way. With the addition of Charters, we made it so that you can accept both Charters and Shuttles up to two weeks in advance.

There are now two distinct categories of gigs on the platform.

1. On-demand - these are shipments created by customers that need to be done typically within 30 to 60 minutes from the time of request, pay per delivery and gives the opportunity to the closest online Delivery Provider to the customer's location until accepted (unless you're a Preferred Provider, then the customer will be able to directly assign you the shipment!)

2. Scheduled - With the update, you will now be able to accept Charters and Shuttles ahead of time. Typically an auto parts store will know if they need coverage for 6 hours per day for the next three weeks or that they need a Delivery Provider on Tonquin to handle their Saturday Shuttle for the next two months. So we gave customers the ability to request those up to two weeks out and made them available for Providers in their market to accept and fulfill.

Now, let's go through some of the changes.

1. Home Tab - Map and Going On-demand

On the home page, you'll notice a lot of changes.

First, Delivery Providers will now be able to see location pins for all of the Customers that have access to a Tonquin Vendor account. Clicking on these pins will display information like Customer info, when they're busy, and a button to favorite them so you can remember who you like to service.

Swiping up even more on this drawer will show you personal stats for the Customer, like your average delivery time, total gigs done for them, and even the revenue you've earned from servicing them.

Having this information readily available should empower anyone to champion their service and sell directly to Customers in order to increase their use of their service and therefor their earning potential.

Finally, just as you're used to, you will be able to go online to accept on-demand requests at any point in time. Simply do that by flipping the switch, now at the bottom, to "Open for On-Demand Deliveries". The deliveries will appear in a red queue at the top as before.

2. Home Tab - Accessing Charters or Shuttles, Filters, and Setting Availability

Still on the home tab, there will be blue pins and red pins. Tapping on a blue pin will access the information described above.

A red pin means that Customer has an active Charter or Shuttle. Tap on the pin to display the details of the gig. (You can still swipe up here to view Customer info and your stats.)

Just like an on-demand shipment, tap accept if you'd like to do the gig! Or scroll through all the gigs going out as far as two weeks by clicking next. Accepting a gig in advance will not affect your ability to go online and accept on-demand requests before the start of the scheduled gig.

While on the map view, use the filters at the top of the screen to filter between seeing only active Charter or Shuttles and from all vendors or just your favorite vendors.

And finally, use the calendar icon to set your availability for the week which will filter all available Charters and Shuttles to just the days of the week that you selected. This can be changed at any time.

3. Settings - Preferred Customer and Favorite Customer Lists

The settings tab, furthest tab to the right at the bottom of the screen, will now have two new sections added. Preferred Customers and Favorite Customers.

Favorite Customers is simply a list of Customers that you've favorite by tapping the star while on their location pin in the home screen. The only benefit this provides is the ability to filter pins on the home screen by your favorite Customers.

Preferred Customer are Customers that have either accepted your request to become their Preferred Provider or that you sent a request to and was accepted by the Customer.

Make a request to any Customers that you've worked with. But remember, doing this will allow Vendors to be able to directly assign you on-demand shipments while you're online.

The benefit of this is that it gives your Customer the reliability that you're there to service them because getting shipments delivered to their customers is very important to their business. This allows allows you to directly increase the amount of deliveries that you receive and therefore increase your earning potential.

We're very excited about these upgrades and how they will allow Delivery Providers more freedom and opportunity to earn. Stay tuned for more content regarding the update launch on January 3rd.

Major platform update coming January 3rd

We're excited to announce a major update coming to the Tonquin platform to kick off the new year. On January 3rd, both Vendors and Independent Delivery Providers will notice some changes to their dashboard and app. Along with multiple additional features and enhancements on both sides, we're adding two new major capabilities that we're calling Charters and Preferred Providers. These new capabilities are a part of a continued effort to bring more ways for Vendors and Delivery Providers to work together on the platform.

Vendors:

Charters will allow Vendors to request a delivery provider to work for their location for a block of time. We created a seamless scheduling process for the Vendor that allows their request to be sourced out to all of the independent delivery providers in their area. Need a Delivery Provider today at 2pm for 4 hours? Make the request in minutes, see when it's filled, and deliveries placed on the Tonquin platform will go to your Charter Delivery Provider during that block of time. And don't worry, you'll still be able to seamlessly schedule on-demand deliveries before or even during an active Charter.

The Preferred Provider capability will allow Vendors to send on-demand deliveries directly to a Delivery Provider that has opted in to their request. In the instance that you have made a good relationship with a Provider or you know of someone that services you really well, send them a request using the new Providers Tab in the dashboard and when that Provider is online, you will be able to assign your delivery directly to them instead of sending it out to the Tonquin on-demand network.

These two new capabilities will offer a truly controlled and more stable experience for the Vendor as they begin to augment more of their last-mile operations through the Tonquin platform.

Delivery Providers:

Charters will be a new way to earn on the platform. Instead of the typical on-demand delivery, a Charter will allow you to do deliveries for a single Vendor location for a block of time. This block of time will earn you a fixed hourly rate and will be a great way to earn predictable income.

The home screen will now display location pins for all Tonquin Vendors on the platform. If a pin is red, that means the Vendor has an available Charter or Shuttle. Since Charters and Shuttles can now be scheduled in advance by the Vendor, they will appear within the location pin that has one available. Because on-demand deliveries are... on-demand, we left those in the "on-demand delivery request tab" at the top of the app so when you're switched to on-duty, you'll still have easy access to do these deliveries whenever you choose. You will be able to filter and sort through scheduled gigs on the home screen based on your desired availability for the week (this doesn't affect seeing on-demand deliveries). Lastly, Vendor location pins will also act as a stats screen! Click on a Vendor location pin and swipe up to see that Vendors info, activity stats and your stats for the specific Vendor.

If you find yourself servicing a Vendor frequently or you're looking for an edge to get more opportunities to earn, become a Preferred Provider for a Vendor and allow them to directly assign you on-demand shipments! Either get requested by a Vendor or send a request to a Vendor that you like or would want to do more business with to trigger this status. Once accepted by both parties, the Vendor will be able to directly assign you one of their on-demand deliveries when your status is on-duty. If you're a Provider that is looking to grow their business with a customer, giving them this option and piece of mind that you are there to service them will dramatically increase their use of your service and therefor your total earnings potential.

We'll be sending out more detailed breakdowns of the update and improvements to look forward to over the next two weeks so keep a lookout for more!

Provider Dashboard Launch

We're proud to have finally released the Provider Dashboard! This dashboard will be updated as we roll out new features to support and empower our delivery providers to take control of their business! We're very excited to allow our delivery providers the opportunity to view an in-depth analysis of their service on the platform.

Currently, the Analytics and the Customers sections are available to every delivery provider. Each of these has different data points that one can use to improve their earning potential and their customer's experience. On the Analytics tab, you will find both Revenue metrics and Shipment metrics. Revenue metrics give providers insights into how they are earning on the Tonquin platform over time. Delivery providers can directly compare these to the Shipment metrics on the second tab of the dashboard, which shows them the different shipment key performance indicators (KPIs), associated with their service. These KPIs, like Average Pickup Time and Average Delivery Time, can help a provider better service their customers by showing them exactly what their numbers are and comparing them to what their customers expect.

Existing providers and newly onboarded providers are able to access the website here (https://provider.tonquin.com)! We look forward to feedback, please email any feedback to support@tonquin.com and we will happily take it all into consideration!

The Tonquin Blog

The Tonquin team has been quietly building behind the curtain and we've gained vast insights and knowledge regarding the many spaces a niche last-mile delivery marketplace touches. We're excited to begin sharing everything from industry insights to real marketplace experiences, and cover topics like new feature releases and enterprise-specific analysis.

This will be the central hub for all content. There will be a range of experts inside Tonquin weighing in on certain topics and providing thought leadership within their domain.

Our mission with this information hub is to provide useful content meant to drive the common mission shared between each side of our marketplace.