If you’re wondering how to get delivery contracts, the first order of business is to establish your niche. For example, Seamless has established itself as the go-to delivery service, delivering food from a restaurant to a customer who just wants to order take out, rather than go out to eat or pick up their food.

While many restaurants do deliver, Seamless has successfully established themselves in that niche so that individuals can order from those restaurants that do not typically deliver, while also providing, “one stop shopping” for customers, as they can use the app or website to look at all of the restaurants in their area from which they may want to order.

Other examples of popular niches include:

  • Moving companies
  • Piano movers
  • Medical couriers

By identifying your company’s niche, it allows you to better target your marketing efforts, while also providing clarity as to the scope of your services to potential customers. After all, if you are specifically a company that specializes in moving pianos, you do not want to give the impression that you are a general moving company that will cart belongings from one state to the next, as that would waste a lot of time and energy being for your business.

Transportation

It seems pretty obvious, but if you are establishing some type of delivery service, you will need some means of transportation to carry those goods. The type of vehicle you need may be specific to the kind of delivery service you are operating. For example, if you are running a food delivery service or plan on being a medical courier, it will probably be prudent to have a vehicle that is temperature controlled.

Generally speaking, for most delivery services, the best types of vehicles are cargo trucks, pick-up trucks, and box trucks. Fortunately, there are any number of resources available that rank and review the best options out there, but you will probably also want to pay close attention to the fuel efficiency of whatever type of vehicle you choose to buy. After all, you do not want to turn around and spend all of our profits on gas and oil for the truck!

The good news there is that more and more car manufacturers are also paying closer attention to creating fuel efficient vehicles, as society becomes increasingly aware of that need; this pertains to trucks, SUVs and larger vehicles, too, which have historically not always been known for their fuel efficiency. To get a head start on your research, Ford and Mercedes both make models that are quite popular among delivery service companies.

Certainly, buying a vehicle, particular a large one like a truck, can be quite a financial investment, and understandably, you may have concerns about making that significant a purchase at the early stage of your business. After all, depending upon whether you are buying new or used, you can be looking at anywhere between $18,000 to $50,000. Fortunately, you can use a business loan from your bank or financial institution for said purchase, provided that the vehicle you are purchasing is to be used primarily for your business and not as a personal or family vehicle.  

Equipment

Congratulations! You have established your niche, and you have identified and purchased the perfect vehicle for your business. All done, right? Well, maybe. But, you may need some additional equipment, depending upon the specifics of the delivery service business you are starting.

If you are a food delivery service, then a temperature-controlled vehicle may be all the equipment you need. With medical transport, you may also want to ensure that you have proper medical grade protective gear, such as suits and gloves. However, if you are a piano mover, then just the truck alone won’t be sufficient; no matter how strong you are, you probably cannot move a baby grand up and down stairs by yourself! You will want to invest in the necessary pullies, ropes, and hand trucks to safely and effectively move a piano.

By making sure you have all of the equipment that you may need for your delivery service company, you can accept more jobs without having to put out money on leasing or borrowing equipment, or by subcontracting with another company.

If you need help with delivery service contracts, you can post your legal need on UpCounsel’s marketplace. UpCounsel accepts only the top 5 percent of lawyers to its site. Lawyers on UpCounsel come from law schools such as Harvard Law and Yale Law and average 14 years of legal experience, including work with or on behalf of companies like Google, Menlo Ventures, and Airbnb.