No matter how successful your car hauling business is, there is always room to improve. But where do you start when you’re trying to save money or boost your profits? Here are five easy steps to improving your bottom line—and a quick guide on how using an auto transport platform can make it even simpler.
Find Your Baseline
Before you can make any changes that might help you in the right direction, you have to know where you’re starting from. Getting a handle on your present revenues, regular expenses, existing debts, and current assets is a crucial step in gearing up to level up your business operations.
If you start making adjustments without knowing your baseline numbers, you won’t have a way to track whether you’re being successful or not! So, go ahead and figure out where things stand today—and where you hope to end up—before doing anything else.
Get (and Stay) Stay Organized
Once you have a clear picture of your current state of affairs—and at least a general idea of the goals you want to set—you’ll want to create systems that ensure you always have transparency into your operations. If you’re losing track of orders, falling out of touch with drivers, or scrambling to stay on top of invoices, it’s going to make it even harder to save and make money.
Setting up a dashboard with auto transport dispatch software can help you see your most important data at a glance. With one easy-to-use transportation management system (TMS), you can see the state of your operations in real time. And without having to dig through email inboxes or old voicemails, spend a lot of time transferring information from one spot to another, or build custom reporting from scratch.
Use Your Data
Now that you have all your ducks in a row and are collecting data about your customers, your routes, and your profits, it is time to put all that valuable information to good use. Make use of template or custom reporting to look at what’s working and what’s not. Could your shipments and deliveries be a little more efficient? Are your revenues suffering in a seasonal pattern? Take a look at your numbers to find opportunities for improvement.
If you’re working toward a specific increase in your net profit, how many more loads do you need to secure to reach that number? How many potential clients do you need to contact in order to win that business? Or how can you reduce your expenses (without compromising your service) to help close the gap and hit your goal? Take advantage of the information at your fingertips to make changes.
Focus on Efficiency
Reducing expenses and increasing revenues are both great ways to boost your bottom line, but another golden opportunity for auto transporters is focusing on your efficiency. You know you’ll have to spend money on drivers and fuel and administrative support and so much more—how can you make the most of those costs?
Using auto transport dispatch software to automate as many processes as you can is a great way to cut down on time and energy spent chasing down status updates, sending and paying invoices, and more. Invest your resources where it really counts, rather than squandering it on repetitive tasks or introducing errors that could be avoided through automation. It can also help you plan more efficient routes, ensure regulatory compliance, and reduce the amount of paperwork floating around your office.
Repeat, Repeat, Repeat
They say the only constant is change, and of course that is just as true in building a successful auto transport business. It can be tempting to get comfortable and then to stay put with what’s working in the moment. But when you stop looking for ways to improve, you stop improving.
To keep saving money—and making more money—you have to keep checking in. Keep asking yourself how things might work better (and more profitably) for your operations. Keep track of your numbers and how they’re changing. Keep following up with your goals and always be prepared to set new ones.
Sign Up Today!
At Super Dispatch, we can’t wait to help auto transporters like you move cars faster, smarter, and easier. That’s why we designed our auto transport platform—including our carrier and shipper TMS, auto transport load board, and other digital solutions—specifically with auto shippers and carriers in mind.
If you’re ready to see how Super Dispatch can help you provide outstanding service for your customers with safe and efficient delivery, we’re ready to help. Sign up for your free trial to get started today!
