Freight forwarding services have become rather important. Instead of importers and exporters hopelessly trying to deal with all the logistics themselves and possibly ending up with more than a few issues on their hands, these professionals can make everything look so easy. Well, this is because it definitely is easy when you aren’t the one doing it. Click this to learn more about what freight forwarders actually do.
Also known as shipping brokers, freight forwarders are the people who assume the responsibility of arranging the movement of cargo from one point to another, on behalf of the beneficial cargo owner, i.e. their client. They play a highly significant role in the supply change and the truth is that things would be much more difficult if it weren’t for these experts. Your deliveries would take ages to reach the destination and don’t even get me started on the possibility of the cargo getting lost somewhere along the way.
As we have made it clear why you might need these services, I suppose that you have realized the value that these professionals bring to the table and add to your very own business. If you have realized that, then I have no doubts you are searching for your perfect New Zealand freight forwarder right now. Be careful, though, not to make any mistakes in the searching or hiring process, because those mistakes might cost you a lot.
I’m not talking only about the fact that those mistakes might cost you money. They might also cause you to lose your shipment or, what’s even worse, your customers. You cannot exactly run an international business without being able to offer great shipping services and you cannot offer great shipping services without a freight forwarder. This is just the way things are and I believe everything is completely logical.
Still, it’s not uncommon for people to make some mistakes in the hiring process. After having figured out what those mistakes might lead to, I assume that you want to do your best to avoid them. In order to avoid them, you will have to learn which mistakes we are talking about here. So, let’s get you familiar with some of the most common mistakes people tend to make when hiring New Zealand freight forwarders so that you can avoid repeating them.
Read these tips to learn how to go about your search the right way: https://www.sdcexec.com/risk-compliance/article/12298336/seven-tips-for-selecting-the-right-freight-forwarder
Rushing Into Decisions
One of the single biggest mistakes that people tend to make when choosing their services starts with their idea that they can get everything done in a matter of minutes. Simply put, a lot of individuals believe that they can find the perfect company in as little as a minute and hire it immediately without first doing any research about it whatsoever. This is called rushing into decisions and it is definitely not good practice.
Instead of making those rash and uninformed decisions, you will actually need to do quite some research if you want to hire the perfect people for the job. Rushing into this can definitely lead to you being dissatisfied with the choice you made and I’m pretty sure that you can’t afford to be dissatisfied with your freight forwarders. Once again, I’m not talking only about not being able to afford it financially. Remember that this can cost you some loyal customers. With that in mind, you should arm yourself with patience and do some extensive research about several candidates before hiring anyone.
Disregarding Experience
There is nothing wrong with working with freshly established companies, but there is definitely something wrong with working with freshly established companies the teams of which don’t know the first thing about shipping logistics. This would be just like hiring a dentist to take care of those shipments. While dentists have experience in oral hygiene, it’s highly unlikely that they know how to perfectly handle shipping logistics.
If you fail to take experience into account, you will probably end up working with people who don’t really know what they are doing and who are simply trying to make things work one way or another. That is bound to lead to some complications during the shipping process. I’m aware of the risk of repeating myself, but this is something I definitely believe is worth repeating, so here we go. You cannot afford those complications.
This means that you should always keep experience in mind. Don’t forget to put it on your list of the most important criteria to consider when getting New Zealand freight forwarding services from a particular company. You want those services to be perfect and experience plays a significant role in achieving that. So, don’t make the mistake of disregarding it or thinking that it isn’t that important. Trust me; it is definitely highly important.
Interviewing One Candidate
As we have already determined, most people and most businesses are usually in a rush to hire a freight forwarder. Since they want to get things done quickly, most of them end up interviewing only one candidate and never giving the rest of them a chance. If you do things this way, you might very well be lucky enough to stumble upon the right candidate, but the truth is that you are far more likely to hire the wrong people. What’s even worse, you might not know that those are the wrong people, since you had nobody to compare them to.
Interviewing candidates is probably the most important step in the hiring process. This is the stage in which you get directly in touch with several companies and in which you can ask them everything you need to know. If you interview only one candidate, you might never learn what the others have to offer, which definitely increases your chances of hiring the wrong people for the job. Instead, you should interview at least two or three potential candidates, compare their services and their answers, so that you can understand who has something great to offer and who should be eliminated from your list of prospective freight forwarders.
Not Checking Fees
I assume that there is no need for me to explain why fees should never be your number one criterion. There is a quality of service to think about, there is the company’s experience and there is also a reputation. All of those criteria have precedence over fees and nobody is trying to deny that fact. Yet, when you find a few great candidates that meet all the necessary criteria regarding the experience, the quality, and the reputation, you should definitely start thinking about their fees. There is no need for getting overcharged and paying too much for these services when you can find them at completely reasonable and justified prices.
Different New Zealand freight forwarding firms will definitely have different fees. The discrepancy between those shouldn’t be that big, but if you do stumble upon some huge discrepancies, make sure to eliminate the candidates that don’t fall under the category of “reasonable prices”. This goes both for those that might be offering their services at extremely low costs and for those who might be trying to overcharge you. Too cheap is usually not that good and too expensive is definitely not necessary. The trick is to find the perfect balance.
