Increase Your Driver Rating & Boost Your Work
It goes without saying, top-rated drivers are likely to win the most work – so we’ve shared with you some handy hints and tips for delivery drivers to improve your rating and in turn, increase your opportunity to win more work.
What skills do you need to be a delivery driver?
Delivery Driver Skills For A Five-Star Delivery Experience.
Quality customer service
As a delivery driver, customer service skills are key. You’ll be dealing daily with a wide array of people, on a face-to-face basis – so it’s essential to be friendly and polite when you are greeting customers.
It is important to remember that from time-to-time you may be met with a challenging or difficult customer. In this situation you should remain calm and professional at all times, helping to solve the problem, if you can. Remember, showing empathy and patience can turn a dissatisfied customer into a happy one, which could really help to improve your driver rating score.
Attention to detail
Having a strong attention to detail should see you plan each day in advance, to ensure you are well prepared for the day ahead. Pre-planning your routes is important in making sure you reach each collection and delivery point on time, allowing you plenty of time to load and unload your vehicle.
On top of this, you should dedicate a few moments each day to checking over your vehicle. Looking over your vehicle for any problems will pay off hugely in the long-run as it could even prevent your vehicle from breaking down. Not only could this save you from spending out on costly repairs but could also ensure you don’t suffer a loss of income whilst your vehicle is off the road.
Before you head off to your first job of the day, take just five minutes to check your oil level and tyre pressure. And whilst it might seem obvious to those with delivery driver experience, it is important to ensure you have enough fuel for the journey ahead, in order to prevent delays.
Time Management
The landscape of home deliveries has changed vastly in recent years, which means customers no longer have the patience for waiting at home all day for a delivery to arrive.
If you are looking for tips on how to be a better delivery driver, one of the most important things you can do is it to plan ahead and manage your day effectively. Being late to a collection or drop-off address could land you with negative feedback and/or a low rating from the customer.
Where delays are unavoidable, communication is key. Chances are, you’ll be delayed by bad traffic or weather conditions at some point. Finding a safe place to pull over to let the customer know your expected time of arrival, will ensure they are kept in the loop.
Driving Skills
It may sound obvious, but if you’re about to embark on a delivery driver role, where you’ll be spending long periods of time on the road, you’ll need to have excellent driving skills.
Key to that includes being able to adjust your driving style according to the conditions of the road, checking your vehicle for wear and tear and having a high level of concentration and alertness, which are all vital skills you’ll require to undertake a professional driving role.
With SoonAs, you’ll be carrying out work up and down the UK – on higher speed rural roads and at slower speeds through towns and cities where there’ll be many distractions and hazards. You should have a high level of alertness and ability to adapt to different locations on your route.
Hone your skills
Focus on the work that suits your particular delivery driver skills and experience, the vehicle and the equipment you have access to. This will ensure you’re able to carry out the job and achieve a five-star rating from the customer. If you want to gain more varied work opportunities, you might consider upskilling to enable you to operate more specialist deliveries such as pets or motorcycles.
Think you’re ready to embark on a role as a delivery driver? Read our guide on how to become a delivery driver with SoonAs.