The import and export business is certainly not something that you can do without having any skills whatsoever. Sure, you can dive right into this world without any prior knowledge, but that will only lead to you getting lost in all the nuances and details of the job. Frankly, not knowing how to do this the right way might cost you your whole business.
On the other hand, the whole tracking, pick-up and delivery system can be rather simple if you just have the right people on your side. The right people are, of course, freight forwarders. There are a lot of benefits of hiring these experts, as explained here, and you would be much better off with their help and assistance on your side, instead of if you decide to try and do everything on your own.
Once you realize that you could use the help of these experts in New Zealand, you will probably start looking for the right people to hire right away. That is certainly a great decision, but here’s the thing. This is not a choice that you should make impulsively and on the spur of the moment. There are a few important steps to take and some significant factors to keep in mind.
If you are just now entering the import and export world, you might find yourself needing a few tips on how to find the perfect freight forwarding services for you. It’s not uncommon for people to be completely confused when it comes to choosing the companies that can provide them with these services. Yet, all those confusions can be cleared up once you get the right tips, and I’ll share some of those with you below.
Talk To Other People In The Business
You might be lucky enough to know a few people in this business in New Zealand. If that’s the case, then the first step you should take is already perfectly clear. Get in touch with those people and inquire about their experience with certain freight forwarding companies in New Zealand. You will certainly be able to learn a lot from their experience.
For starters, these people might be able to recommend you some really great companies that can offer amazing services. You should definitely remember these recommendations. On the other hand, you might find some people weren’t satisfied with the services they received from specific companies. That kind of an insight will help you understand which companies you should avoid hiring, which is also a rather important thing.
Check Out Websites
Every single successful freight forwarding company will have a website. We are living in 2020, aren’t we? Businesses are highly unlikely to ignore the need for making a great website to sell their services. Why is this important for you, though? Well, let me put it like this.
Say you start searching for freight forwarding companies in New Zealand on your phone or your computer and you come across Packair Airfreight Inc. or a similar business. What’s the first thing you should do? I believe this is perfectly logical, but let me make it clear anyway. The first thing you should do is open up the websites of those businesses and take a closer look.
While doing that, you should pay attention to the actual services that the companies are offering and see if that might suit you or not. Additionally, take a look if there is any info regarding the precise process of fulfilling those services. Of course, if you could find some data about the prices, that would be great as well, but don’t worry if you can’t. All you need is to remember the contact info of the companies you end up liking, and you will be able to get in touch with them and inquire about the prices.
Look For Experience
Checking out the website might be a good step, but it certainly isn’t the only one you should take. To put things simply, this isn’t enough to help you determine which particular New Zealand freight forwarding company you should hire. As I have mentioned above, there are some crucial factors you should take into consideration when making this choice and experience is certainly one of those. What’s more, it’s one of the most important ones.
I suppose it’s already clear why you shouldn’t work with non-experienced people when import and export is in question. You are hiring freight forwarders in order to make this whole process a lot easier and if you hire amateurs, the process will be anything but easy. Ultimately, you might decide that you probably would have done a better job yourself, without anyone’s help.
This is why hiring someone experienced is of crucial significance. So, before you make any final decisions, make sure to check how experienced the freight forwarders you are thinking of hiring actually are. That way, you can immediately eliminate inexperienced candidates and start looking deeper into those that have the necessary experience, qualifications and skills.
Here are some more factors you should consider in the hiring process:
Check Reputation
In addition to being experienced, your freight forwarders should also be extremely reputable. How would you feel working with someone that nobody respects in this community? How would you feel to find out that all the previous clients of a particular company were unhappy with the services they received? I suppose that this would be a deal-breaker, wouldn’t it? After all, this is your business we are talking about here and you want the best for it, am I right?
This is exactly why you will have to check the reputation of the New Zealand freight forwarders you are thinking of working with. Remember, it takes years to build a good reputation and it can all be destroyed in a matter of seconds, with one wrong move. You don’t want the company you hire to have made any wrong moves, because that certainly doesn’t instill confidence, does it?
Now that we have made it clear that you need to work with highly reputable people, let me ask you one simple question. How do you plan on checking the reputation of those people? In case you don’t have a clue, here’s a hint. The internet is a place filled with information and there’s no doubt that you can find out anything you want by simply searching for the right things online.
To put it simply, your task should be to search for online reviews written about particular freight forwarding companies in New Zealand and take a look at what people have to say. Make sure that you are getting your information from objective sources, because we all know that the Internet can sometimes be an unreliable source for those who don’t really know how to use it correctly. When you find objective reviews, though, you will be able to determine the reputation of all the companies that you have in mind and thus, once again, eliminate the candidates that don’t meet your standards and requirements.
Compare Prices
There is one last thing that you will have to do in the process of searching for the perfect New Zealand freight forwarders. By taking all the steps I have mentioned above, you should now be left with only a couple of great candidates. How can you decide on the right one among those? Well, in addition to checking out the quality of their services as well as the way they are communicating with you, there is one more thing to consider.
I am, unsurprisingly, talking about the prices of those services. Sure, you should be ready to pay a good price for high-quality services, but that doesn’t mean that you should agree on just any terms without checking out a few options. In other words, compare the prices offered by those few great candidates that are left and make your final decision.