Tailwind Tales- The Tailwind Delivery Blog

We Save Lives. Is Yours Next?!

4/5/2017

Just Another Day At The Office...

Business man wearing a Tailwind life saver

Just Saving Another Life, Business As Usual

Sometimes the pleasantly unexpected has a way of catching you off guard in the best of ways, like a bite of pie that zings your tastebuds with about a thousand times more delicious flavor than you expected. A funny thing happens the first time a customer tells you that you saved their life, or day, or week- you may not really believe it. Have you ever experienced that? Part of it has more than a little to do with how normal it feels. You're just doing your job. That long distance drive or 600 mile charter flight, or 3 AM dispatch time just seems like another exciting yet relatively normal day in the business. But to you, the customer, it's much more than that. It's about knowing you can rely on someone to be the priceless key component in a chain of events. And this is where I vow to always be the strong link. Because being that vital link is being your life, day, or week saver, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

0 Comments

Transportation Industry Lacking Modern Solutions

2/8/2017

1 Comment

If your computer looks like this, you're in the transportation industry.

There are now seemingly endless tools and SAAS apps that work so well for online businesses, but if you have a transportation service business like us, you might be feeling a bit left out. When you get into the transportation and logistics realm, the only game in town is clunky and ancient software packages at gratuitous price points. This is referred to as "enterprise software" which is really just a fancy way of saying "we don't care about smaller businesses." I think many of the software companies must have a client base with long-term well aged contracts, but many of them must have missed the boat on the start up and small-business-friendly market, as well as the existence of smart phones and the past 10 years or so of the Internet. I'm almost certain a large factor in this is the explosive growth of transportation companies in the 70's-90's. Their software echoes the same vintage.

For a smaller business, holistic integration with billing and accounting is a dream come true. Yes, there are some service oriented apps that integrate with modern accounting platforms, such as Xero. We've even made a clunky service call/contractor integration made for Australian home service companies work. But as far as any kind of robust comprehensive solution, we're left out in the cold. The closest thing we found ran off a bug-laden web interface, had no native integration, and required the inputting of your own list of cities and towns, one by one. If that doesn't seem fun, you're right.

My forecast is that this dire situation will improve. Until then I will relegate myself to the tried and true methods of scanner apps, emails, and phone calls. It's a simpler way of life.

Have you felt left out in the cold when it came to software or apps for your industry? Let's talk about it, I'll try to help!

1 Comment

Marketing vs SEO

1/12/2017

0 Comments

SEO: Spy vs Spy

Marketing, The Big Picture

Marketing, that holistic thing you do for the health of your business. And SEO, the spy vs spy cloak and dagger world of espionage, shady virtual back room deals and unsavory characters power playing for full spectrum dominance in the online battle space. Many make the mistake of prioritizing SEO at all costs. It gets so much hype because once discovered, it seems like an easy pay to play move for many new business owners. You pay some guy in Belarus to pump your links out into the vast ocean of Internet, or you hire a company in LA to do the same. And you suspect that fancy online marketing firm you hired is outsourcing to the guy you could have Paypal'd in Belarus. Funny how these things work.

The obvious truth here- it's not one or the other- SEO is part of marketing. But it seems like the golden power play for new business owners and those new to online marketing. It's a compelling easy in, especially to those techheads among us who believe technology can do it all. However, that's missing the big picture. Real SEO is lots of work. Real marketing is even more work. Where to concentrate your efforts just depends what best fits your business. Where are your customers? Now go there. Even in 2017, sometimes even the conventional approach is the best one. This is true for some in the B2B marketplace, especially in traditional niches like industry and manufacturing.

In a perfect world with healthy budgets, you do it all and figure out what works and then do more of that. After all, new businesses need results, and pay to play SEO seems like the easy solution to make those sales happen. But, so is Adwords and all the social media platforms with PPC (Pay Per Click advertising), and even billboard ads, if you listen to those people. The reality will always remain that you can't get many instant results with any kind of SEO, it's a long game. And so, PPC becomes the most likely return on your investment if you're just starting out. As your online brand develops and those SEO and social efforts gain momentum, you can reduce your PPC spend. Hopefully by that time you'll know how much of your sales convert from each of those online efforts. And you'll have the confidence of knowing how much SEO fits into your marketing picture.

0 Comments

Tips For Small Business Saturday in NJ!

11/26/2016

0 Comments

Small business Saturday might have launched six years ago, but it's gotten the most press here in 2016. Jersey is now fully on board and you should be too! Did you have a Small Business Saturday Marketing Plan? There are many great ideas here to help you get started. If nothing else, you could use these next year or even apply them to your Cyber Monday efforts. If you're a B2B business, it might make more sense to have had a Cyber Monday plan in place. In 2015, Cyber Monday online sales grew to a record $2.98 billion, compared with $2.65 billion in 2014. It's still not too late to cash in on some sales! A Facebook or Google Adwords promo or even cold calling could work wonders. If you're new to online advertising, mostly referred to as PPC (Pay Per Click) these days, just ask here in the comments below. We've been through it and can help guide you- it doesn't have to cost you a lot to see results.

Some towns, like Haddonfield, are celebrating through the weekend. And we're a bit partial to the Somerville area since many of our law clients operate near its downtown. Festivities there don't start until 5pm, so get out and enjoy. Even if you don't have your own promo going on, it's always great to get out, have some fun and see what other businesses are doing to bump sales. Ideas, as always, are free!

Small Business Saturday in Downtown Haddonfield

0 Comments

Tis the Season- To Help You Move Your Items

11/21/2016

1 Comment

We Can Help You Be Santa

OK, under US law, we can't airdrop, but we're the next fastest thing!

This is the season your cargo needs to move the most. Throughout and even in the preceding months to the holiday season, shipping volumes skyrocket as everyone scurries to fulfill orders. If it's retail and end user oriented or B2B, time is of the essence. High value and critical items require care in handling and close attention. We can help you, whether it's 3-5 day shipping anywhere or same day, within 600 miles and even further overnight. Custom solutions are our specialty. You might have high value art, special merchandise or components and parts that need to get there securely and as soon as possible. We know you don't have the time and resources to crate and figure out logistics, but we do.
Weather delays and holiday season volume can add up to lots of complication and stress. And on top of all that, people taking extra holiday vacation time or simply physically or mentally checking out ahead of time make things more difficult. When your employees and even your point people are distracted with all the festivities, things get overlooked. But don't worry, whether or not that eggnog has worn off, when you need something from here to there, we can do it all for you.
Your cargo is important to us. It's critical, valuable, and has to get there securely and on time, every time. It needs to be treated with care, handled and packed with professional attention. Maybe it's domestic, or it could have an exotic international destination. But wherever it's going, it's treated with the same care and attention.
Have any questions, ask away. We want to help. Call 732-979-2293 or email today.

1 Comment

The Art of Travel

7/21/2016

0 Comments

Cezzane knew how to paint a road

Some think of travel as a means to an end, but to us, it's an art. No, we can't compare our impeccable cargo skills to a Cezzane but it's our art nonetheless. To some people it's traffic, long queues and plenty of aggravation, but we see the beauty in it. We're the type of people that achieve a zen state through forward motion. It's all about the journey- looking out over the horizon and getting there, wherever it happens to be right now. The hum of the road, usually not the road less traveled, but best traveled. Our other satisfaction comes through making things happen, big and small, to get things where they need to go, safely, securely and quickly.
Sure, we can do run of the mill, but we love to rise to a challenge. Larger items, deadlines, airports, country roads and city streets- they're all in our wheelhouse. Maybe you don't get that magnetic draw of the road, or the sky, but we don't ever expect that sort of dedication to the act itself. We are the challenge seekers, the drivers, handlers and pilots who can't resist the call of that special place, the horizon. After your shipment makes it to its destination, our journey continues and we wouldn't have it any other way.

0 Comments

How can we help you this summer?

6/13/2016

0 Comments

There Is A Cure For Those Summertime Blues

Has your mind gone surfing?

Summer is a time that can be notoriously slow on business. People are away, the heat slows down our thinking to a pace that the strongest Starbucks espresso can't fix, and mentally we're at the beach. And so things tend to slip. Dates, deadlines, and even those self improvement plans get put on hold because lounging by the pool or basking in the sweet air conditioning can be a much more satisfying alternative. However, there are things you can do to ease the pain, like running a summer special, automating, and staying in touch with your customers, which are a few of the tips suggested by Ali J. Taylor in his 7 Tips to Overcome the Summer Business Slow Down which can help you pick up the slack when you lost your grip.

But sometimes you just need a hand. That's where we come in. Left that laptop somewhere? Need that project or display delivered door to door as fast as possible? Or maybe it's a pallet of materials or merchandise that need to be there now. With our same day delivery service, you can trust it will be there as quickly as possible.

So breathe a sigh of relief. It will all be okay. We're here to help.

0 Comments

We Save Lives. Is Yours Next?!

Just Another Day At The Office...

Transportation Industry Lacking Modern Solutions

Marketing vs SEO

Tips For Small Business Saturday in NJ!

Tis the Season- To Help You Move Your Items

The Art of Travel

How can we help you this summer?

There Is A Cure For Those Summertime Blues

Author

Archives

Categories