National Clothesline

In developing profitable and million-dollar routes, I am often perplexed by the fact that some operators try to build routes that manage themselves.

The routes grow and then often hit a plateau with more customer turnover and it gets to a point where you feel like you are just recycling route customers. You add five and lose five.

This is why I preach this: hiring someone to manage the route is critical to ensure that the route is always going and growing.

Often, the general manager or someone else will act as the route manager. This is like hiring a part-time person and, yes, you will get part-time results. It is like trying a diet plan a couple of days a week – Yup, none to minimal results.

If you truly want your route to become a million-dollar or more operation, you must find an individual who has the desire to build it on a full-time basis.

So when is a good time to hire a manage? The answer is now. Waiting for your delivery service to hit a certain dollar amount only means that you are stunting your growth.

So what are the duties that warrant paying an additional manager, and is it measurable? Well let me first break down the four hats a typical route manager wears.

The route manager is the back-up driver or additional driver when the route is growing.

The manager can ensure order accuracy in the morning.

The manager is accountable to managing the manifest.

The route manager reports directly to the general manager.

Sales manager

The route manager will need to wear this hat in the early stages of route growth.

This ensures that all marketing materials are available, updated and inventoried.

The manager trains all sales staff.

He works with setting up marketing areas.

Sometimes, the position evolves from your top salesperson.

The manager is accountable for managing the sales staff and choosing the areas.

The manager must also ensure that all sign-ups are entered, followed up and communicated with the driver.

This is a vital position that is often overlooked in route operations.

The person in this job communicates with all new customers by welcoming them to the route.

The manager handles all customer complaints and directs them to the appropriate department.

The manager contacts all “We Miss You” customers and gathers information and tries to get them back on the route or to the store.

This job entails handling all invoicing and billing.

The manager ensures that accounts receivables are in line.

The office manager sometimes fills this position.

The position is accountable to contacting late-paying customers, bad credit cards and other accounting issues.

The route must be managed by a full-time route manager, not just maintained. It is not a machine that gets attention when broken.

Your delivery operations can flourish when supervised and will grow faster and further than you ever expected. Find a route manager who can drive it, (pardon the pun) a lot better than you can.