How can you really stand out from the competition as a reliable logistics service provider today? Dennis Braun asked himself this question at the beginning of the year when it came to marketing planning for 2020. Among other things, he came up with the idea of combining his passion for cycling with his second passion, sales.
The idea that emerged was to simply visit customers in the Bremen area by bike instead of by car and thus draw attention to the OCS Spedition service. However, this idea is not as strange as it may sound at first glance - because there is much more to it than simply visiting a customer and saying hello.
Advantage: Freight forwarding company without its own fleet
OCS Spedition GmbH does not have its own fleet. Dennis Braun sees this as a major advantage for the customer. “The ability to rely on a variety of verified haulage companies and their vehicles allows us to always find the best solution for our customers,” he says. Many haulage companies focus on the utilization of their vehicles, although the journey to the next loading location can often play a minor role in route planning. This means that journeys of 200 km or more would be accepted in order to load the next goods. It should be clear that this approach cannot really be classified as environmentally friendly. “As a freight forwarding company without our own fleet, we use vehicles that are close to our customers wherever possible. “This means we can transport goods from A to B not only quickly, but also in an environmentally friendly way,” continues Dennis Braun, who is mainly responsible for sales, marketing and customer satisfaction at OCS.
Late summer is the ideal companion
However, the situation that has been imposed on us since spring made the project impossible for the time being. Contacts were reduced to a minimum and customer visits also became increasingly distant. In September, however, the time had finally come: the weather cooperated when Dennis Braun got on his bike for a total of three and a half days and covered over 300 kilometers. He had planned more than 30 customers on his route to visit them personally. “What could be better than combining business and hobby?” explains the young entrepreneur. He didn't advertise the visits in a big way - the customers were all the more pleasantly surprised because, unlike the salesman in a tie and suit, they had never had a freight forwarder in a sporty jersey on a cargo bike visit.
“Green logistics” is the keyword for a clean transport future
Green logistics includes all measures to create environmentally friendly and resource-efficient logistics processes. Two goals are therefore pursued under this aspect: the reduction of harmful effects on the environment through environmentally friendly, logistical processes and the reduction of the consumption of non-renewable or only partially renewable resources. With green logistics, transport is expanded to include the ecological aspect. “Compared to a car, I was able to avoid any CO2 emissions on my tour because our company building has a photovoltaic system with an output of 41 kWp. With their help, the e-bike's batteries were charged directly from the sun. A car would have caused at least 65 kg of CO2 emissions on this route,” calculates Dennis Braun.
The cargo bike would also be a reliable means of transport for the city
The campaign was ultimately so successful that Dennis Braun is planning a similar tour again in spring 2021. “In the past, we have often driven hundreds of kilometers to visit our customers in person. Of course we will continue to do that. However, we will now increasingly focus on customer acquisition in our own region, because we don't just want to talk, we also want to act. Environmental protection is a topic close to our hearts, which is why we attach great importance to showing this. We can all do something to stop climate change!” he is certain.
Take advantage of environmentally friendly transport with OCS Spedition!
We made a conscious decision that, unlike a classic freight forwarding company, we do not have our own fleet of vehicles. This means we can find what we are looking for in a much wider range of vehicles and at the same time protect the environment because conscientious route planning means we have to travel as little as possible for transport. This means that as a customer you can sit back and relax because we work together to ensure a green thumb when it comes to transport.
