Start-up life: logistics & operations, or the circle of life
The word “start-up” is being used in our speech more and more over the recent years. This trend makes us happy and we love to see people venturing into the world of business. We, here at ESCREOalways support the idea that everyone can and has the potential to achieve everything they hope for.
Not more than three years ago, the three young entrepreneurs began their first independent venture and called it ESCREO. Now employees are multiplying, departments are growing, and we decided to share what it’s like to develop our business as we grow with it. We spoke to Mirela Frantsova, the operations director here at ESCREO. She spoke about the foundation of logistics and operations in a start-up: the gains, the pains and the key to success. All in all, we’ve realised it’s all about excellent client experience and giving a 100% of yourself.
IN THE BEGINNING, THERE WAS THE CLIENT
Mira starts with the most important thing – the client and the community you work with. She shares that her work process as a logistics & operations manager resembles a cycle that starts and ends with the client. Production, distribution, logistics and after sales are the key elements of the operations cycle in all e-commerce companies. A person responsible for that cycle has to have experience and understanding of each and every process. Surely, it’s obvious. Yet, things not always happen like that.
Knowing every struggle, predicting every question, and issue in the delivery process makes you able to offer the best customer experience ever. And it’s because you know your product and you are always one step ahead.
Conclusion #1: Know your community and product.
GIVING A 100%
“There’s a myth that I’d like to debunk right away. They say working in a start-up is no-stress; it’s all about going to cool events and living the hipster dream. Nothing like that. You have to work super hard every day.” – Mira shares.
Our experience shows that it’s a team that survives, not a company. So if you want things to work for you, give a 100% and expect the same from your co-workers as well. In a start-up, often you have less than 10 people in a company, with no funds for a professional business consultant, but yet with bold dreams about signing huge contracts. Only those who’ve been in such venture know the effort and desire it takes to make things work.
The operational process is a key connection between the departments in the e-commerce start-up. When you are growing your business it’s important to stay focused on using your resources effectively and making sure you collaborate with your team in the best way possible. Not long ago we decided to find the best logistics partner for our foreign markets, and that is why we organised tons of meetings and started negotiating terms and prices.
When you’re a small company, it’s hard to impress a big service provider. What we did was to show our potential partners that we have an action plan and we’re ready to make it work at any cost. We learned that you’ve got to hold your position and negotiate like you are the business you want to be in one, two or five months.
Conclusion #2: Be a doer and a believer.
EXPANDING ON FOREIGN MARKETS
This month we had our first US order. This big step was possible thanks to our team and awesome partners.
It was always important for our logistics partner to be flexible and quick to react. Being adaptive while working on innovation really matters because you make mistakes in the beginning. In the logistics business, it’s all about short deadlines and working ahead. So it’s important to know you can count on the people you work with. And the feeling of growing together is priceless!
Our expansion on the foreign markets was really smooth thanks to the support of our logistics partner DHL Express. Being a start-up, it meant a lot to us have a partner with a strategical approach and deep understanding of our business needs.
We’d like to use this opportunity and thank our account manager at DHL Express – Yavor Todorov. Yavor did a great job helping us improve our customer experience and making sure our clients can rely on us. DHL Express is well-known all around the globe and thanks to them we conquered the European and US markets.
Conclusion #3: Win a partner that your clients trust.
HERE FOR THE FUTURE SUCCESS
To sum up the talk, Mira shared a few tips for being more effective at work – not only in a start-up but in any other company type.
“Don’t leave anything for the last minute. The moment you start doing your tasks for today, you’re already late. Another thing that matters – work with confidence in order to succeed. Make sure your partners and service providers enjoy working with you and your company. A good attitude is something you can pass on and your customer will feel it.”
Stay tuned for the future “START-UP LIFE” updates. Meanwhile, drop by to learn more about the way we work and create and read “The Team about ESCREO: Manuela”.