Learn the Secret to Earning 6 Figures as a Gig Driver with Adam Strum

Freddy D: 00:00:00

Raised in Brooklyn, New York, Adam Strum went to Brooklyn

Freddy D: 00:00:03

College, studied law and marketing, worked for Verizon Communications for

Freddy D: 00:00:07

20 years, and then left to work in helping people resolve financial crisis.

Freddy D: 00:00:11

Adam retired from debt relief in 2020 because of health related issues

Freddy D: 00:00:15

and began working the gig economy, now self employed, driving DoorDash,

Freddy D: 00:00:19

UberEats, Spark, and LabCorp.

Freddy D: 00:00:22

Welcome Adam.

Freddy D: 00:00:24

Let's talk about where you got started and doing gig work these days?

Adam Strum: 00:00:29

Okay, Frederick, it's great to be here with you.

Adam Strum: 00:00:31

I'm really happy that you invited me.

Adam Strum: 00:00:33

Yeah, I do gig work now, but I was a corporate giant.

Adam Strum: 00:00:38

I worked for Verizon for 20 years, helped shape their customer service department.

Adam Strum: 00:00:43

I left there in the financial meltdown of 2008 when they offered me a very nice

Adam Strum: 00:00:49

chunk of change to to leave my office.

Adam Strum: 00:00:51

And got to pursue the things I love.

Adam Strum: 00:00:53

When I went to college back in the, well, let's just say when Stegosaurus

Adam Strum: 00:00:57

is where your transportation to school back in the eighties, when I went to

Adam Strum: 00:01:01

college, I studied law and I studied marketing and neither one of those

Adam Strum: 00:01:05

came into play in the customer service industry that I was working with.

Adam Strum: 00:01:10

So I got to flex my muscles on what I had learned in college by

Adam Strum: 00:01:15

joining the debt relief industry and working with attorneys,

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helping consumers get out of debt.

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And after learning for about two years, I went off on my own and

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opened several companies, two of which I sold for a profit.

Adam Strum: 00:01:29

And one of which I am actually closing out shortly because gig work has taken

Adam Strum: 00:01:34

over and my income from gig work has exceeded my income from legal work.

Freddy D: 00:01:39

That's crazy.

Freddy D: 00:01:41

So it's just, when you think about that, I mean, that's just not heard of.

Freddy D: 00:01:46

So what is it that you're doing different in gig work and how did the career working

Freddy D: 00:01:54

in customer service at Verizon contribute to you being successful in gig work?

Adam Strum: 00:02:00

Now, that's a really good question.

Adam Strum: 00:02:02

And when I was in customer service at Verizon, there were two rules

Adam Strum: 00:02:06

because the public service commission would listen to every call that was

Adam Strum: 00:02:10

made by every rep I had under me, by myself and by my management team.

Adam Strum: 00:02:15

So we had to be very customer friendly, even when we knew the customer was

Adam Strum: 00:02:19

wrong, which happens quite often, especially in retail or retail service.

Adam Strum: 00:02:23

I took that training with me to debt relief and was able to put people at ease.

Adam Strum: 00:02:27

In fact you work with me in the debt relief business for a short while.

Adam Strum: 00:02:31

So you've seen me disarm angry customers.

Freddy D: 00:02:33

Oh, absolutely.

Freddy D: 00:02:34

Yes.

Freddy D: 00:02:35

Remember that.

Adam Strum: 00:02:36

My favorite customer is the angry customer because

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there's a three step method.

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That anyone can use if they want to be perfect at customer service.

Adam Strum: 00:02:45

All you've got to use is three of your faculties in order every time and you

Adam Strum: 00:02:50

will be great at customer service.

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Use your ear first and make sure you don't just listen, but you

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hear what they're telling you.

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Then you use your brain and siphon out what they're actually angry about.

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And once you've got that, then use your mouth and chat with them and show them

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your understanding of their situation.

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And an angry customer will be eating out of your hand.

Adam Strum: 00:03:11

And It's an easy way that comes with my marketing knowledge from college as well.

Adam Strum: 00:03:15

I mean, it all blends together and that's what made me successful

Adam Strum: 00:03:19

in the debt relief industry.

Adam Strum: 00:03:20

I had the giants of debt relief reaching out to me all the time.

Adam Strum: 00:03:23

I helped launch national debt relief when they first launched.

Adam Strum: 00:03:27

Freedom made me several offers to come on board, but I preferred doing it my way

Adam Strum: 00:03:32

because my way was more customer centric.

Freddy D: 00:03:34

Right.

Freddy D: 00:03:34

Which is at the end of the day, that's how you build superfans, is basically

Freddy D: 00:03:38

the customer becomes your fan and they now promote your organization

Freddy D: 00:03:43

or you individually as being part of that organization that can take care

Freddy D: 00:03:50

of their needs because you understand them, you listen to them, and then

Freddy D: 00:03:54

you actually follow through and doing what you said you were going to do.

Adam Strum: 00:03:59

Exactly.

Adam Strum: 00:04:00

And truth is I've had almost as many referrals to me from previous clients as

Adam Strum: 00:04:06

I get stray leads from different sources.

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So, building that super fan base is everything, doing the right thing for

Adam Strum: 00:04:14

your customer is everything because when you do the right thing for your

Adam Strum: 00:04:17

customer, they're going to talk about you.

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You become memorable.

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You become different than everybody else.

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You actually hear what they're saying and cater to what they need from your

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business, whatever business that may be.

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At this point for me, it's delivering food and dry goods and

Adam Strum: 00:04:33

home goods and things like that.

Adam Strum: 00:04:35

I do the same thing now that I've always done as far as customer

Adam Strum: 00:04:39

service, ears, brain, mouth.

Adam Strum: 00:04:42

I just do it in a different way and for a different purpose.

Freddy D: 00:04:45

So, so how can drivers leverage gigs to establish themselves

Freddy D: 00:04:50

with meaningful connections with customers and thereby opening

Freddy D: 00:04:54

doors for, future opportunities?

Freddy D: 00:04:56

Let's talk about that.

Adam Strum: 00:04:57

Okay, happily.

Adam Strum: 00:04:58

In fact I want people to know that I don't just talk the talk.

Adam Strum: 00:05:01

I walk the walk.

Adam Strum: 00:05:02

I deliver for DoorDash, for Uber Eats, for Spark.

Adam Strum: 00:05:06

And for Instacart as well as for LabCorp the Blood Test Giant.

Adam Strum: 00:05:10

So I've done all the major apps and they're all exactly the same as far as

Adam Strum: 00:05:14

the concept, which is you have three customers that you are catering to as

Adam Strum: 00:05:20

the delivery person with every delivery.

Adam Strum: 00:05:23

First, there's the platform, whether it's DoorDash or Spark, or

Adam Strum: 00:05:27

Instacart, whatever the platform may be, they're your customer.

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They're asking you.

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To deliver for them.

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They're coming to you.

Adam Strum: 00:05:34

You're an independent contractor.

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You're your own business.

Adam Strum: 00:05:37

So they're your customer.

Adam Strum: 00:05:38

And it's important to realize that DoorDash is your customer or whoever

Adam Strum: 00:05:42

you're delivering for is your customer.

Adam Strum: 00:05:44

In addition, the restaurant or the store or the mail facility is also my customer

Adam Strum: 00:05:51

because they want me to take their product, their service, and bring it to

Adam Strum: 00:05:55

the client, which is my third customer.

Adam Strum: 00:05:58

And the most important thing is not the end result.

Adam Strum: 00:06:01

It's the middle one.

Adam Strum: 00:06:02

It's the businesses you pick up from, and here's why, whether it be

Adam Strum: 00:06:07

Instacart, DoorDash, UberEats, all of those platforms allow restaurants to

Adam Strum: 00:06:11

choose particular drivers for harder or bigger or more intense deliveries.

Adam Strum: 00:06:18

So it's more important to actually make friends with your restaurants that you

Adam Strum: 00:06:22

pick up from, or your retailers that you pick up from, make sure they remember who

Adam Strum: 00:06:26

you are and they'll request you for more orders and for more delicate or larger or

Adam Strum: 00:06:31

more high paying orders than they would anyone else, and that's what I've done.

Adam Strum: 00:06:37

I've established relationships with almost every restaurant

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in my zip code at this point.

Adam Strum: 00:06:42

Thanks to two years of gig work.

Freddy D: 00:06:44

Well, so basically you've turned those organizations

Freddy D: 00:06:47

into superfans of Adam Strum.

Freddy D: 00:06:50

And so that's the secret right there is they know that you're reliable, you're

Freddy D: 00:06:56

timely, you've got the right personality.

Freddy D: 00:06:59

And so, it's okay.

Freddy D: 00:07:00

I got six drivers or 10 drivers.

Freddy D: 00:07:04

10 fingers up.

Freddy D: 00:07:04

So 10 drivers up here and

Adam Strum: 00:07:07

that would be a little strange.

Adam Strum: 00:07:08

So I'm glad it's only 10.

Freddy D: 00:07:11

But I got 10 that I can pick from, but you know what, I'm always

Freddy D: 00:07:15

going to go with Adam because I know that Adam is going to be there on time.

Freddy D: 00:07:19

Delivered the customer's going to be happy.

Freddy D: 00:07:22

They're going to reorder from my organization And the platform that feeds

Freddy D: 00:07:27

you all that stuff is going to be happy as well because they're making a percentage

Freddy D: 00:07:32

of the transaction So it's a trifecta win.

Adam Strum: 00:07:35

Exactly what I was explaining all three customers happy

Adam Strum: 00:07:38

is a win situation doordash is just happy when somebody takes the order

Adam Strum: 00:07:43

to be honest with you their bulk They deal doordash deals mainly in

Adam Strum: 00:07:48

numbers You know what I'm saying?

Adam Strum: 00:07:49

Cause they have anywhere in the greater Phoenix area, which is my marketplace.

Adam Strum: 00:07:53

They have anywhere from one to 500 drivers on the road at any given

Adam Strum: 00:07:57

time, which is a lot of drivers.

Adam Strum: 00:07:59

Now greater Phoenix area is rather large.

Adam Strum: 00:08:01

I mean, you have six cities, but you know, 500 drivers on the road and you

Adam Strum: 00:08:07

have people that take this position.

Adam Strum: 00:08:11

Of I'm going to be my, my own business and I'm going to drive for

Adam Strum: 00:08:14

this platform, whichever platform it may be, but then they sit there

Adam Strum: 00:08:18

and turn down all the offers.

Adam Strum: 00:08:20

They're getting they'll sit there and decline because you're

Adam Strum: 00:08:22

allowed to decline any offer.

Adam Strum: 00:08:24

Who would let me ask you this?

Adam Strum: 00:08:25

Would so if somebody asked you to bring them a pizza 18

Adam Strum: 00:08:29

miles for 3, would you do it?

Adam Strum: 00:08:31

Because I wouldn't.

Adam Strum: 00:08:32

It costs more in gas than it would to deliver pizza.

Freddy D: 00:08:35

Yeah.

Freddy D: 00:08:35

No, it makes sense.

Freddy D: 00:08:36

So, I understand.

Freddy D: 00:08:37

You gotta make, you gotta make, you gotta make a business decision.

Freddy D: 00:08:40

Does it make sense

Adam Strum: 00:08:41

Now, eventually they'll find someone who's much closer

Adam Strum: 00:08:44

than I am and for them, it'll make sense to deliver that 3 delivery.

Freddy D: 00:08:48

Right.

Adam Strum: 00:08:49

And so, declining, you're not you're not making the

Adam Strum: 00:08:52

platform angry when you decline.

Adam Strum: 00:08:54

Now, every platform has its, numbers that they want you to meet.

Adam Strum: 00:08:57

They don't want you to decline 50 orders in a row.

Adam Strum: 00:08:59

That's not good because then they're wasting time sending you orders.

Adam Strum: 00:09:02

They might as well just move on.

Adam Strum: 00:09:04

But I keep my acceptance to about seven out of every 10 they send me.

Adam Strum: 00:09:08

I'll take any reasonable order because it gives me a chance to build another

Adam Strum: 00:09:12

superfan wherever they're sending me and, I may not make a lot on this one, but

Adam Strum: 00:09:16

heck, I get to go to a pizzeria in Tempe.

Adam Strum: 00:09:19

And I get to meet the owner and I get to joke with them and, put them

Adam Strum: 00:09:24

at ease and let them know that I have six pizza bags in my car and a

Adam Strum: 00:09:28

catering bag, and I get to tell them, Hey, if you have a delicate delivery,

Adam Strum: 00:09:32

I'm a master of customer service.

Adam Strum: 00:09:34

Make a mark because they have my name and my delivery driver number on their screen.

Adam Strum: 00:09:39

That's given to them by DoorDash or Uber or whoever sent me there.

Adam Strum: 00:09:42

And so I build, like you say it, I build those superfans one at a time and then

Adam Strum: 00:09:47

I get called back and catering orders can really be a large amount of money.

Adam Strum: 00:09:52

I mean, sometimes I'll do an hour of work and make 140.

Freddy D: 00:09:55

That's crazy.

Adam Strum: 00:09:57

Yeah it's beautiful and amazing lab core, which is

Adam Strum: 00:10:00

the last one is not a platform.

Adam Strum: 00:10:02

Obviously, they're a corporation, right?

Adam Strum: 00:10:05

For Lab Core.

Adam Strum: 00:10:06

Basically, they'll give me an itinerary and ask me, do I want to do it?

Adam Strum: 00:10:10

So Lab Core, send me interstate to go pick up from places.

Adam Strum: 00:10:13

They don't have regular drivers might be two, 300 mile trip, but they'll compensate

Adam Strum: 00:10:19

me really well for the 10 hours of day.

Adam Strum: 00:10:21

I'm going to have to give them to make this round trip.

Adam Strum: 00:10:24

Anywhere from 30 to 50 an hour, usually.

Freddy D: 00:10:27

But if you think about that, to get that kind of an account takes

Freddy D: 00:10:31

building the relationship you might get in the door, but to keep that type of an

Freddy D: 00:10:36

account and to keep getting those long projects, those, that's paying you, four

Freddy D: 00:10:41

or five, 600 bucks for a day, you've got to get them to be your superfans to

Freddy D: 00:10:48

turn around and says, okay, we've got, again, it goes back to, we got 10 drivers

Freddy D: 00:10:52

while we know that Adam can get it done.

Freddy D: 00:10:54

He'll be there.

Freddy D: 00:10:55

He'll do it.

Freddy D: 00:10:56

He's got the right personality and we know that he's reliable.

Freddy D: 00:11:00

That's a huge difference because that's a monster account.

Adam Strum: 00:11:03

Now I'll tell you a secret for those that are watching this

Adam Strum: 00:11:06

podcast, something that most people never think of in the gig economy.

Adam Strum: 00:11:10

I have a Surface Pro, little baby laptop, and it's in my car, and when I start

Adam Strum: 00:11:14

driving and that first order comes in, I can see where I'm going to be sent, and I

Adam Strum: 00:11:18

can type that into my Surface Pro before I say yes or no to this order and see if I

Adam Strum: 00:11:22

had problems at that location before, have I had problems with the customer before,

Adam Strum: 00:11:27

the restaurant, and if I have, I just decline it because I don't need problems.

Adam Strum: 00:11:31

Efficiency is the key to keeping everything moving smoothly.

Freddy D: 00:11:36

Right.

Adam Strum: 00:11:36

And so that's something that the kids today, you know, that

Adam Strum: 00:11:39

the 18 to 23 year olds who do this and, most dashers are in that zone.

Adam Strum: 00:11:45

They're in college and just trying to make enough money to get by.

Adam Strum: 00:11:48

tHey don't do something like that.

Adam Strum: 00:11:49

It doesn't even occur to them to do something like that, and they think

Adam Strum: 00:11:52

of themselves as employees of Uber Eats or DoorDash and they're not.

Adam Strum: 00:11:57

They don't realize they're actually running a business.

Adam Strum: 00:11:59

And this is their chance at that young age to run a successful business, so

Adam Strum: 00:12:04

that when they graduate into whatever field they're coming out into, They'll

Adam Strum: 00:12:07

already have experience at running a business, at marking your tax deductions

Adam Strum: 00:12:11

down knowing where your price points are, all the other things that come into

Adam Strum: 00:12:16

running a business, whether or not you need employees or you can contract out

Adam Strum: 00:12:20

work, because it's always cheaper to contract out work than to hire employees.

Freddy D: 00:12:24

Sure.

Adam Strum: 00:12:25

So you learn a lot about business from doing gig work.

Adam Strum: 00:12:28

If you remember that you don't work for the platform that you work for you.

Freddy D: 00:12:32

Yeah.

Freddy D: 00:12:33

And you got to be able to be smart enough to fire customers.

Freddy D: 00:12:36

So what you just basically said is, in a sense, is, oh, this location didn't

Freddy D: 00:12:41

have their act together last time I went and dealt or did a delivery for them.

Freddy D: 00:12:45

The food wasn't correct, everything else.

Freddy D: 00:12:48

So when you delivered it, the customer was unhappy because their order was

Freddy D: 00:12:51

messed up, had nothing to do with you.

Freddy D: 00:12:54

You're just a mechanism, but guess who catches it?

Freddy D: 00:12:56

You catch.

Adam Strum: 00:12:57

Exactly.

Adam Strum: 00:12:58

I could be de platformed for that.

Adam Strum: 00:13:00

That's the crazy part on these apps, whether it's Uber, DoorDash, Instacart.

Adam Strum: 00:13:04

If a customer complains to the platform that they a didn't get their order or

Adam Strum: 00:13:09

their order was missing items, the blame will always fall because they can't

Adam Strum: 00:13:14

afford to lose the restaurant or store.

Adam Strum: 00:13:17

So the blame will always fall to the delivery person.

Adam Strum: 00:13:20

Even though we may not have stolen anything.

Adam Strum: 00:13:22

Even though we may not have stolen anything, even though we may have done

Adam Strum: 00:13:25

everything right, we'll get dinged.

Adam Strum: 00:13:27

And if you get dinged one or two times more than you should,

Adam Strum: 00:13:30

they'll de platform you.

Adam Strum: 00:13:31

And then you don't have that platform to work with anymore.

Freddy D: 00:13:35

Right.

Freddy D: 00:13:35

So it makes sense that if this is a reoccurrence at this particular

Freddy D: 00:13:39

location to fire that, that location, basically, like you said, it's a

Freddy D: 00:13:45

review and not, you know what, that's.

Freddy D: 00:13:47

ABC, restaurant, no pass.

Freddy D: 00:13:50

I'll go to, DEF because they got their act together.

Adam Strum: 00:13:54

Exactly.

Adam Strum: 00:13:55

I mean, we have I'll give you, I'll give you actual names because they'll

Adam Strum: 00:13:58

be proud that I'd be talking about them.

Adam Strum: 00:14:01

I have a pizzeria here in my area called Vin Citorios.

Adam Strum: 00:14:05

It's an Italian restaurant and pizzeria.

Adam Strum: 00:14:07

I love going to them.

Adam Strum: 00:14:08

I've met the owner.

Adam Strum: 00:14:09

I've met his wife.

Adam Strum: 00:14:10

I know most of the employees by name.

Adam Strum: 00:14:13

When I walk in, it's like Norm at Cheers.

Adam Strum: 00:14:15

They're like, Adam, great.

Adam Strum: 00:14:17

And if they have a catering order, as long as I'm on the road, they'll request me.

Adam Strum: 00:14:20

Now the opposite is true of another restaurant in the same exact parking

Adam Strum: 00:14:25

lot that does Thai food and it's called

Adam Strum: 00:14:29

And there's constantly sauces missing, items missing, and I will only take

Adam Strum: 00:14:33

an order from that restaurant if there's nothing else available.

Adam Strum: 00:14:37

I don't like to completely fire.

Adam Strum: 00:14:39

What I like to do is suspend.

Freddy D: 00:14:41

Okay.

Adam Strum: 00:14:41

Cause you never know when you might need, I need to

Adam Strum: 00:14:43

make 8 more to complete my day, make 400 for the day, be happy.

Adam Strum: 00:14:48

And incomes this 8 order from UFAS.

Adam Strum: 00:14:50

But I do know when I go there to double check that order before I take

Adam Strum: 00:14:54

it and go deliver it, make sure it's hot, make sure all the sauces, cause

Adam Strum: 00:14:57

they do tell you what's in the order.

Adam Strum: 00:14:59

Make sure the receipt matches everything in the bag before

Adam Strum: 00:15:03

I take it to my car and leave.

Adam Strum: 00:15:04

So it's going to take me a little longer.

Adam Strum: 00:15:06

But I will go to the restaurants that I would if I could fire them, but

Adam Strum: 00:15:10

only if it's a necessity or there's a good reason to I try to make sense.

Adam Strum: 00:15:15

I try to skip a lot of restaurants that cause problems or have long

Adam Strum: 00:15:20

wait times or sometimes they don't make the order to you show up.

Adam Strum: 00:15:24

Well, now that's crazy.

Adam Strum: 00:15:25

I just spent 15 minutes driving here.

Adam Strum: 00:15:27

This could have been ready and bagged.

Adam Strum: 00:15:29

But instead you wait for me to drive all the way here

Adam Strum: 00:15:31

before you even start cooking.

Adam Strum: 00:15:33

Now my poor customer, the end user, right, they're waiting an hour for their food.

Adam Strum: 00:15:38

It makes no sense.

Adam Strum: 00:15:39

Right?.

Freddy D: 00:15:40

So that's a trifecta lose.

Adam Strum: 00:15:42

Exactly.

Adam Strum: 00:15:43

I mean, I look for efficiency.

Adam Strum: 00:15:44

It comes from 20 years of corporate.

Freddy D: 00:15:47

No, it makes sense.

Adam Strum: 00:15:48

I look for efficiency.

Adam Strum: 00:15:50

I look for profitability.

Adam Strum: 00:15:52

It doesn't have to be high profitability because now I'm only working for me.

Adam Strum: 00:15:55

I'm not answering to shareholders.

Adam Strum: 00:15:57

I'm not answering to a board of directors.

Freddy D: 00:15:59

I'm answering to me and the boss of my house, which is the missus.

Freddy D: 00:16:03

But that's it.

Freddy D: 00:16:04

I'm only answering to those two entities so I can be a little more flexible.

Freddy D: 00:16:07

I can make a little less profit.

Freddy D: 00:16:09

To create more superfans to create more businesses that want me to come and pick

Freddy D: 00:16:14

up the food or more customers that want me to be the one delivering their food.

Freddy D: 00:16:18

Right.

Freddy D: 00:16:19

Now, do you also, I think you mentioned that you also drive people around.

Freddy D: 00:16:23

So you do like Uber and Lyft stuff.

Adam Strum: 00:16:25

Occasionally, but not often.

Adam Strum: 00:16:27

I'm not big on having strangers in my car and I've come to the conclusion.

Adam Strum: 00:16:33

When I sit down and think about it, most people are calling an Uber or

Adam Strum: 00:16:37

Lyft for one of three major reasons.

Adam Strum: 00:16:40

One is they don't have a car, and that's fine.

Adam Strum: 00:16:43

But the other reasons are they're too drunk to drive, or they don't feel well.

Adam Strum: 00:16:48

And in both of those cases, my car is at risk of needing a very

Adam Strum: 00:16:51

thorough cleaning afterwards.

Adam Strum: 00:16:54

And that eats up a lot of time, and it's quite expensive, actually, at times.

Adam Strum: 00:16:58

I try not to have people, I'd rather have any kind of, I've

Adam Strum: 00:17:01

delivered television sets.

Adam Strum: 00:17:03

I've delivered 20, 50, 60 items from home goods.

Adam Strum: 00:17:07

So, I've delivered all kinds of things, but I prefer not to take people unless

Adam Strum: 00:17:12

it's a really slow day for deliveries.

Adam Strum: 00:17:15

And then I'll turn on taking people, but you know, it also requires you get your

Adam Strum: 00:17:19

car up to snuff and, the people are going to say, Oh, it's very nice in here and

Adam Strum: 00:17:23

it doesn't matter what my car looks like inside if I'm delivering goods or food.

Freddy D: 00:17:28

Right.

Freddy D: 00:17:28

Okay.

Freddy D: 00:17:28

Makes sense.

Freddy D: 00:17:29

That makes sense.

Freddy D: 00:17:30

It's, those are, good points there.

Freddy D: 00:17:32

So what actions should a driver do or really avoid, I should say, when

Freddy D: 00:17:39

it comes to engaging customers?

Adam Strum: 00:17:40

That's a very good question.

Adam Strum: 00:17:41

Avoid over interacting.

Adam Strum: 00:17:44

Keep it short, keep it sweet, because they're waiting for whatever you're

Adam Strum: 00:17:47

bringing them, even if it's a person.

Adam Strum: 00:17:49

They're waiting for the end users, waiting for their food, their

Adam Strum: 00:17:52

items, or their family member.

Adam Strum: 00:17:55

They're not in the mood for a long conversation.

Adam Strum: 00:17:57

So you want to keep it short and sweet.

Adam Strum: 00:17:59

I'll give you a quick, for instance, I'm picking up pizza.

Adam Strum: 00:18:02

I get there.

Adam Strum: 00:18:03

I text the customer and just say at the restaurant waiting for your order.

Adam Strum: 00:18:07

That's it.

Adam Strum: 00:18:08

Once I have it, I'll tell the customer that I have your pizza

Adam Strum: 00:18:11

on board and I'll say ETA and give them an ETA 10 to 15 minutes.

Adam Strum: 00:18:17

This way, at least they're prepared.

Adam Strum: 00:18:18

If they have dogs, they can move the dogs away from the front door so

Adam Strum: 00:18:21

they don't go nuts when I knock etc.

Adam Strum: 00:18:24

If they have a sleeping kid, they can tell me, they can text me back

Adam Strum: 00:18:27

and say, you know what, don't knock.

Adam Strum: 00:18:28

I'll meet you outside or leave it at my door, which I can do.

Adam Strum: 00:18:32

You can document those.

Adam Strum: 00:18:34

So, that's it.

Adam Strum: 00:18:35

Keep it simple, but make them feel like you're treating them with extra respect.

Freddy D: 00:18:40

And that's important because, I've used.

Freddy D: 00:18:43

Some delivery services or I've, I've gone on rides and stuff and there's

Freddy D: 00:18:47

times where the platform app says, going to be there in 15 minutes, 15

Freddy D: 00:18:53

minutes go by, nothing's happened.

Freddy D: 00:18:55

You don't see the car moving.

Freddy D: 00:18:56

You don't see anything happening, and I've had where the person just flaked

Freddy D: 00:19:00

and it just gave me a bad impression of not only the person but the platform

Freddy D: 00:19:06

that was utilizing it So the fact that you were taking that extra step to

Freddy D: 00:19:11

tell person, hey, I'm at the pizzeria.

Freddy D: 00:19:13

I'm waiting.

Freddy D: 00:19:14

I got it I'll 15 minutes.

Freddy D: 00:19:17

That gives your third customer, the acknowledgement that their

Freddy D: 00:19:23

time is valuable and you're giving them a heads up, which in turn

Freddy D: 00:19:28

is great customer relations.

Adam Strum: 00:19:30

Exactly.

Adam Strum: 00:19:31

It's letting them know someone cares that they're getting their food or

Adam Strum: 00:19:34

items delivered on time by someone who actually respects them without the

Adam Strum: 00:19:39

third end user, the platform and the stores don't have customers, right?

Adam Strum: 00:19:44

So, they're quite important in the chain.

Adam Strum: 00:19:47

They're just not as important as the stores to the business runner like me.

Adam Strum: 00:19:51

Platform is somewhat important, but the end user is actually the third in the

Adam Strum: 00:19:57

link of three, as far as importance goes.

Adam Strum: 00:20:00

And as long as you're being respectful to them, it's a non entity.

Adam Strum: 00:20:03

You follow me?

Adam Strum: 00:20:04

You don't even have to think about the end user, the customer that you're delivering

Adam Strum: 00:20:08

to, because if you respect them enough to tell them, Hey, I'm at the restaurant.

Adam Strum: 00:20:12

They 10 minutes before it's ready.

Adam Strum: 00:20:14

Then on my way, keep it short, keep it sweet, show them respect.

Adam Strum: 00:20:17

Once you have the food on board.

Adam Strum: 00:20:19

Be there in 10 to 15 minutes, and that's all you need to do.

Adam Strum: 00:20:22

As long as you're doing those two things for your end user, you can concentrate

Adam Strum: 00:20:26

on the two that are important, which are the restaurant and the platform.

Adam Strum: 00:20:30

I use the platform where I don't get orders and, I need the business to want

Adam Strum: 00:20:34

to recommend me as much as possible.

Freddy D: 00:20:36

Right.

Freddy D: 00:20:36

Which goes right into my next question, which is, what ways can a

Freddy D: 00:20:40

driver interactions enhance customer experience, converting them into superfans

Freddy D: 00:20:45

that helps drive positive reviews?

Adam Strum: 00:20:47

That is where going above and beyond comes in.

Adam Strum: 00:20:51

So quite often, Especially on the lower pay orders, you'll find that it's

Adam Strum: 00:20:56

students or seniors or disabled people.

Adam Strum: 00:20:59

They order more, believe it or not, because they can't

Adam Strum: 00:21:02

get out and do it themselves.

Adam Strum: 00:21:03

Half the time, students are busy studying.

Adam Strum: 00:21:05

A lot of them don't have cars and they want to order from places far away.

Adam Strum: 00:21:09

They're not going to take two buses to go get Pad Thai.

Adam Strum: 00:21:12

I mean, it's just not going to happen.

Adam Strum: 00:21:13

Right.

Adam Strum: 00:21:14

Seniors, they don't like to go out in the evenings.

Adam Strum: 00:21:16

If they're hungry at seven o'clock and it's already dark out, the odds are

Adam Strum: 00:21:19

they're not going to want to jump in their car and drive and take the risk of

Adam Strum: 00:21:22

driving at night, et cetera, et cetera.

Adam Strum: 00:21:25

And for disabled people, these are the bulk of customers.

Adam Strum: 00:21:29

For me, anyway, I see more of those than I do.

Adam Strum: 00:21:31

regular average everyday people, regular average everyday people

Adam Strum: 00:21:35

tend to jump in the car and go get the pizza themselves, to be honest.

Adam Strum: 00:21:39

Now I do get, a fair share of those.

Adam Strum: 00:21:41

So above and beyond, I've texted them.

Adam Strum: 00:21:45

I'm coming, right?

Adam Strum: 00:21:47

I get there.

Adam Strum: 00:21:47

I'm walking up to the door.

Adam Strum: 00:21:48

They opened the door.

Adam Strum: 00:21:49

I see they're in a wheelchair.

Adam Strum: 00:21:50

I asked them, would you like me to put this on your table for you?

Adam Strum: 00:21:53

You want me to carry it in if it's groceries, which I

Adam Strum: 00:21:55

do quite often groceries.

Adam Strum: 00:21:57

Do you want the bags in any specific spot so that it's easier

Adam Strum: 00:22:01

for you to get access to them?

Adam Strum: 00:22:02

Go above and beyond because not only do customers have the ability to tip when

Adam Strum: 00:22:07

you've completed your order on every app, all of the major apps allow for an

Adam Strum: 00:22:13

add on tip after you complete the order.

Adam Strum: 00:22:15

But again, you've built a super fan, you've built someone who's

Adam Strum: 00:22:19

going to tell the platform that you went above and beyond.

Adam Strum: 00:22:22

Right.

Adam Strum: 00:22:23

And the platform will disseminate that to the restaurants, and they

Adam Strum: 00:22:27

might if they weren't willing to talk to you because they're too busy.

Adam Strum: 00:22:30

And, I've gone to lots of we have a Benihana not far from here.

Adam Strum: 00:22:34

They are packed every night, there's an hour wait for a table

Adam Strum: 00:22:37

no matter what time you go.

Adam Strum: 00:22:39

They don't have time to talk with me or interact with me management's running

Adam Strum: 00:22:42

around like chickens without heads.

Adam Strum: 00:22:43

But if the platform is telling them hey we've sent one of our

Adam Strum: 00:22:47

senior dashers our best dashers to pick this one up, they'll actually

Adam Strum: 00:22:51

come out, they'll say hello to me.

Adam Strum: 00:22:53

And there's my in there.

Adam Strum: 00:22:54

There's my superfan building right there, right?

Adam Strum: 00:22:57

That's your opportunity.

Adam Strum: 00:22:58

I didn't even have to do it.

Adam Strum: 00:22:59

The customer did it for me, right?

Freddy D: 00:23:01

Right.

Freddy D: 00:23:02

And yeah, so now the owner's gonna say, I appreciate you delivering this

Freddy D: 00:23:05

because you're making the restaurant like the Benihana's you're saying

Freddy D: 00:23:09

you're making a Benihana look like a rock star to the customer because

Freddy D: 00:23:13

they've got a good delivery service.

Adam Strum: 00:23:15

Exactly.

Adam Strum: 00:23:16

And they're getting their food hot and fresh and you're talking

Adam Strum: 00:23:18

sushi or cooked Japanese food.

Adam Strum: 00:23:21

That's what Benihana does.

Adam Strum: 00:23:22

Sushi sits too long without a refrigerator.

Adam Strum: 00:23:25

You don't want to go near it and Japanese hot food, if it gets cold,

Adam Strum: 00:23:30

basically becomes a grease ball.

Adam Strum: 00:23:32

So, you need to keep your hot food separate from your cold food.

Adam Strum: 00:23:36

And you need to, I actually keep a bag with several of those freezer

Adam Strum: 00:23:39

bags, those ice bags, those ice packs.

Adam Strum: 00:23:42

Right.

Adam Strum: 00:23:42

So I have a cold bag and I have a hot bag in my backseat at all times.

Adam Strum: 00:23:46

And I give you up the orders.

Adam Strum: 00:23:47

I pack them properly before I start driving.

Adam Strum: 00:23:49

I have a drink carrier, a professional one.

Adam Strum: 00:23:53

It's, solid plastic, has eight holes, holds eight cups.

Adam Strum: 00:23:56

I don't have to worry about spilling a customer's drink ever.

Adam Strum: 00:23:59

I mean, people don't think of these little things, but

Adam Strum: 00:24:01

these little things mean a lot.

Adam Strum: 00:24:03

I've had customers when I'm walking up with their six or eight drinks from

Adam Strum: 00:24:06

Tropical Smoothie Cafe, and they're like, I didn't know how you were going

Adam Strum: 00:24:10

to carry those, but that's amazing.

Adam Strum: 00:24:12

I'm like, well, I wanted to make sure you got your drink full.

Adam Strum: 00:24:14

It'd be terrible to get half a cup, wouldn't it?

Adam Strum: 00:24:16

And they start laughing.

Freddy D: 00:24:18

Well, because again, you're treating this as a business.

Freddy D: 00:24:20

It's not a hobby.

Freddy D: 00:24:22

It's not a.

Freddy D: 00:24:23

Gig, this is a business and you're treating it as a business

Freddy D: 00:24:26

and you're treating it as the owner of the, your business.

Adam Strum: 00:24:30

Now I have a little, like you do, I have a little in there

Adam Strum: 00:24:34

because I've owned several companies.

Adam Strum: 00:24:36

So I know what it's like to be a business, right?

Adam Strum: 00:24:40

And I wish younger people would just take a little time or even older people retire.

Adam Strum: 00:24:45

This is a great job, gig, whatever you want to call it.

Adam Strum: 00:24:48

Business to own for retirees.

Adam Strum: 00:24:50

I mean, nobody can live on a social security check anymore, not with the way,

Adam Strum: 00:24:54

last four years have gone with inflation.

Adam Strum: 00:24:57

And I'm talking both presidents.

Adam Strum: 00:24:58

It's not political.

Adam Strum: 00:24:59

Let's say from 2018 to 2022 prices went up, rents have gotten outrageous.

Adam Strum: 00:25:04

So social security doesn't cut it.

Adam Strum: 00:25:05

And I hate when I see seniors on their feet at Walmart for six hours

Adam Strum: 00:25:10

straight being a breeder at the door.

Adam Strum: 00:25:12

That's what they give seniors to do, or cashiering.

Adam Strum: 00:25:15

Seniors shouldn't be on their feet that long.

Adam Strum: 00:25:17

It's not good for circulation.

Adam Strum: 00:25:19

They should be moving around more.

Adam Strum: 00:25:21

These people stand still.

Adam Strum: 00:25:23

This job allows them to sit for at least 60 percent of the time because

Adam Strum: 00:25:27

they're driving, and the other 40 percent, they're never standing still.

Adam Strum: 00:25:30

They're walking into the store, grabbing the items.

Adam Strum: 00:25:33

They're walking up to the customer's house.

Adam Strum: 00:25:35

They're placing the items or handing the items.

Adam Strum: 00:25:37

It keeps them active.

Adam Strum: 00:25:39

And it's a great additional income.

Adam Strum: 00:25:42

Yep.

Adam Strum: 00:25:42

20, 20 hours a week.

Adam Strum: 00:25:43

You can probably make 500 a week if you're disciplined.

Freddy D: 00:25:47

Yep, and what's a tip that you can give that ensures that you

Freddy D: 00:25:52

receive a good tip from the customer.

Adam Strum: 00:25:54

Okay.

Adam Strum: 00:25:54

On some platforms, you don't know whether or not you're going to

Adam Strum: 00:25:57

be tipped till after you deliver.

Adam Strum: 00:25:59

And on some, you know what, there's at least X amount of

Adam Strum: 00:26:02

tip before you take the order.

Adam Strum: 00:26:04

So the door dash, the tip is included.

Adam Strum: 00:26:06

So when they send the amount, they're going to pay you to do the order

Adam Strum: 00:26:09

in the very beginning, before you accept it, you're getting at least X.

Adam Strum: 00:26:13

But to boost the tips, just follow what I taught in customer service,

Adam Strum: 00:26:18

just follow the three keys, listen and hear, think, then speak.

Adam Strum: 00:26:23

Sometimes speech is not your mouth moving, but speech is what you do.

Adam Strum: 00:26:28

Just like with the first amendment, speech, freedom of speech can be art,

Adam Strum: 00:26:33

but you don't have expression can be art.

Adam Strum: 00:26:36

There's no verbalization there.

Adam Strum: 00:26:37

It's just a painting.

Adam Strum: 00:26:38

The same thing happens here.

Adam Strum: 00:26:39

When you get to somebody's door, does the door open out?

Adam Strum: 00:26:43

If so, make sure the food is off to the side so they can open

Adam Strum: 00:26:46

their door and get to it, that they don't have to knock it down.

Adam Strum: 00:26:48

I've seen so many people, so many delivery drivers in their rush thinking,

Adam Strum: 00:26:53

if I rush really fast, I'll get more deliveries and I'll make more money.

Adam Strum: 00:26:56

But at the same time, yeah, you'll make more money, but you'll be

Adam Strum: 00:26:59

deplatformed within a month because you've made so many mistakes.

Adam Strum: 00:27:02

Slow and steady does win the race.

Adam Strum: 00:27:04

That's been the key since the beginning of time.

Freddy D: 00:27:06

Right.

Adam Strum: 00:27:07

Slow and steady.

Adam Strum: 00:27:08

Get it right.

Adam Strum: 00:27:09

Be kind at all times.

Adam Strum: 00:27:11

Even when the customer's being obnoxious, be kind because then they go inside

Adam Strum: 00:27:15

and they think about it while I was yelling at this guy and it's the

Adam Strum: 00:27:18

restaurant that packed the bag, not him.

Adam Strum: 00:27:20

And the bag is sealed by the restaurant.

Adam Strum: 00:27:22

A lot of them have that tape now that they take everything closed with and they'll

Adam Strum: 00:27:25

go back inside and they'll consider it.

Adam Strum: 00:27:27

And I've had 10 and 20 tips come in an hour after I finished my shift.

Adam Strum: 00:27:31

And those are from people who were angry at the delivery point.

Adam Strum: 00:27:35

They're yelling at me, why did it take an hour for my food to get here?

Adam Strum: 00:27:38

Well, I don't know.

Adam Strum: 00:27:39

I've only had your order for the last 16 minutes.

Adam Strum: 00:27:42

Four minutes to go pick it up and 10 minutes to deliver it to you and

Adam Strum: 00:27:45

two minutes to converse with you.

Adam Strum: 00:27:47

That's it.

Adam Strum: 00:27:48

That's the extent of my involvement in this transaction.

Freddy D: 00:27:51

Yeah, you got proof of that because you texted him.

Freddy D: 00:27:54

Hey, I'm here picking up the food and I'm on my way.

Freddy D: 00:27:57

So, they've got that window that was at 16 minutes.

Freddy D: 00:28:01

That's it.

Adam Strum: 00:28:02

So they're not thinking that though.

Adam Strum: 00:28:04

They're so angry about the hour.

Adam Strum: 00:28:06

But when they go back inside and they realize I didn't yell back at them.

Adam Strum: 00:28:11

I didn't fight back.

Adam Strum: 00:28:12

I simply stated, I'm glad I was able to get it to you.

Adam Strum: 00:28:15

It's still hot.

Adam Strum: 00:28:16

Enjoy your meal.

Adam Strum: 00:28:17

Even though they're yelling at me that it took an hour, when I drive away

Adam Strum: 00:28:21

and they get to thinking about it.

Adam Strum: 00:28:23

Most people, and I'm being honest here, even when they're really crazy people, but

Adam Strum: 00:28:28

most people will get to thinking about, I abused him and none of it was his fault.

Freddy D: 00:28:32

Right, the conscience takes kicks in.

Adam Strum: 00:28:35

And so I'll get higher ratings, even if I don't

Adam Strum: 00:28:37

get tips, I'll get higher ratings because every delivery gets rated.

Adam Strum: 00:28:40

One to five stars.

Adam Strum: 00:28:42

My rating on DoorDash is a 4.

Adam Strum: 00:28:44

96 out of a five, which is extremely high.

Freddy D: 00:28:46

Right, so, before we started the show, we were talking a little bit

Freddy D: 00:28:50

and you said you've got a technique that that doesn't burn you out.

Freddy D: 00:28:56

So what is that technique?

Adam Strum: 00:28:57

That technique is being married for 26 years.

Adam Strum: 00:29:00

My wife actually delivers with me.

Adam Strum: 00:29:02

Not every time, but most of the time because she's bored if she just sits

Adam Strum: 00:29:05

home and I'm not home and, just watches TV for hours, she'd rather be out there.

Adam Strum: 00:29:09

It's good exercise, get fresh air, get sunshine.

Adam Strum: 00:29:13

So we do this together and we run the business together.

Adam Strum: 00:29:16

And a lot of husbands and wives run mom and pop businesses.

Adam Strum: 00:29:19

And that's what this is for me, a mom and pop business, run them together.

Adam Strum: 00:29:23

Now not everybody's married, not everybody's spouse, if they are married,

Adam Strum: 00:29:27

would want to be in a car delivering food.

Adam Strum: 00:29:29

That doesn't mean you can't find a buddy.

Adam Strum: 00:29:31

A friend, someone else who's retired and just walking around at the park,

Adam Strum: 00:29:35

feeding the ducks, someone else who complains all the time that, he

Adam Strum: 00:29:38

needs to get his car fixed, but he just doesn't have the extra cash.

Adam Strum: 00:29:41

You'll hear that all the time, right?

Adam Strum: 00:29:44

Tell him, look, I'll do all the driving.

Adam Strum: 00:29:46

All you got to do is when we get to an address, get out of the car, walk

Adam Strum: 00:29:50

it over to the door, put it down, take a picture and get back in the car

Adam Strum: 00:29:54

and I'll split the earnings with you.

Freddy D: 00:29:56

There's no downside on that one because it still stays in the house.

Adam Strum: 00:29:59

Exactly my point.

Adam Strum: 00:30:00

Well, for me, it stays in the house.

Adam Strum: 00:30:01

Yeah, my wife and I, but if it was a friend, heck, the good news about

Adam Strum: 00:30:05

that is if it's a friend and you split the earnings, at least you're

Adam Strum: 00:30:09

splitting the work so that there's no differential, it's the same, you're

Adam Strum: 00:30:13

doing half the work you had to do alone.

Adam Strum: 00:30:16

You're also able to park where you wouldn't normally be able to park

Adam Strum: 00:30:20

because you don't have to park you can stand For instance in the handicap

Adam Strum: 00:30:23

spot standing is legal parking is not As long as there's someone in

Adam Strum: 00:30:28

the car who can move it if requested You're not going to get a ticket.

Adam Strum: 00:30:31

You can stand at some fire pumps.

Adam Strum: 00:30:34

You can stand in some no parking zones.

Adam Strum: 00:30:37

Sometimes parking is really tough to find at some of these restaurants, if they're

Adam Strum: 00:30:40

popular their parking lots packed Correct.

Adam Strum: 00:30:43

Yeah.

Adam Strum: 00:30:44

Or Starbucks with the drive through blocks the part you can't

Adam Strum: 00:30:46

even get into the parking lot.

Adam Strum: 00:30:48

Well, now I can double park.

Adam Strum: 00:30:50

Leave someone who can move the car if requested, and I can run in and

Adam Strum: 00:30:54

grab the order and be back out.

Adam Strum: 00:30:55

So, there's a lot of pluses to having that second person in the car, plus you

Adam Strum: 00:30:59

can concentrate on driving and let them work the app, let them check the address

Adam Strum: 00:31:04

let them map the address, let them handle the phone because they're not driving.

Adam Strum: 00:31:09

You'll have less accidents.

Adam Strum: 00:31:11

You'll have less close calls.

Adam Strum: 00:31:12

You won't have to speed too many drivers speed.

Adam Strum: 00:31:15

It's crazy.

Adam Strum: 00:31:17

So, having that second person in the car who can hold the food, make sure

Adam Strum: 00:31:21

it doesn't spill, sometimes you'll have six or seven trays of food.

Adam Strum: 00:31:25

You make a hard right turn.

Adam Strum: 00:31:27

Those trays start toppling.

Adam Strum: 00:31:28

You got to pull over, fix everything and then get back to driving.

Adam Strum: 00:31:31

You save a lot of time.

Freddy D: 00:31:33

Yeah, it's a co pilot.

Freddy D: 00:31:34

Basically, it's just like flying an airplane,

Adam Strum: 00:31:37

Call them in the industry, by the way, in the

Adam Strum: 00:31:39

industry, we call them the co pilot.

Freddy D: 00:31:40

Oh, there you go.

Adam Strum: 00:31:41

Yeah.

Adam Strum: 00:31:41

And it just, like I said, if it's a friend, split the money with

Adam Strum: 00:31:44

them, work a few extra hours, you'll be less tired because you're

Adam Strum: 00:31:47

not doing all the work yourself.

Adam Strum: 00:31:49

You could still make the same amount, but you're also helping out a friend.

Adam Strum: 00:31:53

And when you help out a friend, they become a super fan too.

Freddy D: 00:31:56

Yep, absolutely.

Adam Strum: 00:31:58

So it's a no lose proposition.

Freddy D: 00:32:00

Right.

Freddy D: 00:32:01

Any other tips that you can share to that would be benefit

Freddy D: 00:32:05

gig workers like yourself?

Adam Strum: 00:32:07

Definitely.

Adam Strum: 00:32:08

There's about four, four tips.

Adam Strum: 00:32:10

Get a memo notebook, just a simple binder notebook.

Adam Strum: 00:32:14

And when you're doing deliveries of any kind, whether it's food, dry goods,

Adam Strum: 00:32:19

blood tests, A lot of communities and a lot of businesses are gated, which

Adam Strum: 00:32:24

means getting in can be a problem.

Adam Strum: 00:32:26

You take your book, you mark your address, you mark that gate code

Adam Strum: 00:32:30

the one time you're given it.

Adam Strum: 00:32:32

And the next time you show up, you're able to get right in.

Adam Strum: 00:32:34

You don't have to sit and wait for someone to either A, open the gate or B, send you

Adam Strum: 00:32:39

by text the gate code so you can get in.

Adam Strum: 00:32:41

So that's number one.

Adam Strum: 00:32:42

It saves a lot of time.

Adam Strum: 00:32:44

Keep a record.

Adam Strum: 00:32:45

Keep a record.

Adam Strum: 00:32:47

Of deliveries that go south, whether it's delivering people as well

Adam Strum: 00:32:52

for Uber and Lyft drivers who, shuttle people all over the place.

Adam Strum: 00:32:55

There are some people that get in your car and immediately want to

Adam Strum: 00:32:58

start talking religion, politics, and everything that you really don't

Adam Strum: 00:33:01

want to talk to strangers about.

Adam Strum: 00:33:03

You don't want those people.

Adam Strum: 00:33:04

Make a note of it.

Adam Strum: 00:33:06

And if you see that person pop up on your screen, just say, you know what,

Adam Strum: 00:33:08

I'd rather not pick them up today.

Adam Strum: 00:33:10

Give me a different one.

Adam Strum: 00:33:11

Time is everything.

Adam Strum: 00:33:14

When doing gig work of any kind, it's all about time management.

Adam Strum: 00:33:19

So if you can save yourself time, you can do more orders in the same

Adam Strum: 00:33:23

amount of time that you're out there.

Adam Strum: 00:33:26

So I can do two deliveries an hour and there'll be picture

Adam Strum: 00:33:29

perfect from beginning to end.

Adam Strum: 00:33:31

And I mean, picture perfect, or I can do four deliveries and

Adam Strum: 00:33:35

make sure I'm above average.

Adam Strum: 00:33:37

If I'm doing four, I make twice as much money.

Adam Strum: 00:33:39

So I'd rather be above average than picture perfect, which is

Adam Strum: 00:33:43

why I say keep it short and sweet.

Adam Strum: 00:33:45

You don't want to have a long conversation with your customer.

Adam Strum: 00:33:48

You just want them to know that you respect them, that you're going

Adam Strum: 00:33:51

to do the right thing by them.

Adam Strum: 00:33:53

And I've actually gone back to stores for customers.

Adam Strum: 00:33:56

How about that one?

Adam Strum: 00:33:58

I've had a delivery of, let's say, wings and a soda.

Adam Strum: 00:34:02

And I get there and they're like, it's supposed to be two sodas.

Adam Strum: 00:34:05

It is.

Adam Strum: 00:34:06

Okay.

Adam Strum: 00:34:07

I paused my app.

Adam Strum: 00:34:08

I'll go back and get you the other soda.

Adam Strum: 00:34:10

What's it supposed to be?

Adam Strum: 00:34:11

You call the restaurant and let them know they forgot to pack it.

Adam Strum: 00:34:15

Now the customer has a job to do.

Adam Strum: 00:34:17

You follow the logic here.

Adam Strum: 00:34:18

I'm sure you know it, but yeah, you're turning your, that customer's becoming

Adam Strum: 00:34:23

your superfan of the fact twice over.

Adam Strum: 00:34:26

Because not only am I making them feel like, Hey, I respect you so

Adam Strum: 00:34:29

much, I'll go back and make sure the restaurant does the right thing for

Adam Strum: 00:34:32

you and gives you your second soda,

Adam Strum: 00:34:34

but that's the above and beyond you were talking about earlier, right?

Adam Strum: 00:34:37

I also want the customer though, to do a little bit of work for it by

Adam Strum: 00:34:41

calling the restaurant and telling them they forgot to pack the second soda

Adam Strum: 00:34:44

so that it's ready when I get there.

Freddy D: 00:34:46

Right?

Adam Strum: 00:34:47

So it only takes me an extra five minutes to go back

Adam Strum: 00:34:49

and come back because I don't, I already know exactly where I'm going.

Adam Strum: 00:34:52

I don't need A directional map or a GPS or any of that.

Adam Strum: 00:34:55

I've done that for plenty of customers, especially if they

Adam Strum: 00:34:57

tip well, I'll be honest, you tip well, you get better service.

Adam Strum: 00:35:00

That's the same in a restaurant.

Adam Strum: 00:35:02

When you go to eat, you tip.

Adam Strum: 00:35:03

Well, the waitress is going to always take better care of you.

Freddy D: 00:35:06

They'll remember you.

Freddy D: 00:35:07

And, oh yeah, this is the guy.

Freddy D: 00:35:10

This is the good guy.

Freddy D: 00:35:11

We all take care of this guy.

Adam Strum: 00:35:12

Well, that guy left me a 20 for one sandwich last time.

Adam Strum: 00:35:16

I'm going to make sure his food comes out first.

Freddy D: 00:35:17

Sure.

Adam Strum: 00:35:18

It's really not difficult and people make it difficult.

Adam Strum: 00:35:22

There are about a thousand channels on YouTube of DoorDash

Adam Strum: 00:35:26

drivers saying, watch me DoorDash.

Adam Strum: 00:35:28

And when I watch them DoorDash, my stomach turns at all the mistakes they make.

Adam Strum: 00:35:32

And they complain that DoorDash is ripping them off.

Adam Strum: 00:35:35

And I'm like, no, you're shortchanging yourself by not following procedure.

Adam Strum: 00:35:42

For a business.

Adam Strum: 00:35:43

You're a business.

Adam Strum: 00:35:44

You don't work for DoorDash,

Freddy D: 00:35:46

Exactly.

Adam Strum: 00:35:46

The mindset is wrong.

Adam Strum: 00:35:48

It's I use mindset that proves I'm corporate America, right?

Adam Strum: 00:35:52

Mindset is wrong.

Adam Strum: 00:35:53

You don't work for DoorDash.

Adam Strum: 00:35:54

DoorDash actually works for you.

Freddy D: 00:35:57

Now, do you ever do deliveries where you're requested by a customer.

Freddy D: 00:36:01

Specifically through a platform?

Adam Strum: 00:36:03

Not on doorDash, but on Uber Eats, a customer

Adam Strum: 00:36:06

can request a specific driver.

Adam Strum: 00:36:08

On Instacart, they can.

Adam Strum: 00:36:10

On Spark, which is Walmart's delivery service, they cannot.

Adam Strum: 00:36:14

There are a couple of others.

Adam Strum: 00:36:16

LabCorp is different because it's not a platform.

Adam Strum: 00:36:18

Like I said, it's a corporation.

Adam Strum: 00:36:20

But on the other platform apps, it's 50 50.

Adam Strum: 00:36:23

Half of them do allow a customer to choose their driver, if that driver is available.

Adam Strum: 00:36:29

If the driver's offline, of course, then it's just going to

Adam Strum: 00:36:32

go to the next available driver.

Freddy D: 00:36:33

So that's where it's really important to build that superfan with

Freddy D: 00:36:36

that customer so that on the platforms that where they can request you as

Freddy D: 00:36:42

the driver, that's the it's customer relationship and having them as your

Freddy D: 00:36:48

business superfan because it is your business and that's the big differentiator

Freddy D: 00:36:55

because if I'm, if I'm on Instacart and I say, Oh, Adam's available, great.

Freddy D: 00:37:00

I'm going to request Adam to go pick this up.

Adam Strum: 00:37:02

I want Adam to shop for me because I always get

Adam Strum: 00:37:04

fresh produce when he does it.

Adam Strum: 00:37:06

I always get non dented boxes.

Adam Strum: 00:37:09

I always get, and well, you can make, you can, like I said, there

Adam Strum: 00:37:12

are chance, there's a chance to make three super fans with every delivery.

Freddy D: 00:37:17

Right.

Adam Strum: 00:37:18

The platform can become your superfan because your ratings are so high

Adam Strum: 00:37:21

and you're showing that they are a, an excellent service for the customer to

Adam Strum: 00:37:25

use because a customer who wants to order from say, McDonald's has six choices.

Adam Strum: 00:37:30

They can order through DoorDash, Uber Eats, Grubhub, Postmates, et cetera.

Adam Strum: 00:37:33

They have a bunch of choices.

Adam Strum: 00:37:35

Why do they want DoorDash?

Adam Strum: 00:37:36

That really nice guy who comes with his wife and his wife comes out and

Adam Strum: 00:37:40

brings it right to us and let's order through DoorDash so that they bring it.

Adam Strum: 00:37:44

Yeah, that goes back to, customer relationship building those

Adam Strum: 00:37:47

relationship and getting turning those people into business superfans.

Adam Strum: 00:37:51

So exactly.

Adam Strum: 00:37:52

And like I said, you have with every delivery, you have three chances to

Adam Strum: 00:37:55

turn three entities into a super thing.

Adam Strum: 00:37:58

So they have the business and the customer.

Freddy D: 00:38:01

So there you have it.

Freddy D: 00:38:02

Adam, it's been a pleasure.

Adam Strum: 00:38:04

It's always a pleasure when I get to talk to you, Frederick.

Freddy D: 00:38:07

Well, thank you, buddy.

Freddy D: 00:38:08

And we'll look to have you on the show again.

Freddy D: 00:38:11

And again, if you're looking for delivery and you're on one of the platforms where

Freddy D: 00:38:15

you can request Adam Strum is your guy.

Freddy D: 00:38:17

Yep.

Freddy D: 00:38:18

It would come up out of Adam S.

Freddy D: 00:38:19

And if you see Adam S as a driver, just request me, you'll be respected.

Freddy D: 00:38:24

That's the most important thing.

Freddy D: 00:38:25

Your order will be respected and you as a person waiting for whatever you're

Freddy D: 00:38:29

waiting for will also be respected.

Freddy D: 00:38:31

All right, Adam, thank you much.

Adam Strum: 00:38:33

My pleasure.