Whether you have recently invested in a fleet tracking solution or are planning to in the near future, you can use the tips below maximize your ROI.
- Consider driver behavior that you’d like to eliminate – set these up as alerts so that you can address them immediately.
- Reward drivers for safe driving or adhering to company policies.
- Know what you want to track and make sure you schedule time to regularly review those reports.
- Communicate the positive benefits of vehicle tracking when moving forward with a solution like Geomoto. Don’t treat drivers like children; if you’re installing devices to reduce risky behavior, then communicate the value of that. For instance, less wasted fuel means more capital to invest in your employees.
- Speed limits can be set avoiding over speeding. Sell this as a safety precaution for drivers as well as eliminate speeding tickets.
- Check with your insurance company if you can receive a discount for having a tracking device installed. In the event that a vehicle is stolen it can be tracked.
- Utilize the technology as an easy tool for resolving dispute with drivers and customers. For example, logs are available to validate arrival time and departure time.
Do you have a tip to share or is there something that you wish someone would have told you before purchasing a vehicle tracking solution? Please share in the comments below!
Categories: Tips.
By admin
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April 29, 2012 at 8:36 am
In our series designed to define three key components to being a great fleet manager, the first two topics we covered were Communication Skills and Trust from your Employees and Customers. The final entry in our series is Interpreting Data Effectively. A fleet management system provides extreme amounts of data on performance of your fleet. If you don’t have a strategy for using this data it can be very overwhelming.
The key is to clearly define the most important performance drivers of your fleet and begin your analysis there. Each business is different, so each analysis should be different. Pick out the top 3-5 items you want to look at and start there. They might be as basic as idle time or as complex as average time for individual services complete from start to finish.
No matter what you decide to look at, it is best to have a plan for what you want to find out before you dive it. The great thing about the Geomoto fleet tracking system is that you can virtually look at your fleet from any angle at any granularity you like. That makes it imperative that you know what you want to dig into the data for before you start or you may not find the actionable data you are looking for.
Once you find this data and interpret it regularly, it will help you communicate to your fleet how you as a team can improve service for your customers. This in turn builds trust and loyalty from your customers. If you have been following the series of “What Makes a Great Fleet Manager” you’ll see how each entry builds on the other. If you haven’t followed the series, we recommend reading the other entries and improving your performance as a fleet manager!
Categories: Fleet Management.
Tags: customer loyalty, customer service, Fleet Management, fleet tracking, how to become a fleet manager, interpreting data
By ryan
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January 2, 2011 at 11:41 pm
In our series (see part 1 and part 2) designed to define three key components to being a great fleet manager, the first topic we covered was Communication Skills. Now we’ll touch on earning and maintaining trust from your employees and customers. Having trust from both your customers and employees is key to running a top-notch fleet. The fact is that having the trust of one builds trust with the other- and having a fleet tracking system helps do that.
Gaining trust begins with satisfying the expectations of the party you wish to gain trust from. Your customers expect your product and/or service to be on time, the quality to be up to your advertised standards, and the price to be as quoted. Your employees and drivers expect your words to be honest, their jobs to be secure, and your business to be run with integrity. If any of these expectations are breached, full trust cannot be reached. Without full trust by your customers and employees, your fleet won’t operate to its max potential and, in turn, your business will not generate maximum revenues.
A fleet tracking system can help you satisfy the expectations from your customers and employees. It can help ensure timely delivery and quality control for your customers. Delivering exceptional service helps your drivers have the confidence their jobs are secure. Additionally, you can trust the words you communicate to your drivers because they are supported by hard data transmitted by the fleet tracking system.
Stay tuned for the final entry in our series of “What Makes a Great Fleet Manager” on how to interpret data effectively coming soon!
Categories: Fleet Management.
Tags: customer service, Fleet Management, fleet tracking, fleet tracking benefits, how to become a fleet manager, trust
By ryan
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December 30, 2010 at 9:25 am
In our series (see part 1) designed to define three key components to being a great fleet manager, the first topic we’ll address may be the most important- Communication Skills. The reality is that without mastering this skill, a fleet manager cannot reach his or her full potential. Without the ability to communicate routes, review driver performance, pass along traffic information, etc. effectively the other skills of a fleet manager aren’t utilized to their maximum benefit.
We have discussed in previous posts what to communicate to your drivers when implementing a fleet tracking system. Improved customer service, increased safety, and cost savings along with the benefits of each as they relate to the drivers were the three key items to address with your drivers before installing a fleet tracking system. In actuality, it’s not what you say that makes you an effective communicator, but it’s how you say it. Plenty of studies have been done on communication over time to define the keys to effective communication. As it relates to becoming a great fleet manager, we believe these are critical realizing you full potential in communicating effectively with your drivers:
- Transparency. Your drivers are a part of your team and deserve to understand the strategy and end goal in mind. No one likes to blindly operate. Avoiding a black box communication style will help get your drivers on board with you.
- Listening. Active listening communicates to your drivers that they are part of the team and their opinion is valued. Effective communication is a two way street.
- Follow-up. Revisiting a conversation also gives value to your drivers, but also ensures communication was understood properly by all involved in the conversation. A brief check-in can head of potential impacts of a miscommunication.
Keep these tips in mind when interacting with your fleet and you’ll without a doubt see improvements! Stay tuned for the next entry in our series of “What Makes a Great Fleet Manager” coming soon.
Categories: Fleet Management.
Tags: communication skills, Fleet Management, fleet managers, fleet tracking, how to become a fleet manager
By ryan
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December 26, 2010 at 9:19 am
The popularity of electric vehicles on the fleet market is constantly increasing. At the moment, there are a few advantages and disadvantages for switching existing cars with electric ones. So which is the right choice?
What Would This Change Bring
Contrary to popular belief, electric cars are not popular just because they are environmentally friendly. The amount you can save on gas is also an important factor and many fleet owners are happy with the low maintenance costs. Things are changing for electric vehicles. They are less likely to need check-ups and they are reliable. On the other hand, many diesel vehicles are also known for their reliability. Most of these vehicles can go for thousands of miles without any need for maintenance.
Technological advancements have turned electric fleet vehicles into powerful cars in just a few years, so owners don’t have to worry as much about limitations. A few years ago electric cars ran on inefficient batteries which were known to be problematic, but this has improved as well.
Are There Any Disadvantages?
Any business owner who has to take care of a fleet knows that the key to success is using reliable vehicles and keeping the costs to a minimum. GE has decided to purchase 25,000 electric vehicles thanks to the advantages these cars offer. But this doesn’t mean only blue skies. Making the change is an important step and you should analyze your costs before you make your decision. In some cases, keeping your fleet as it as might be more cost efficient that switching to electric fleet vehicles. It all depends on the type of business you are running. If you can choose between electric vehicles and diesel ones, you will notice that the first option is more expensive than the traditional one. Gasoline and diesel vehicles are still quite affordable and getting all electric vehicles for your fleet will imply some extra costs.
Can Electric Fleet Vehicles Live Up To The Expectations
You can even find trucks that fall into this category or you can turn your attention towards plug-in hybrid electric vehicles if you want to. The industry is still growing, so you might not find exactly what you’re looking for. If your goal is getting better mileage, you should be able to find the type of car you need. Lowering the costs in this department is especially important because these vehicles are always on the road, so you won’t have to wait long until you will notice a big difference. After a few months, the cars will prove to be reliable and until then, you will know that all of them are helping the environment.
Valuable statistics are already available, so you don’t have to worry about being unpleasantly surprised. Electric fleets are already out there and many people are happy with the results. However, regular vehicles are also getting more economical, more environmentally friendly and they are definitely more powerful than electric ones. This is exactly why people are having a hard time making the decision.
Electric fleet vehicles are better than they used to be, but you should consider all of the facts before you make your decision.
Categories: Questions.
Tags: electric fleet vehicles, electric vehicle, fleet
By Blogger
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December 16, 2010 at 11:11 am
We’re very happy to announce we’ve launched a contest for small businesses! By submitting your ideas on how you could use Geomoto to grow your business, you’ll be entered to win two free units and service for a year.
Check out the contest submission page – we look forward to hearing from you! Already a customer? Keep an eye on the blog. We’ll be sharing the best ideas right here.
Categories: Tips.
By admin
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December 13, 2010 at 6:29 pm
Geomoto provides a solution for fleet tracking used by many great managers across the country, but what differentiates those fleet managers them from the others? The next few posts will dive deeper into each key component in becoming a successful fleet manager.
A fleet manager has a difficult task of dealing with many different types of people- each with different motivating factors. They have to manage not only their drivers, but their superiors and customers. Each group of people has different motivations in the relationship. That is where they key components of being a great fleet manager come in:
- Communication skills
- Trust from their team and customers
- Ability to interpret data effectively
Each of these skills plays a critical role in making a fleet manager as effective as possible. Mastering each of these components is what makes a good fleet manager a great fleet manager. We’ll discuss each of these topics in our next blog posts, so be sure to come back to see how you can improve as a fleet manager!
Categories: Fleet Management.
Tags: Fleet Management, fleet managers, how to become a fleet manager
By admin
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December 9, 2010 at 7:44 am
A fleet tracking system when implemented correctly acts as an individual manager for each vehicle. When all the positive benefits are explained to the drivers (read more) and how a fleet tracking system will enable them to finish jobs faster and deliver better service, the positive indirect influence begins to kick in.
Your drivers will see that you are investing in them and the company. When they see their job performance improve and their career progress, they will begin to find ways to adopt the technology more and more. Whereas a common attitude among drivers when they are on the road is that they get no contact or visibility with their managers, Geomoto bridges that gap. Geomoto is constantly showing their managers the type of job they are doing.
We all know that not all employees have the same level of self-motivation that others do, and those need additional layers of motivation. Fleet tracking helps solve that problem. These drivers will now realize that they are being held accountable for everything they do while on the road. That is an especially important point because Geomoto can help be and end-to-end solution to improve both your best and worst drivers. They say a chain is only as strong as its weakest link and Geomoto can help strengthen that weak link.
Categories: Fleet Management, Tips.
Tags: fleet tracking benefits, improving performance, passive work attitude
By admin
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December 6, 2010 at 10:51 am
Why do you use Google maps?
Ever heard of Google? Ever used it? Did you know Geomoto is directly integrated with the Google Maps product? That means the features you love so much and already know how to use are readily available in the Geomoto interface. That’s why chose to integrate directly with Google.
Some great features that you might leverage:
- Zooming- If you are actively routing a driver, it will definitely be helpful to display the map at the right scale to make appropriate decisions.
- Multiple views- The standard view is Maps view which shows cities, street names, and identifies landmarks such as buildings, lakes, river, borders, etc. Satellite view shows an increase level of detail about the area. You’ll be able to see if the area is largely residential, rural, or urban.
- Accuracy- It might be strange to think of accuracy as a feature, but Google is constantly being updated with changes to improve the accuracy of map data. There’s nothing worse when analyzing data than finding out it’s inaccurate!
Perhaps the greatest benefit of the integration with Google Maps is that as Google evolves the product and add more features you have access to them through Geomoto at no additional cost.
Categories: Questions.
Tags: google maps fleet tracking
By admin
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December 2, 2010 at 10:43 am
One of the features of the Geomoto product is the ability to group vehicles in your fleet into smaller groups.
If you have a large fleet that handles a large territory it might make sense to group vehicles by region. If select vehicles perform certain services it may be helpful to group vehicles with similar service type together. Another possible grouping may be vehicle type. If you have a variety of vehicles capable of moving different types and sizes of goods as well as performing special services, these vehicles could be grouped together.
All of these groupings are easily visible in the Geomoto interface so that your fleet manager and dispatcher can see your fleet broken down by groups. Like many of the other features, this can significantly aid in route choice and vehicle selection for each job.
Additionally, you can then analyze performance on a group level. You’ll be able to see which groups are helping complete the most business as well as the groups that are accounting for the most cost. Grouping is completely customizable in the interface and can be done by users or account managers.
Do you have a custom need? Maybe you want to split vehicles by account or view groupings differently by account, or you have a new way you’d like to analyze the data? Contact us and we’ll be happy to help.
Categories: How To, Tips.
Tags: Fleet Management, geomoto features, grouping vehicles
By admin
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November 29, 2010 at 10:35 am
