If fleets want to stand out, they must ensure customers remain satisfied with their service. Clients with a great experience with your services will be engaged and tell others about their experience. Poor experiences are also discussed among customers- recent research revealed US businesses lose approximately $62 billion annually because of poor customer service.
With a fleet manager’s ultimate goal being to ensure their customers thrive, investing in technology can help guarantee customer satisfaction and grow revenue. What technology can accomplish all that? Telematics is the first step to providing the best-in-class customer service.
Customer satisfaction
Telematics provides insight into drivers to foster regular communication between customers through its valuable features:
- Automatic notifications so that customers receive real-time delivery status
- Timely alerts when unforeseen delays or issues arise
- Accurate billing that includes driver hours and mileage
Accurate estimated time of arrival (ETA)
Nowadays, you can easily retrieve the location of your order, so it is no surprise that is something customers expect from your fleet as well. ETAs provide customers with valuable transparency. Utilizing fleet tracking software, such as AssetWorks GPS, allows managers to collect accurate real-time data to send to customers for delivery updates. ETA’s also allows customers to be aware of any delays. The last thing you want is to leave a customer waiting on a delivery that is not arriving when they expected.
Accurate billing
Billing is undoubtedly a time-consuming process. Telematics provides users with the following information:
- Analytics on driver hours worked and miles driven
- Map view of driver travel time and routes
- Vehicle and driver metrics, including fuel consumption
If a fleet bills their customers hourly, the data generated from telematics allows managers to easily bill their customers by verifying a driver’s arrival and departure time. The more accurate your billing is, the fewer issues customers will have. If an issue does arise, managers have the telematics data available to reference.
Better task management
Telematics offers fleets better visibility into their drivers, allowing managers to utilize their resources better. By simply looking at the map view on the telematics solution, managers can see where the nearest worker is to a service location. Constant visibility ensures on-time delivery of service and results in fewer miles driven.
Keep up with seasonal demand
Depending on what products you deliver, some months may be busier than others. If there is an increase in demand, if managers do not increase the number of drivers on schedule, delivery times may get delayed. Telematics allows managers to analyze their annual work orders to preemptively add more drivers during seasonal demand to help keep the fleet optimally operating.
Grow revenue
A proper analysis of a fleet’s telematics data on driver behavior allows managers to gain a better understanding of the total operational cost involved:
- Too much idling causes a vehicle’s head gasket, spark plugs, or cylinder rings to deteriorate and stop working- leading to a backup of vehicles in the shop. With telematics, managers can view when and how long drivers are idling to address the behavior and eliminate the risk of vehicle wear and tear.
- Unwanted driver behavior can cause severe incidents, causing more work for technicians. Telematics sends real-time alerts when drivers demonstrate behaviors outside company policy, helping reduce unnecessary shop repairs.
Taking control of your fleet drivers’ performance can reduce risk, reduce fines, reduce the risk of accidents, and keep your organization operating efficiently.
