The Value of Turnkey-Ready Deliveries
On the road, a pharmaceutical rep might be worth, say $500 and hour to her company. She’s making visits, making sales, and building important relationships for her employer. If she were your employee, on any day, at any hour, would you reassign her to other work, like vacuuming a vehicle, filling its tires, or making a trip to the DMV?
I didn’t think so.
But when an employee’s new fleet unit arrives in any condition other than perfect, that’s exactly what you’re doing. If a fleet unit doesn’t arrive ready to hit the road, you’re paying your employees to do work that yields far less value – and you are losing hundreds of dollars – or more – an hour.
Save Hundreds of Dollars an Hour
Wouldn’t you rather pay a professional company $200 to make sure a car arrives clean with filled tires than pay your employee to do it – and not to mention, lose the hundreds or thousands of dollars he or she could be earning during that time? Two hundred dollars doesn’t seem like much compared to the $500 or more your employee could be earning for the company per hour.
Likewise, for a small investment, you company to handle license, title, and registration services. Imagine how many hours each and every employee could save standing in long DMV lines, not to mention the drive out and back.
When a vehicle arrives ready to hit the road, we call that turn-key ready. With the thousands of dollars you save, investing in turn-key ready services provides real value to your company.
Keep Employees Productive, Safe, and Satisfied
If you’ve ever picked up a car, you know it can be a real hassle – and can be incredibly time consuming. Turn-key ready keeps mobile professionals productive. On top of that, turn-key ready deliveries also make sure the car delivered to their door is clean, safe and mechanically sound. In other words, it makes sure the car arrives ready to help your employees produce. And, it keeps your drivers safe, satisfied, and happy.
With the prospect of happier, more productive employees at hand, using turnkey-ready services is a simple way to use your dollars a little more wisely.
Vetted Employees vs. Contract Drivers: Who Should Deliver Your Fleet Units?
A 25 year old pharmaceutical rep sits in her apartment, waiting for the delivery of her new work vehicle. Who will knock at her door? She’s not sure what to expect – and that means she’s got some worries. Will he be friendly? Will he have a professional appearance? And more importantly, will she be safe answering the door?
Delivery Is About More Than Getting From Point A to Point B
Delivery of fleet units is about more than getting a vehicle to its destination. It’s about safety, security, and maintaining a high level of comfort for all employees.
That’s why whichever vehicle delivery service you choose, you should make sure their service delivery professionals are vetted and fully screened. The end user should know that the person delivering their fleet unit has undergone an extensive background check and will handle the transaction professionally.
Here’s the catch: oftentimes, you just can’t get that with contracted drivers. As such, your delivery company should also use drivers who are actually employees of the company. Why? Because the delivery company can then ensure their drivers meet the important standards to keep a transaction safe, efficient, and comfortable for the end user.
The Difference Between Employees and Contractors
When drivers are company employees, you know they’ve had extensive background screenings and are properly qualified to deliver units and make a positive experience for the end user. They might also follow company guidelines like dress code, customer service standards, and security measures. Of course, that’s on top of being accountable for delivering your units in pristine condition.
Contract drivers simply don’t have this level of accountability. They are assigned a job and complete it. Drivers who are employees have much more at stake: They are invested in their jobs and want to do well. They see the bigger picture and have a commitment to their clients. That commitment means you get better service
The Value of Vetted Employees
Ultimately, your drivers will have a superior experience from the moment their vehicle arrives. With fully vetted and screened service delivery professionals delivering your vehicles, you ensure the safety and security of your vehicle and your employees. As we know, an ounce of prevention may be worth a pound of cure.
If you’re looking for a company that employs drivers you can trust, you should demand that your service delivery professionals:
- Are managed to DOT regulations
- Have a clean MVR that is checked semi-annually
- Are Fully Drug Screened
- Pass a Criminal Background Screen
- Are employed by a company that has a minimum of $6 million of Liability Insurance
Put Worries to Rest
With vetted drivers who are company employees, that pharmaceutical rep puts her worries to rest. She knows the person at her door is a professional who is safe and there to conduct business in a professional manner.
Wouldn’t you like all of your employees to feel this way?
Looking for a Tag Agency? Five Key Questions to Make the Right Choice
You don’t have to look too hard to find a tag agency — they’re in every state. Finding one is easy, but finding the right one isn’t quite as simple. Of course, finding one that’s most cost effective seems pretty straightforward: just choose the lowest offer and you’re good to go, right?
Wrong.
If you really want to get the most out of your dollar, you have to look beyond price and truly compare all aspects of an agency’s services.
Asking some key questions can make the true value (or lack thereof) of a tag agency clear – and doing so doesn’t have to be hard. Try out these simple questions the next time you’re in the market.
Key Question #1: How long does processing take?
You know the drop-dead date for when your customer needs plates on his or her vehicle. Can the vendor meet your timeframe? And if not, what compensation will they offer?
Too many times, a vendor will say processing takes a certain number of days but doesn’t meet that commitment. And worse, the vendor doesn’t provide an explanation as to why they missed your deadline, nor do they offer allowances because of their mistake. Make sure you lock down these details before partnering with any tag agency.
Key Question #2: If a mistake is made, how will it be handled?
When a state agency rejects the forms you submit, your timeline suffers. That’s why it’s important that the tag agency you choose performs a proper review of documentation before submitting it. This allows them to identify and correct missing items and/or incomplete forms before a problem arises.
With a formal review process in place, the agency should take it upon itself to correct any errors. If for some reason a rejection happens because of information you’ve supplied, e.g., you’ve provided a wrong fed ID number, that correction should still be handled by the tag agency – and at no additional cost.
Key Question #3: Do they track processing and how is the information being shared?
Securing your assets is a big deal. As such, you should never be left in the dark. All of the information about your transaction should be transparent, and readily available to all parties involved.
Ultimately, a web-based system that allows you to log on and view every current and past order is best. If a web-based system is not available, the vendor should be quick to respond to a phone call and/or email.
Information about any delays or additional documentation needed should be handled proactively by the vendor. Reports should be available that help track volume and total spend, both with the vendor and the state, as well as broken out by state fee.
These reports will help you track trends and enable you to adjust your budgets based on your history of highs and lows.
Key Question #4: How are research questions handled?
Let’s face it, state regulations and tax amounts change as often as the seasons do – if not more so. A great benefit of working with a vendor is their ongoing relationship with state agencies. Establishing a relationship with a vendor should open the door to free advice when it comes to these matters.
While the ultimate decision about how something is handled is your responsibility, information should be available at no charge to you. Your time should be spent running your business and not online or on the phone researching questions your vendor should have quick answers for.
When you contact a vendor about specific transaction information, if they don’t have the answer for you at the time of the call, they should get the answers and inform you within a reasonable amount of time. They are the experts; let them do the work. It should not cost you any additional fees for information.
Key Question #5: Can you manage multiple vendors?
You’ve asked the questions and have found the right vendor for your business needs – in one state, at least. Now, one question remains: do you want to manage multiple vendors?
Every state has different title and registration requirements. And every agency handles these differently. Selecting one vendor for each state will require juggling multiple points of contact.
This can get difficult to manage quick – for every state you must know who to talk to about what, whether their systems will work with yours, and whether your accounts payable department will have to handle their invoices. Ultimately, this requires more back end work and additional expense for you.
The whole goal of using an agency for title and registration services is to take administrative hours off your desk. But using multiple state agencies puts many of those tasks back on your to-do list. It might be smart to consider working with a national agency, and cut out the work it takes both identifying and working with agencies on a state-by-state basis.
Working with one agency that has the ability to process in all fifty states will not only reduce time spent but also significantly cut expenses. When you establish a relationship with one nationwide vendor, they can learn to know your business needs and expectations inside and out. In turn, the vendor can better meet your needs as well as those of your clients. And, a national vendor can answer all of your questions and have processing open and available for you to track.
The Bottom Line
When it comes to processing titles and registrations in multiple states, the shortest line between A and B is likely a national vendor. You’ll see less administrative duties on your desk, and you’ll have a trusted advisor all along the way. Plus, you can apply these very same questions to choosing the right nationwide company for your business. Getting the right responses to every question will ensure you’re working with a company that will truly earn your dollars – and will keep your fleet up and running.
Driver Programs
Disincentive versus positive reinforcement…….
What’s more powerful?
What’s the correct balance?
In reviewing the 2010 NAFA Driver Training Program survey, I noted that the vast majority of programs (90%) include specific “consequences” for poor drivers…..consequences up to and including termination….but a much smaller percentage (21.1%) of programs include formal recognition for good drivers. AmeriFleet’s experience tells us there is power in a comprehensive vetting, management, initial and on-going driver training program that includes high performance standards and significant consequences for poor performance coupled with a robust good driver recognition and bonus initiative. Like most survey respondents, we measure success and rationalize program investments via key incident rate metrics such as incidents/million miles driven, percentage of preventable incidents and incident costs. In addition we consider insurance premium costs. This balanced approach to driver training and recognition has paid significant dividends for our clients and our partners and for us.
Our results?….. World class preventable incidents/million mile ratios, year over year reductions in preventable incidents (down another 23% this year) and the ability to provide increased levels of insurance coverage for our clients and partners without increased premium costs. In providing logistics services for major U.S and Canadian corporations, we understand our responsibility to protect the client’s physical assets as well as their brand image. Our program of comprehensive training, high performance standards, and prescribed consequences along with recognition and bonus incentives helps us meet that responsibility.
-John Norris
NETS Conference
Just returned from the Network of Employers for Traffic Safety (NETS) annual conference. Once again a very informative two days – the organization is doing fine work in the areas of best practice and benchmarking.
We were privileged to have Dr. Margie Peden of the World Health Organization address the group……some startling statistics…..there are 1.3 Million traffic related deaths worldwide each year and 20 to 50 Million injuries…..30% of which are work related!
The impact on families, productivity, businesses, response organizations and heath care systems is staggering. The WHO and countries around the world recognize the enormous impact traffic incidents have on individuals, businesses and governments. As a result the WHO under the auspice of the United Nations will launch The Decade of Action for Road Safety on May 11, 2011. The objective of the program is to “halt or reverse the increasing trend in road traffic deaths and injuries around the world by supporting road safety activities at the national level”. You can find more information at http://www.who.int/roadsafety/en/. More to follow!
John Norris
A Culture of Readers
As an organization we read books……a lot of books! Continuous learning keeps you hungry for personal and professional growth. It also keeps you humble and humility trumps complacency! When you’re continuously learning you can’t help but realize how much more you have to learn….you won’t become the proverbial “know it all”; you keep searching for ways to improve……ways to improve yourself, your family, your team, your community…. and so we read, discuss, learn, embrace new ideas and grow. Personal and professional growth improves the quality of an organization and therefore the quality of service that organization delivers. It’s good for our people, good for our customers and smart for our business – everyone wins!
That said I’ll tell you we just finished an important book titled Drive – The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Dan Pink. In fact our entire leadership team (over 20 folks!) felt it was one of the best books they’ve read! For us, the litmus test is the number of concepts in a book you can apply in your professional and personal lives…..Drive is packed with take-away content. We’ve already embraced and begun implementation of two exciting ideas; “20 Percent Time” and “Employee Directed Giving”. 20 Percent Time allows employees to work ½ day per week on any project that peaks their interest – the result…increased innovation, improved efficiency and engaged teams. Employee Directed Giving let’s employees direct a portion of our corporate giving fund to the charity of their choice.
Drive is a great book full of great ideas….check it out!
Drive Safely Work Week 2010 – Distracted Driving
Since 1996 the Network of Employers for Traffic Safety (NETS) has sponsored the annual Drive Safely Work Week (DSWW) campaign….and this year the U.S. DOT has partnered with NETS to add even more momentum to the effort!
This year DSWW is October 4-6, 2010 and focuses on distracted driving. The dangers of texting, reading emails, talking on your mobile device, reading and even putting on makeup while driving has gotten a lot of media attention lately. Many states have put laws into place to stop distracted driving but it really starts with you. NETS has developed a DSWW Tool Kit for employers to remind employees and their families on safe driving practices.
In the Tool Kit, you will find activities designed to reinforce safe driving messages to your employees. There are fact/tip sheets, daily activities, communication tools and posters, web banners and graphics to use. You can jump on board by downloading the DSWW Tool Kit at http://www.trafficsafety.org/dsww-materials. As Jack Hanley, Executive Director of NETS says “The more downloads….the more lives saved”, so let’s download the TOOL Kit and help support NETS mission of “improving the safety and health of employees, their families, and members of the communities in which they live and work by preventing traffic crashes that occur both on- and off-the-job.”
As leaders in our respective industries we can have a significant impact on traffic safety by embracing and promoting Drive Safely Work Week in our organizations. So take the steps to educate and protect your most important assets – your employees.
Fleet Driver Risk
Road and driver safety is important to me personally as well as from a business perspective, so the recent Automotive Digest article about a PG&E driver involved in an accident that killed two college students really caught my attention. Beyond the obvious tragedy for the families, the size of the settlement – in excess of $5 million – reminded me of the risks fleets take whenever they place a driver – particularly a third party driver – behind the wheel. There’s a clear trend towards larger liability awards and $5 million plus greatly exceeds the “industry standard” insurance requirements we often see of $1 million or $2 million for third party drivers. Another important note – the PG&E driver was diabetic so managing to DOT standards regardless of vehicle class is a wise policy since DOT requirements mean a higher level of scrutiny and more frequent testing for drivers with diabetes which can help avoid this kind of problem.
These issues have been apparent for awhile – it’s why we increased our insurance coverage from $6 million to $8 million and why we manage all behind the wheel personnel to DOT standards at a minimum. For us, these steps are the right things to do as well as prudent business.
John Norris | President | AmeriFleet Transportation
