Do you remember when you started hiring new employees? Handing over the cleaning supplies and keys to a company vehicle and trusting someone else to represent your brand is a big step in any small business owner’s journey.
Hiring is always a gamble. Even though you’ve vetted the best candidates and trust your team, it’s still important to maintain a certain level of visibility into your staff’s day-to-day movements in order to appropriately manage them and keep your business running smoothly.
Without being too overbearing and making your remote cleaning services team feel micro-managed, the best way to manage a small vehicle fleet is through vehicle tracking.
We discuss the benefits of vehicle tracking in full below.
- What is vehicle tracking?
- Why do companies track their vehicles?
- How can GPS vehicle tracking improve your business?
- What are the benefits of a vehicle tracking system?
What is vehicle tracking?
Vehicle tracking is a system that utilizes GPS technology and a combination of hardware and software to create a user-friendly program that allows business owners to gain full visibility into their vehicles and their drivers’ behavior.
Why do companies track their vehicles?
Companies track their vehicles to monitor the real-time location of their vehicles as well as the behavior of their drivers. Knowing where your vehicles are at any given moment allows you to provide better customer service to those waiting to have their homes cleaned. Vehicle tracking also provides business owners with time-stamped records of vehicle locations which allows them to settle disputes that may arise with customers or internally with staff.
For example, if a customer claims a cleaner never showed up at their home or if a complaint comes in accusing your branded vehicle of driving aggressively, you can check the historical location information of that vehicle to see if these claims are accurate or not. Having this type of data is a great tool for managing a successful business with multiple cleaners in different locations each day and maintaining a good reputation.
How can GPS vehicle tracking improve your business?
Beyond giving you full visibility into vehicle location and driver behavior, GPS vehicle tracking can improve your business with its additional features such as maintenance notifications and reminders, vehicle health alerts, disturbance alerts, and geofencing alerts. These technologies enable your cleaning business to save money on operating costs, avoid unexpected downtime, and better manage your cleaners while they’re on the road. (More on this below.)
What are the benefits of a vehicle tracking system?
Benefits of vehicle tracking for cleaning companies include improved customer service, reduced operating costs, increased productivity, enhanced safety, and better management.
We’ve put together a complete list of the top vehicle tracking benefits for cleaning companies below:
- Improves customer service
- Reduces operating costs
- Increases productivity
- Improves driver and vehicle safety
- Enhances fleet management
1. Improves customer service
Your reputation only gets better if you provide a top-notch cleaning service and maintain that same level of quality with every job. Customers will be more inclined to refer your cleaning company or leave a positive review on Google, Yelp, or Facebook if they had a good experience.
One of the best features of vehicle tracking that helps to improve customer service is live location sharing. This is an Uber-like feature that uses a live map on smartphones to let customers see exactly where their cleaners are and when they’ll arrive. Text the link directly to the customer’s phone and control how long they can track that vehicle.
When a customer is waiting for their cleaner to arrive, they might be planning the rest of their day around this service. Offering them an estimated timeframe as to when their cleaner will arrive is an outdated approach to the service industry and one that has often brought a great deal of frustration to customers in the past.
Customers love the location sharing feature because it gives them full visibility into their experience with your cleaning company and allows them to better plan their day.
2. Reduces operating costs
Every penny counts when you’re operating a business. Operating costs, regardless of the amount, add up over time, so it’s important to take advantage of cost savings when opportunities arise.
Vehicle tracking allows cleaning companies to save money on operating costs such as:
- Fuel costs: With the price of fuel continuously on the rise, operating your company vehicles each day becomes increasingly more expensive. Vehicle tracking lets you see if your cleaners are using inefficient routes to get to jobs or if the vehicles have experienced excessive idling on their journey. These incremental actions can add up quickly when it comes to fuel consumption and being able to track them and make improvements accordingly helps you save on fuel costs.
- Maintenance costs and repairs costs: Vehicle tracking provides you with valuable data about your fleet including vehicle health, tire issue notifications, and preventive maintenance alerts. Staying on top of maintenance can save you money on maintenance costs, unexpected repairs, and unnecessary downtime.
- Equipment costs: Vehicle GPS tracking also helps preserve the lifespan of your cleaning equipment within the vehicle. If equipment is being knocked around during aggressive driving manoeuvers on the regular, you may be forced to replace equipment more frequently.
Insurance costs: Every vehicle you add to your fleet will require insurance. As your company grows, you’ll appreciate the costs savings vehicle tracking can provide to your insurance rates.
Fleet tracking saves costs on more than just insurance. Learn how much money fleet tracking can save your business in dollar figures. How Much Money Can Fleet Tracking Save Your Company?
3. Increases productivity
Between loading vehicles with cleaning equipment and supplies, driving to and from job sites, and performing cleaning duties, your team has a lot on their plates. They deserve to take a few breaks throughout the day but the longer and more frequent the breaks, the quicker productivity, and service quality decrease.
Vehicle tracking allows you to monitor the time your remote employees spent loading vehicles, time spent at each job site, and everything in between. When staff knows they’re being held accountable for their actions while on the clock, they’re empowered to meet (and even exceed) the requirements set out for them in their job description.
4. Improves driver and vehicle safety
Arguably the most important benefit when your team is on the road is safety. Keeping your cleaners and vehicles safe should be your top priority as a business owner.
Vehicle tracking allows you to see each cleaner’s driving style and driver behavior while behind the wheel. You’ll collect valuable information about any safety violations, aggressive driving, harsh braking, and speeding, which allows you to better manage your staff.
For example, if you notice one of your cleaners got a poor RoadScore on their Road Report, you can see exactly where the violations occurred and for how long. You can then speak to them and find out why this happened and address it with the data to back it up. If the driver was in a rush or concerned about getting to a cleaning job on time, you can create an action plan to approach this in a way that addresses safety and customer satisfaction.
5. Enhances fleet management
Managing a fleet can be difficult if you’re relying on manual timesheets and mileage counters. Vehicle tracking gives business owners full visibility into their vehicles and their drivers while automating things like time verification and mileage tracking. You can also see if vehicles make unscheduled stops or are being used for personal use. Geo-fencing technology also allows business owners to see whether vehicles have been driven outside of unapproved areas—whether by employees or due to theft.
Vehicle GPS tracking systems for your cleaning company
Between enhanced safety, cost savings, and everything in between, the benefits of fleet tracking software for a cleaning company are clear.
Force Fleet Tracking offers a no-obligation free trial on our GPS tracking software. We ship you the GPS tracking device for free which gives you access to the fleet tracking software where you can get real-time location information, set up geofences, and get vehicle health and disturbance alerts sent straight to your smartphone.
Unlock the power of GPS tracking technology and watch your cleaning company grow. Start your free trial.
