Finding a Fleet Management Solution for Your Pest Control Business
Fleet management takes one of the largest shares of expenses in a business. Sourcing, purchasing, maintenance, and managing your fleet is quite costly yet crucial in your business. From the onset, you’ll need to get it right to save your company both time and money.
For a pest control business, your company involves moving staff from one place to another, often during odd hours. As a manager, you need time to efficiently handle different customer requirements while someone else manages your fleet. Without proper planning, fleet management can turn out to be a significant burden on the part of your business’ current resource.
At its core, fleet management solutions range from the organization to overseeing all your company’s vehicle fleets. For fleet management to be effective, a target-oriented approach to how your fleet is supervised is key. It must take into account the depth of your current resources, along with both internal and external factors likely to affect the management of your fleet operations.
To perform better in a business that solely deals with pest control, you’ll need to pull together a detailed list of objectives. You’ll need a fleet solution that helps you achieve what you want from outsourcing fleet services. Most importantly, your overall business plan must be integrated into the vehicle fleet management plan. Objectives must be geared toward the following:
- Reduce overhead costs
- Improve overall efficiency across the business
- Benefit from the use of new products or services
- Expand business offerings and introduce new members of staff based on the field
- Manage driver behavior
- Improve the company’s green credentials
Benefits of Outsourcing Fleet Services
Besides the obvious reasons of allowing you to focus on other essential service delivery matters, there are several other benefits of outsourcing your fleet services.
#1. Cost Saving and Restructuring
One of the primary reasons for outsourcing fleet management is that it allows businesses to lower operating costs. In a pest control business scenario, dealing with issues that relate to fleet maintenance directly could mean you’re paying more than necessary for both parts and labor. While outsourcing also means you’re paying considerable amounts to your fleet management provider, you’re likely to benefit from negotiated terms and high discounts, saving your company significant sums of money.
Service providers use modern fleet management tools that facilitate real-time reporting for both fleet managers and their partners. Therefore, it means you can easily monitor costs effectively if your provider avails detailed reporting on the situations where costs are being incurred.
Further, outsourcing fleet services eliminates the need for in-house fleet management resources, as an external specialist can handle the entire task.
#2. Improved Fleet Quality
As a pest control business, the primary agenda is to provide the best pest control services to your clients. When you choose to outsource fleet services, you centralize your pest control services as an expert takes care of your fleet operations. These are experts in what they do, and that means they will improve your fleet efficiency, and in the long haul, the efficiency of your business as well.
#3. Improved Staff Management
Fleet industry specialists understand the different risks involved in fleet management. They bring with them the benefits of efficient fleet services, structured risk management, and all the advantages of specialization. By hiring fleet management services, it means your business stands to enjoy expert advice and specialist support every time you’re dealing with business risks.
In a pest control business, different departments call for qualified personnel. Some fleet management matters cannot be handled by non-qualified staff. When non-qualified personnel are required to perform tasks they’re not experienced in, efficiency cannot be guaranteed. When you outsource fleet services, it means you leave everyone to do what they are qualified to do, leading to overall workplace efficiency.
#4. Legally Binding Contracts Bring Clarity
Outsourcing your fleet management services means you agree to a legally binding contract with another party. The contract should lay out all the terms of the agreement clearly, including all the services provided. This brings clarity as both parties have their set of rules spelled out as part of the deal. Issues that could have been a challenge to pest control company staff are left in the hands of dedicated experts bound by a contract, which makes you safe on your part. Should the party handling your fleet on your behalf break the terms of the agreement, the law is there to protect you.
#5. Growth of Internal Expertise
Professional fleet management providers carry with them a lot of experience in the field. They deal with diverse challenges in the industry, and they have extensive experience in every detail of the industry. That means you are guaranteed to receive specialist advice and all the information from them, including solutions to problems that could have hurt your business. The same expert knowledge can be passed on to your business in areas that improve service delivery.
The Potential Downsides of Outsourcing Fleet Services
Regardless of how involved your fleet management company is in fleet services, you remain liable for anything that might go wrong. Outsourcing means you’re only offloading some of the workloads, but not the responsibility. For instance, it remains your responsibility to offset bills that come with your third-party fleet management company implementing a fleet safety program.
Another potential downside is communication bottlenecks. Unlike when you use an in-house fleet manager, where drivers, mechanics, and other staff have only one communication line, your team will have to communicate via the provider’s channels. In such a scenario, there can be poor correspondence when resolving critical issues.
Conclusion
The benefits of outsourcing fleet services outweigh the downsides entirely. Pest control companies must spend adequate time sourcing the best fleet management providers who are willing to flex their working structures to benefit your business. Some providers could be too rigid in their operations, giving you little autonomy for how you’d like to manage your fleet.
We recently conducted a survey that showed 44.83% companies had decided to eschew outsourcing and keep their risk management in-house. To do this, they use fleet management software to track their fleet and drivers.
With that said, whether it’s software or a different company, take time to establish that whoever you outsource your fleet operations to understands the core of your pest control business and will put up adequate resources to meet your unique business needs.
