If you run a fleet-based business in the United States, your competition is fierce. In fact, there are currently more than 400,000 fleet-based businesses operating across the country.
Because of this, you need to make sure that your company can consistently deliver a high-quality service. This will help you stand out from the crowd and build customer loyalty. Why is this so important?
A loyal customer base is essential to business success. It guarantees work for you in the future. Loyal customers can also act as brand advocates by recommending you to other business owners that they know.
The best way to build a loyal customer base is to deliver a great customer experience — so how can GPS tracking for commercial trucks help? Read on to learn how GPS tracking for commercial trucks can help create a better experience for your customers.
How Does GPS Tracking for Commercial Trucks Work?
GPS tracking for commercial trucks comes in a number of different forms. It might be as simple as using a phone or handheld device, or could involve fitting each vehicle in your fleet with a small tracker device. There are now plenty of great devices that you can plug into a vehicle, which don’t require direct operation from the driver’s charging or installation time. Furthermore,
As trucks from your fleet drive around, these tracking devices collect data on their journey and feed this back to your transportation management system. This data includes:
- Current route and distance traveled
- Current location along a specific route
- Proof-of-deliveries (time-of-day)
- Remaining deliveries or stops for the day (via automated ETA notifications)
- Idle time
From this data, a robust tracking system can generate reports about each delivery. It will also send alerts to let you know if a vehicle has faced delays or is changing its route.
While this tracking setup can help dispatchers manage their fleets more efficiently, you must also ask yourself: how can GPS tracking for commercial trucks help your customers’ experience? Let’s take a closer look at how your customers can benefit from GPS tracking.
GPS Tracking Keeps Your Customers Up-to-Date
Tracking the deliveries that your trucks are making doesn’t just help you keep an eye on your drivers. It also means that you can keep your customers as up-to-date as possible.
You can pair your GPS tracking system with automated customer notifications to provide real-time visibility and alert customers when their product is:
- Loaded and ready for delivery
- Sent out for delivery
- Close to the delivery address
This setup allows your customers to easily pinpoint where their delivery is. With this helpful information, customers can then plan exactly when they need to have their team on site to help unload and store the product. Furthermore, your customers can feel peace of mind knowing that their delivery is in great hands and is being monitored closely – a great way to build your brand and trust with that customer.
Tracking Allows You to Provide More Accurate Delivery Times
As a distributor, you rarely have opportunities to interact with your customers in a very personal way. Because of this, it is important that you capitalize on these rare opportunities to strengthen customer relationships.
Giving your customers an accurate delivery window is a great way to do this. With real-time GPS tracking, you can notify customers when their delivery is en route and provide a reliable ETA.
For example, let’s say you have a customer that can only unload their delivery from 1 PM to 3 PM. Instead of relying on outdated tracking methods to ‘guess-timate’ an ETA, you can use modern GPS tracking and automated notifications to provide an accurate two-hour delivery window to that customer.
Automated customer notifications can also be used to keep customers informed of delays to their deliveries. At the same time, you can give them an actual reason for the delays and a new delivery time. This will certainly take the edge off a delay notification!
It Improves Your Customer Service
GPS tracking for commercial trucks and automated notifications take care of a lot of the standard questions people have for your customer service team. This means that your team will have more time to address other unique customer issues that have been raised.
In addition to customers being able to see their deliveries in real time, your team can also keep an eye on orders using the GPS system. So if they get an alert about delays they can contact your customers immediately. This might include giving them an update over the phone and offering the opportunity to rearrange their delivery if they will no longer be available for receiving.
This is just one way that GPS tracking for commercial trucks helps you provide better service; the ultimate way to build a loyal customer base.
Tracking Puts You One Step Ahead of Your Competitors
When thinking about ways to improve your company, you should not only think about what your company is doing. You also need to keep your competitors in mind. After all, your customers will be comparing your company with other distributors or service centers when choosing a partner.
Distribution and commercial trucking are highly competitive industries; good companies have the opportunity to create a competitive edge through technology now, or play catch-up to their competition later.
A GPS tracking system will put your company way ahead of your competitors in terms of customer satisfaction, driver safety, and fleet efficiency. All of this will be reflected in your company’s reputation and this can seriously help your business grow.
GPS Tracking Can Improve the Efficiency of Your Fleet
One of the main things that customers look for in a delivery fleet is good timekeeping and quality care for their goods. Running an efficient company allows you to focus on these things and GPS tracking can help.
Having up-to-date information on when your vehicles will be arriving at a depot means that your team can be ready to load or unload them. So you can get your vans back on the road in no time at all and offer your customers as many delivery slots as possible.
Improve Your Fleet’s Visibility with Headlight Solutions
As you can see, GPS tracking doesn’t just help you track your vehicles’ movements and loads. It can also seriously improve your customers’ experiences – which is essential if you want to proactively grow your business and enhance your competitive edge.
So what are you waiting for? Start improving your fleet’s efficiency and customer loyalty with the help of GPS tracking for commercial trucks today. Get in touch today to find out exactly how Headlight Solutions can help your business.
