Automotive Fleet, March 2019

AUTOMOTIVE FLEET I MARCH 2019 40 THE BEST WAY TO CHEER YOURSELF UP IS TO TRY TO CHEER SOMEBODY ELSE UP MARK TWAIN CUSTOMERS ARE LIKE TEETH IGNORE THEM AND THEYLL GO AWAY JERRY FLANAGAN PEOPLE CAN HAVE IT IN ANY COLOR SO LONG AS ITS BLACK HENRY FORD Embracing a Changing Industry EDITORIAL BY SHERB BROWN If you are feeling a little overwhelmed by the latest fleet technology the firehose of data your vehicles are generating or by senior management questions about the latest headlines regarding autonomous electric or fuel cell vehicles rest assured you arent alone If you are wondering when its all going to stop or at least slow down the bad news is that probably never will The good news is that youve got some great resources at your disposal to help you separate the facts from the fiction so you can focus on the things that matter today and tomorrow without getting distracted by the things that wont matter for 10 20 years There are things you can do right now that will make a huge difference for your fleet Embracing telematics safety management right sizing your fleet right sizing your vehicles and watching resale trends can make a world of difference for your bottom line If you are using an FMC theyll guide you through the analysis you need to do to make the right choices for your fleet If you happen across an issue of Automotive Fleet or better yet across the automotivefleet com website youll find a treasure trove of articles white papers and archived webinars that can also help you through the process If you cant find what you need there we have several areas where you can Ask the expert and get a quick response to your individual questions Fleet suppliers as a general rule are a great resource and one that is overlooked by many While the suppliers obviously have a dog in the fight since they want to sell you a product or a service they are also constantly thinking about the long term They dont want to sell you something you dont need or something that wont add value because they want to be a long term partner The fleet market is finite so they cant risk alienating customers by selling them something they dont need or that they arent ready for In many cases the salesperson you are dealing with will have decades of experience in the market and can do a lot to help you filter out the noise and the shiny objects from the real data I beat this drum regularly but for those that have missed my prior 10000 mentions your fellow fleet managers are a great source of information If you dont have a network of fleet management peers its time to start building one You dont have to guess about whether a product or service will perform as promised when you can talk to someone who has already bought 1000 or 10000 versions of that product or service A good network of peers will be like your own personal Yelp on steroids If you disagree let me know AF sherb brown@ bobit com