How Does Implementing a Fleet Tracking System Impact the Driver?

If you’re a fleet manager or you own a business that includes a fleet, you already know that drivers are your biggest asset. They represent you out on the road and in person with your customers, and if you’re smart and savvy, you already to a lot to keep them happy and motivated.

But keeping them that way can be tricky when you go to add a GPS tracking system to your fleet business. Some drivers will become suspicious. Others will see it as intrusive. You may even have a few who consider this kind of tracking system an invasion of privacy, especially if they don’t understand how these systems work and what they’re really designed to do.

You can change all of that, however. Getting your drivers to buy into GPS tracking capability may be an uphill task for some, but the process doesn’t have to be confrontational or adversarial

You do have to know how to go about it, though, so with that in mind, let’s review. What follows is a breakdown of some of the things you can do to get your drivers to accept, buy into and maybe even come to love your GPS tracking system.

The Productivity Factor

Let’s start by talking about productivity. If you’ve got good drivers, they almost certainly want to be productive, especially if you set solid, reachable performance goals for them.

Bonuses, hourly raises, and salary bumps are important to their quality of life, and on the surface it may look to some of them that a GPS tracking system is intrinsically designed to make getting them more difficult.

In fact, though, the opposite is often true. A high-quality, comprehensive GPS tracking system can help them cash in across the board when it comes to productivity, whether it’s meeting daily, weekly, or quarterly benchmarks.

How? The same real-time tracking system that helps you manage your fleet can also be set up to give them accurate, in-the-moment numbers that tell your drivers how close they are to meeting their performance goals, and you can even set up your software to send them notifications when they exceed them.

That’s a powerful incentive for many drivers, your best ones especially. And having your drivers competing to meet performance goals via your tracking system can help you grow your business in ways you never thought possible.

Be Honest

Now that we’ve covered the productivity/performance part of the tracking equation, let’s take a step back and cover another aspect of selling your tracking software to your drivers.

To put it simply, this one’s all about honesty. Take the time to conduct tutorials in which you show your drivers how the software works, and you can even let them run the package themselves. That way they know exactly what you’re doing when they’re out on the road, so it’s a great way to foster mutual trust.

You can also back up these tutorials with some real-life positive examples. Show your drivers exactly how your tracking system can save them time and energy—they won’t have to take the long way around to get to a job, for example.

Or you can show them how on-the-fly scheduling will allow them to be more productive and spend more time actually finishing jobs, rather than doing route guesswork out on the road.

It’s also important for drivers to see the details of how the system works. Letting each driver set up his or her own dashboard, for instance, can go a long way toward reducing the fear factor that some may have about the technology.

Emphasize the Bottom Line

Another way to help drivers get on board with GPS tracking is to show them some of the specific revenue numbers.

The proof is in the pudding when it comes to these—if drivers see revenue numbers going up, it’s hard to argue with the results you’re getting from your tracking system.

Every driver wants to be part of a growing company, after all, and a stronger bottom line means more vehicles, more advancement opportunities and more salary bumps and bonuses.

They should also know how buying into the tracking system can help you, too. Sometimes getting them to help augment the information your system provides can make all the difference for a given job, and the more they know about the overall impact of the tracking system the more likely they are to do that.

Less Paperwork and Reporting

Most drivers dislike the paperwork that comes with the job, and some hate it with a passion. But many don’t realize that a good GPS tracking system can eliminate a lot of that paperwork, which can make their lives a lot easier.

So show them. Do a before and after demonstration of the reports they’ll have to file without and with the tracking software—it’ll go a long way toward getting your GPS tracking system accepted. It may even become a hit if you’re able to eliminate all the paperwork, and that’s a great win-win that will give you happy drivers who are more likely to stay with you for the long haul.

The Safety Factor

One of the best hidden benefits of a good GPS tracking system is what it can do for driver safety. Route optimization can help keep them out of serious traffic jams where accidents are more likely, and you can also keep them on the safest roads in your area.

Tracking systems can also protect drivers against false reporting, whether it’s a traffic accident, a stolen vehicle incident or a property-related hassle with a customer. It gives you and them an extra layer of protection, and the changes are good that once they see it in action, they’ll be glad you have it.

Put Your Plan in Action

To get started on the process, though, you need to act. It starts with a simple phone call—the numbers 415-651-7575, or you can email us at sales@fleetr.com.

You can also visit us at www.fleetr.com, and get all the information you need, along with the answers to any questions you may have about fleet management tracking software.