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News From FleetBoss
January 2010
Happy New Years to You and Yours From FleetBoss!
We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called "Opportunity" and its first chapter is New Year's Day.
Edith Lovejoy Pierce
Employees
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Dear Customers and Friends,

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FleetBoss Report! This newsletter is designed to give you access to FleetBoss' industry-leading knowledge and expertise in fleet management solutions. (We welcome any success stories or comments you might wish to share about fleet management or GPS solutions)
IN THIS ISSUE
Drive More Business To Your Web Site With Solid Internet Marketing.
Going Green With GPS!
GPS in the News
Tech Corner
What Recession?

Be proactive - economizing your business in tough times.web
It's easy to sit back and bemoan the economy and other external factors that may be causing your business to slow down. Among the many reasons discussed in recent news:

  • People don't want to spend gas to get to your business and are looking for alternative ways to receive your product.
  • People are on a recession diet and spending less.
  • People are waiting to see what will happen next before they spend their money.
  • Others are borrowing for living expenses so they don't have money for what I am selling.
What can you do to give people the perception that your product or service is a "must buy" in tough economic conditions? Consider the following tips to help "recession proof" your business in today's challenging economy.

1.  Consumer research.
Do you know why people buy what you're selling? If you don't know, take a poll and ask your current customers why they buy from you. Use that information to create more value, put money in ads that emphasize that value. The sooner you figure this out, the faster you'll be able to capitalize on this concept and make more money.

2.  Cash flow is king
. Track it, analyze it and project it. Without it, your business will come to a screeching halt very fast. The best laid business plans and products are worthless if you can't pay employees and vendors in order to carry out the basic operations of the company.

3.  Cultivate a sense of urgency.
Making your service business recession proof requires a proactive & creative approach. A recession proof company is flexible and creates opportunities where others see only doom and gloom.

4.  Focus on the 20% of your clients that deliver 80% of your profits.
Do you know who those 20% are? A recession proof company understands its cost drivers.

5.  Leverage hidden value with your existing customers.
Offer outstanding customer service. Satisfied customers not only buy more, they recommend. Word of mouth is a very powerful marketing tool. When did you last ask your customers if their needs are being met?

6.  Build a psychological barrier to exit.
Be more aggressive with your marketing. How powerful is your brand image? Peace of mind is a strong disincentive to experiment with unknown suppliers.

7.  Exploit the internet
. Integrate the web into your marketing mix. Create a forum or user group. Email newsletters and blogs are powerful marketing tools & very cost effective.

8.  Don't stop marketing.
First and foremost, don't stop marketing. You may need to become a little more careful with your precious dollars, but keep your business name out there. Volunteering your time with others or towards a greater cause is a very affordable marketing strategy and networking method.

9.  Opportunity with offers.
Many times in small business, we don't take advantage of travel offers (that is, points that one can earn) on business associations, clubs, VIP memberships etc. If you haven't previously done this and your work includes travel, look into this. It's a great way to extend your travel dollars a little more.

10.  Caution with credit.
Above all, business owners must keep their personal credit ratings high, since business borrowing often depends on personal credit, especially in the small business universe. Watch your spending and don't give the bank a reason to charge you more money by being late on payments, says Ken Kamen, president of Mercadien Asset Management


Going Green With GPS!

As oil and gas prices continue to soar, demand for green initiatives has emerged as a leading topic among fleet owners worldwide. Discussions of lowering fuel emissions, idling, hybrid vehicles, low rolling resistance tires and auxiliary motors are hot industry topics dominating this year's trade seminars and boardrooms.

GPS plays a large role with companies engaged in reducing their environmental footprint and cutting cost initiatives. Consider a few of the following strategies and best practices in use:

IDLING

According to the Environmental Protection Agency's Smartway Transport Partnership, over 1 billion gallons are consumed annually from long transport vehicles by just idling - this does not include local or regional fleets. As a result, 11 million tons of carbon dioxide, 200,000 tons of oxides of nitrogen, and 5,000 tons of particulate matter are emitted into the atmosphere. In the EPA's April 2006 Idling Regulations report, 30 states have adopted anti-idling regulations in attempts to curve the expensive practice.

  Idling2

By measuring engine on/off times compared with actual driving time, GPS reporting enables fleet owners with the ability to curb idling costs by enforcing vehicle "shut-down" policies in office and job-site parking areas.

US Department of transportation studies indicate idling will use 1-2 gallons of fuel per hour. Weekly idling percentages in excess of 15% usually indicate abuse and, as a result of policy enforcement, lower fuel costs and emissions naturally occur.

EMMISSIONS 

In September 2004, California state officials raised the bar by adopting the toughest vehicle emissions standards goals in the United States. Under the regulations, unanimously approved by the California Air Resources Board, the auto industry must cut exhaust from California's cars and light trucks by 25% and from larger trucks and sport utility vehicles by 18%. Heat-trapping greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide are believed by many scientists to contribute to global warming. As a result, automakers will be required to reduce emissions by way of such innovations as better air conditioners, more efficient transmissions and smaller engines. Vehicles burning gasoline "cleaner" tend to use less fuel and, in addition to helping the environment, lower fuel use and cost can result.

Emissions

Within certain GPS systems lies the technology to interface with on-board diagnostic data via OBD or J-1708 interface. The same data used by emission enforcement agencies is now available to ensure compliance via pass/fail testing such as the FleetBoss Series 5500 Smog check report (below) that measures emissions each time the vehicle is running.

SPEEDING

Improving your fleet's speed and idling profile is one of the easiest ways to positively affect your business.  Speeding ultimately can increase your insurance premiums because your drivers are more likely to get into accidents and receive moving violations if partaking in such behavior.  Speeding also has a dramatic effect on MPG.  Fleet Owner Magazine states that a 10% increase in MPG is possible by slowing from 70 MPH to 60 MPH.  Edmunds.com believes a 12% increase in MPG may be gained by slowing from 75 MPH to 65 MPH.  If you are able to enforce a reduction of 10 MPH across your fleet, you will realize approximately a 10% - 12%reduction in your total fuel cost.  This is the equivalent of purchasing all your fuel for $.30 less per gallon.

Speed

The reality is, if you reduce your fleet's fuel usage, it's not just money you will save.  For every gallon of fuel you don't burn, it saves more than 20 pounds of green house gases, like carbon dioxide and methane, from being released into the air.  Reduced fuel usage is not just a good business practice anymore; it's now becoming a great green business.


GPS In The News
Lost couple can't blame GPS, says Air Force

msnbc.com

The US Air Force wants to set the record straight: Neither aging
GPS satellites nor a weak GPS signal were responsible for an elderly couple ...

GPS Tracks Brutus the Wolf on Marathon Hunts Around the Arctic

Discover Magazine (blog)

The tracking is part of the Northwest Territories' Central Arctic Wolf Project and the project is chronicled by researchers Dave Mech and Dean Cluff on the ...

County Is a Moose Hot Spot

Litchfield County Times

In response, the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) recently captured and collared three bulls with GPS satellite tracking equipment to ...


How Do Wolves Survive in 24/7 Darkness?

MyFox Spokane

Scientists have been tracking a pack of wolves in the Arctic this winter through a high tech collar that is sending GPS coordinates ...


Tech Corner
Q: When viewing vehicle locations and reports, some addresses are wrong. Is the mapping or your system not working correctly?

A: Currently GPS has an approximate deviation plus or minus 5-10 meters when in clear view of the sky however, if under cover (bridges, garages or overhanging trees) there may be a decrease in the accuracy. It is important to remember that GPS technology is derrived from estimates and there is always a degree of error. During a trip when a GPS coordinate (Lat/Long) is given to the software, it translates this to an address called reverse geocoding. The address displayed is based on an algorithm that looks at the closest address to that Lat/Long. This is why an address displayed in the vehicle location reports can be viewed as incorrect. Different mapping engines can display the address differently based on their algorithms. This also translates to map positions. For example, positions in Google Earth don't necessarily coincide with the correct positions on Mother Earth. Again, deviation plays a part. So the next time you view an address as incorrect in relationship to your vehicle's map location you'll know why.


Floyd Honeycutt
Vice President of Operations


 Free Monitoring!

Refer a new customer to FleetBoss and receive one free month of monitoring for each vehicle unit activated. Contact your FleetBoss representative or e-mail [email protected],11 yrs
Customers like you deserve the most generous referral rewards program in the GPS industry. So we want to help you receive hundreds of dollars worth of free monitoring.

Just tell other businesses about FleetBoss and how much you value your GPS solution. When they buy from us, you get a free month of monitoring for every unit they purchase. For example, if a referred client buys 10 units from us, you get 10 unit's worth of one month monitoring free.
 
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