FleetManagementWeekly AmeriFleet
July 28, 2015

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Editor's Analysis & Top Industry News


Earning Success!

We’ve got more great content this week – including some very successful fleet professionals who share their tips for success. In our first video, Wheels’ Laura Jozwiak talks about the mission-critical role client relations plays in her company’s success.

In our second video, Vinzenz Pflanz from Fleet Logistics talks about how global fleet initiatives can only truly succeed if they work to understand their local environments. And in today’s ‘Think Global. Plan Local.’ column, LeasePlan’s Esther Calvo Bolaño discusses emerging trends for companies at both a local and a global scale.

Speaking of success, if you’re marketing to fleet professionals, Fleet Management Weekly wants to be right there with you! We’ve got a highly-engaged fleet-only audience, and offer Content Marketing and Advertising packages that are geared to effectively expand and amplify your message. Get more info here — and please contact me at [email protected] to learn more!

Ted Roberts
COO / Chief Content Officer


INDEX: Find All of the Fleet News and Information You Need on Newly Redesigned FleetManagementWeekly.com

All posts from the newsletter can be found on our newly redesigned web site, FleetManagementWeekly.com,

Browse these categories:

Association News — Find out what’s going on at associations of importance to the fleet community.
Fleet Trends & Issues — Check out articles about current fleet issues and trends
Fleet Safety — Read news about various aspects of fleet safety, including interviews of fleet safety leaders
Fleet Videos — Watch video clips of fleet newsmakers
Interviews — Read Fleet Management Weekly’s interviews with industry leaders.
Telematics — Learn about the latest in fleet telematics news

Read monthly columns: Fleet Marketing, Fleet Asset Management, The Mobile Employee, On Accident Management, The Fleet Customer Experience, Think Global Plan Local, The Fleet CX Toolbox, and Fleet Safety.


jozwiak-laura

VIDEO: Client Relations: The Key to Driving Success

Wheels looks at Client Relations as a whole team, with Account Execs focused on the day-to-day, and with Account Management focused on the strategy you need for tomorrow.



VIDEO: Achieving Global Savings
pflanz-vinzenz
  Global Fleets Must Understand Local Environments
 

If your aim is to achieve savings in your global fleet, then it’s very important to understand all of your local environments.


VIDEO: Engineers to the Rescue
sandler-bob
  Success Story: Significantly Lowering a Fleet’s Operating Costs
 

One of Element Fleet’s clients was incurring a disproportionate amount of maintenance for certain vehicle types, so Element sent in some engineers and got the situation resolved.





The Fleet Spot


brian barber Leasing 101: Lease vs. Reimbursement Webinar

When it comes to leasing company vehicles or reimbursing your employees, there are several variables to consider before making the decision. The option you choose will have an effect on your company’s finances, human resources and image.

Register today to join LeasePlan’s leasing expert, Brian Barber, on Tuesday, August 18, at 2:30 pm EST, as he shares key differences between the options. Knowing all the facts will help you make the right decision for your fleet.

READ MORE

Bridget Wilson AmeriFleet Promotes Bridget Wilson to VP of Finance

AmeriFleet, a provider of fleet logistics services in North America, announced today that it had promoted Bridget Wilson, MBA, CPA from Corporate Controller to VP of Finance, effective immediately. Ms. Wilson brings a wealth of experience and a diverse financial background to AmeriFleet. She has been with the company for just over a year.

READ MORE

nafa-logo Register for NAFA September CAFM®/S Boot Camp by August 8th and Save $$$

Advance registration rate ends September 2nd – special incentive savings of $100 ends August 8th! Register Now

This is the forum where CAFM®/S actual or future candidates can get face-to-face instruction on some of the more difficult concepts in the course materials. Not everyone is comfortable with distance learning so it is through this forum that we help close the gap.

This is the last Boot Camp of 2015 – don’t miss it! Register now and save!

READ MORE

AFLA logo 2015 AFLA Conference: ‘The Future is Now: Transformational Ideas Shaping Our Industry’

AFLA is excited to announce the selection of Bryant Walker Smith and Charles Dominick as speakers for the 2015 AFLA Annual Conference to be held September 14-16 at the Gaylord Opryland Resort in Nashville, Tennessee. With a theme of “The Future is Now: Transformational Ideas Shaping Our Industry,” the conference will feature innovative presentations on hot topics related to the fleet industry.

Register now to secure your spot at this premiere fleet conference!

READ MORE

Think Global. Plan Local.

Global consolidation is a reality that many companies frequently face in today’s internationally focused society. As a fleet manager, you may find yourself managing a global fleet sooner than you think.

In the final part of this Q&A series, Esther Calvo Bolaño of LeasePlan International discusses emerging trends for companies at a local –and global—scale.

READ MORE

 
The Fleet CX Toolkit

NAFA rolled out its Sustainable Fleet Accreditation Program at their conference in April 2015. In an exclusive follow-up interview with Fleet Management Weekly, NAFA’s immediate Past President Claude Masters discussed the use of metrics in the accreditation process. “We talked about all of the different metrics that we use to help to evaluate a fleet’s performance, and how they reach one of the tiered levels in the accreditation,” he said.

But right after that, Masters further commented, “Again it’s not as simple as this. But there are points [to earn] for having things like a plan, for example. What’s your plan? And what kind of tools are you using?”

So while metrics are extremely important, they can’t be created in a vacuum. There are several other pieces of the puzzle you need to define before you can create your metrics.

READ MORE

 
Smart Networking Tips

Fortune

Figuring out how to walk into a room full of strangers and have a meaningful, natural, productive conversation can be challenging. All too often, we shrink back to the comfort of furtively searching the room for familiar faces and gravitating to the friendlies we recognize. Before we know it, an hour or two has elapsed, and we’ve accomplished nothing more than showing up and shooting the breeze.

READ MORE to learn five tips to help you make the most of every networking opportunity.







Fleet Trends & Issues


Report: Blue the New Black for Future Car Colors

The Detroit News

Blue is the new black. And white has run its course and will play a less prominent role in exterior car colors in five years.

That’s according to an annual report from international automotive paint supplier BASF Coatings. The company predicts the revitalization of urban environments — specifically Detroit — is inspiring brighter and more varied exterior automobile colors in North America for the 2019 model year.

READ MORE

How Can the Best Car Brands Also Be the Worst?

The Detroit Bureau

Who is a potential car buyer supposed to trust when they’re looking for a high-quality car?

In its newly released APEAL study, widely followed research firm J.D. Power and Associates ranked Porsche number one among luxury marques while Mini was named the top “non-premium” brand. Yet, just a month before, another Power survey, the Initial Quality Study, ranked Mini well below average.

If all these various studies are meant to help consumers pick and choose from the industry’s best, what’s a motorist to do?

READ MORE

Mayor Touts S.F.’s Green Vehicle Plans at Vatican Conference

SF Gate

San Francisco will switch its municipal fleet — some 6,000 vehicles ranging from fire trucks to police cars — from petroleum to renewable diesel by the end of the year, Mayor Ed Lee said Tuesday during his trip to the Vatican.

“We’re taking action that is good for the global climate, and at the same time promotes environmental justice in our community by leading to cleaner, healthier air for some of our most vulnerable neighborhoods,” Lee said. “The city of St. Francis is answering the pope’s call for local action on global climate change.”

His comments came at a major conference hosted by Pope Francis focusing on climate change and human trafficking.

Read more of the original article on SF Gate.

Fleet of Electric Vehicles at Fort Carson Part of Microgrid Project

The Gazette

The aging United States electricity grid is facing an increasing number of threats, ranging from severe weather events to solar flares to cyber terrorism. Inside Energy research has found major power outages have doubled every five years since 2000.

It’s something the U.S. military is taking seriously, helping lead the way in the development of smaller and more secure grids – known as microgrids.

READ MORE

Human Crash Test Dummy

Donald Dunphy, NAFA Fleet Management Association

On July 21, tech magazine Wired ran an article wherein reporter Andy Greenberg got a front seat to a very scary show (http://www.wired.com/2015/07/hackers-remotely-kill-jeep-highway). The writer drove a vehicle under controlled conditions as a “human crash test dummy” while security experts Charlie Miller, with Twitter, and formerly of the National Security Agency; and Chris Valasek, Director of Vehicle Security Research at the IOActive consultancy, carjacked Greenberg’s ride in motion from miles away.

NAFA’s FLEETSolutions article, “Car Hacking: Preparing for the Future Now sent a ripple of concern through the Association upon its publication. Wired Magazine’s experiment continues to prove this is a topic of utmost urgency.

READ MORE

 
The Fleet Customer Experience

Define your business not by its product, processes, or services, but by what it does for people that they value. It is part of being a customer experience leader.

By Jeofrey Bean

The impact of being clear about what you do for your customers can not be underestimated. From service and message development to what the customer actually experiences in service and support.

READ MORE

 
Unfair Penalties?

The Detroit Bureau

“Inhumane” penalty for newly widowed women.

Losing a spouse is never easy, either emotionally or financially, and a new study finds that many major auto insurance companies are adding to the grief by raising rates for new widows by as much as 226%.

READ MORE








Fleet Management Resources
 
AmeriFleet
Offering a nationwide vehicle delivery and relocation service; serving the corporate and commercial fleet industry.
GPS Insight
GPS Insight offers GPS tracking solutions to meet your organization's unique requirements and challenges.
PARS
PARS' mission is to provide you with high-quality service at competitive prices for all of your transportation needs.
ARI
Driven fleet professionals. Driving results.
LeasePlan
LeasePlan is the world's leading high-touch service provider for vehicle leasing and fleet management.
The CEI Group Inc.
North America's largest accident management and fleet driver safety company.
Element
Customizing global fleet management to achieve your goals.
NAFA
NAFA is the association for the diverse vehicle fleet management profession regardless of organizational type, geographic location, or fleet composition.
Verizon Networkfleet
Verizon Networkfleet offers GPS fleet management solutions to help small to medium-sized businesses, enterprises, and government agencies better manage vehicles and assets. For a demo visit www.networkfleet.com/demo.