Putting customers at the centre of your business is really important as it leads to a higher ROI and builds trustworthy relationships. Here’s how EQSTRA Fleet Management puts its customers first.
Running a fleet requires us to look at many aspects of our company. But, how does customer service fit into the picture, and how does it work in our company?
According to Foss National Leasing, a fleet management company in Canada,
“The customer is always right’ motto might be an exaggeration, but businesses should take heed of its kernel of truth. If you treat customers well, they reciprocate with generosity, loyalty, and favourable word of mouth.”
We asked our team to share their insights as to how and why EQSTRA Fleet Management puts its customers first.
"No 'one-size-fits-all' solution."
- Lynne Nel, Manager: Tenders & Marketing
EQSTRA Fleet Management doesn’t believe in a ‘one-size-fits-all’ fleet solution for fleet operators. Each industry has its own requirements and the specific operations will dictate which solutions will be beneficial to their business. For example, a transport company that transports products requiring refrigeration will need a greater focus on systems that monitor temperatures compared to a transport company that delivers furniture.
For this purpose before we start the sales process, we consult with fleet operators to listen to their needs and key performance areas and guide the fleet operators as to which solution will be most beneficial for them rather than proposing a costly total fleet solution upfront.
- We were the first business to bring an accident management solution to South Africa.
- Our in-house managed roadside assistance programme focuses on the management of breakdowns for fleets, rather than the traditional dominant player focusing on the individual consumer.
- Our independent consulting team performs fleet audits and fact-finding exercises in order to find efficiencies that customers can achieve before having to make an investment into unnecessary fleet solutions.
- We’ve acquired a tracking provider to integrate data from vehicle telematics solutions with operating data. With Quest, our bespoke fleet management platform, clients can now manage all areas of fleet management, without having to spend hours consolidating data from multiple sources.
Our innovative products and fleet management services were crafted from insights from fleet owners and we continually strive to fulfil the needs of the market.
We’ve also developed a customer portal that feeds directly into Quest, our fleet management solution. The customer portal allows customers to self-manage their fleets, such as changes in drivers, or vehicles that change from branch to branch. Until Quest, the process of changing a driver or vehicle between branches was fraught with administration and information often got lost in the process between emails and requests. Now, the changes can happen in real-time without having to rely on multiple administrators to affect the changes. Further benefit changes like the date, users and notes can be recorded directly into the system. The portal allows our customers to have data and reports at their fingertips without having to wait for emails or the manual delivery of data.
A mobile application has been developed for our customer fleet managers and drivers. Insurance claims and service requests can now be logged through the app far more efficiently than having to email documents back and forth. Administration efficiencies are being achieved by using optical character recognition (OCR) technology which allows the data on forms to be automatically added to Quest. This negates the need for manual data capturing which can be fraught with errors. Vehicle inspections no longer require somebody to travel to the vehicle as the app can allocate a vehicle inspection task to the driver. The driver is prompted to record vehicle conditions and take photographs as evidence, which can all be uploaded directly into Quest for all stakeholders and customers to view.
Suppliers can now log authorisation requests and job cards through a supplier portal, also automatically saved in Quest, saving waiting time for our customers at vehicle service, repair and fitment centres.
Recommended for you: Tips to qualify as an EQSTRA Fleet Management customer
"Our services provide the desired output."
Customers are vital to the survival of any business, and in our business where customers enter into long term contracts, it’s crucial for us to find out exactly what their needs and objectives are upfront in order for us to ensure that our services provide the desired output. Customers are the engineers or architects of our business and we’re here to serve their needs and input ensuring we’re always innovative.
Our business strives to keep all customers loyal not only for retention and organic growth, but also to make customers proponents of our services and ambassadors for our business as a whole.
To retain customers, we must continually evolve our suite of services and the evolution is not necessarily a change in our core service offering, but a change in how we engage with our customers. This includes how we provide meaningful data, give applicable recommendations, and provide them with a tool that enables them access to data in real-time.
Our case studies reveal it all…
The customer is always king! They may not be always right, but we treat them as such. Whether our sales team assists a customer by arranging to meet a driver to hand over a fuel card needed urgently or taking a call from a user when they’re not sure who to contact to get assistance, our sales team is always available.
Alana Fourie, one of our New Business Development Consultants, made sure she was with her customer, Palamang Transport and Projects Pty Ltd, for the delivery, taking place after hours, of their first lease vehicle from EQSTRA Fleet Management. Alana wanted to ensure it was a smooth handover. This is one way we demonstrate how we put our customers first.
Paulo Dias, our Senior Consultant for Fleet and Value Add Solutions, assisted with the distribution of fuel cards for the South African National Blood Service (SANBS). The SANBS recently appointed us as their new fleet management provider, and due to the number of fuel cards and the spread of the SANBS fleet, Paulo assisted the EQSTRA Fleet Management implementation team to ensure we met the stringent turnaround time. In addition, the GPS Tracking Solutions team worked after hours and across numerous locations nationwide to install the vehicle tracking hardware with minimal downtime to SANBS.
"EQSTRA Fleet Management embraces change."
We can have the best fleet solutions and the most innovative products, but without customers, we don’t have a business. Our customers play the most crucial role as they have the power to see us prosper or fail. No business can exist without customers who see the need for your service and are prepared to pay for it.
We’re doing business in a digital world and we’ve embraced this and will continue to evolve accordingly. Today’s customers want instant action and 24/7 access to information.
Through our recently launched Fleet App for Windows, Android and Apple smartphones, our customers now have the following services available at the touch of a button:
- 24/7 assistance in case of breakdowns, accidents or any other roadside emergencies.
- The functionality of updating or uploading odometer readings, contact info, licence renewals, incidents, ID’s, proof of residence, etc.
"Customers are our stakeholders."
The customer is the foundation of our business as we are a solutions-driven business. Our customers play an important role in driving the sales in our business and our clients ensure our growth as a business and our integrity. If our customers are satisfied with the solution or service we’re offering them, we’ll continue to build strong relationships and they’ll continue to give us replacement business.
We’re genuinely interested in our clients and strive to build healthy relationships. We build rapport with clients to make them feel important and ensure we put their needs ahead of everything else. We take our clients’ feedback seriously and act on it, by continuously striving to introduce systems and products which will assist in making their experience a positive one. We’ve introduced a new customer portal that gives clients access to updated driver details, to do hierarchy movements, to print documentation required and for them to have transparency on all cases which are in progress. We’re continuously striving to improve our systems to give our clients a seamless consistent solution.
“Excellence with Urgency” perfectly sums up our experience with clients. They want everything now and we need to ensure we deliver it with a smile and consistency. Our teams work around quarterly values statements which keep us relevant and allow us the opportunity to discuss our client's values and needs.
“Just having satisfied customers isn’t good enough anymore. If you really want a booming business, you have to create raving fans.” - Kenneth Blanchard.
And, that’s exactly what we’re doing!
Contact us if you’d like to become part of our team, as well as a valued customer:
