Implementing the right fuel management solutions for your company is all about ways you can save money at the pumps and also in the office. Regardless of the number of cars or trucks your company uses, keeping on top of fuel expenses, maintenance and other associated costs can be difficult and time consuming. You may also be hemorrhaging money with poor receipt tracking and no clear definitions of what your drivers can and can’t do.

The easiest way to manage your company’s fuel expenses is by using fleet gas cards. With in-house company credit cards, it can be difficult to keep track of gas expenses versus other expenses. Your financial department could find themselves buried under a pile of receipts that just don’t match up with the company’s fuel budget. With fleet credit cards, all of that initial paperwork is taken care of for you. When the cards are used at the pumps, the charges are recorded and your company will receive the receipts and reports on each card’s usage. This can go a long way to helping keep your books balanced. And, you can save money in hours because it won’t take your financial department nearly as long to balance the books.

Another key element of fleet fuel management solutions is to identify areas where there could be improvement. For example, don’t assume that your drivers know their duties. Check in with them and make sure that their job descriptions and what they are expected to do and not do is clearly explained. If your drivers aren’t 100% sure what their jobs are, then you could be looking at lost or down time while they are on the road. This can result in loss of income for the company.

The routes that your drivers take can also be costing the company some money. Re-examining the routes most often taken, including where your drivers tend to stop for refueling can help you come up with better ways of getting from point A to point B. With the software available as part of a fleet fuel management system you may discover that what appears to be the quickest route actually isn’t once you take into consideration traffic flow and typical weather conditions. Just using the fleet cards themselves can save you money at the pump. Depending on the number of vehicles in your fleet, you could be eligible for a fuel discount or a locked in fuel price. Even if the gas prices increase, you won’t have to pay the elevated cost because you’ll be locked into a lower price point. You can also set the cards up so that they can only be used to purchase gas, which can also help control the money your company spends.

Managing your company’s fuel consumption can be a huge task, especially if your company has a large fleet to deal with. Using fleet credit cards as part of your overall fleet fuel management solution will make tracking your company’s fuel consumption easier, along with helping cut down on the costs associated with running a fleet.

Show them you care. Start with a classic holiday card! These seasonal greeting cards offer the perfect way to get your message across. Select the right design to suit your business needs, customize fonts and colors and wow them with a photo for that special touch. To show them that you truly appreciate their patronage, include a message on the inside and seal the deal with your signature. Your customers will remember your kindness and repay you with their business!

Stay in front of them throughout the year. If you really want to impress your customer base, it’s time to pull out all the stops. Customizing a wall calendar isn’t expensive and allows you to reinforce your brand identity while saying thanks. Add your favorite photo of the team, include icons and text to remind them of important dates like an appointment reminder. You can even upload your logo. And you won’t have to worry about customers tossing this handy promotional item away – they’ll reference it almost every day.

Do something a little extra special. Every business has a customer that proves their loyalty time and again. They may repeatedly purchase your products and services or boast about your business to their friends. How do you prove that their business is super appreciated? Send them a holiday goody bag filled with fun promotional items like pens, note pads and key chains. These items are useful and have the added benefit of reminding customers of your brand identity.

Get ready to wow your customers – they may be flowing through the door soon!

I recently did some research into the business of lighting. I was researching an article about high pressure sodium lights. However I ended up learning about the business end of being in the lighting industry.

On the website for Fulham Ballast, I found a lot of information about the types of clients that a lighting company might have. Ten of the types of clients listed there were:

1. Customers who manufacture their own light fixtures but need bulbs and other specific lighting solutions to finish off their products.
2. People who work with display cases that need to be lit up in order to show off the items within them.
3. People who need lighting for making movies or for doing other types of entertainment.
4. Signage companies that are interested in adding lights to their signs.
5. The POP business.
6. Businesses that work with pets that require special lighting (such as places that sell snakes which need terrarium lights).
7. Various clients in the medical industry who might need special lighting.
8. Fun clients like those who make or restore juke boxes and arcade games. The lights on these things are cool!
9. Clients who are in the restaurant business or who work in the manufacturing and distribution of industrial refrigerators.
10. Government agencies and business owners that need lights for streets or parking lots.

This all makes a lot of sense but I never stopped to think about how extensive this industry is!

But it’s also a haven for other Californians.  I remember that when my two sons were too small to really get into a full day at Disneyland, (not to mention too small to handle a long car drive or plane ride,) we could drive an hour and a half down and stay overnight in one of many San Diego hotels.  Then we could spend one day at Sea World and the other at the San Diego Wild Animal Park. Both of these places are a lot more the right speed for very small children.  And when they get older, they no longer are as interested in these.

We also were fortunate in that our hotel room had a kitchenette, so we could escape there and give the boys snacks, and also feed either breakfast or dinner there in a calm atmosphere.  And one great thing I remember about California hotels versus Colorado hotels:  the pool is always open!

What about all of your paper files. You probably have file cabinets full of records and documents. The reason you keep files in the first place is because you need them or you could need them in the future. What a liability they are!

This is where a document imaging service can help you. They can come in and quickly scan all of your files. Now that your files are digitized they too can be stored off site. In fact, these companies typically offer an off site storage solution for you as well. They can store your digital documents in a way where you can quickly and easily access them in a secure way from anywhere in the word if there is internet access.