With rising fuel prices and the energy crisis on the horizon, it is more important than ever for snow removal business owners to manage their fuel budget. If business owners are not careful with how they spend their resources, it will drastically impact their annual profits down the line. This will in turn affect their business when they decide to raise prices and pass on the fuel surcharges to their customers.
When you pass on fuel surcharges to your customers, you may see a steep decline in return customers and have trouble controlling customer churn. Customer churn leaves a direct impact on the bottom line of your business. And, that is one of the few reasons why snow removal and landscaping business owners should not overlook the amount of money they spend on gas during winter.
Here are six simple tips that can help you reduce fuel costs and save money in the winter season.
Optimize routes with GPS tracking for winter field service operations
Zuper’s new dispatch board ensures you are in complete control. Unassigned and overdue jobs are instantly visible, and rescheduling is a breeze with our drag-and-drop functionality. We also offer a flexible calendar view, which will help you maintain complete control over your schedule with daily, weekly, and monthly calendar views. Quickly identify potential conflicts and optimize your team’s workflow, ensuring no tasks are left unassigned. No more scrambling to adjust job schedules while on a call with your technicians; Zuper makes it super simple.
Zuper’s live location tracking lets you track your entire fleet on a detailed map in real-time. Zuper’s advanced algorithms factor in distance and traffic conditions, ensuring your technicians take the safest and most efficient routes during snowy days. This allows you to save time and fuel while prioritizing your team’s safety.
Empower technicians with remote expertise for onsite support with detailed job notes
With Zuper’s mobile app, experienced technicians can share their expertise remotely, boosting your entire team’s efficiency and skill set. No more wasted time waiting for a seasoned professional on every job. Zuper allows your experienced technicians to provide real-time guidance and support to newer team members from their mobile devices.
Job notes on the Zuper app provide you with all the details you need about the job at your fingertips, giving you crucial context for each snow removal task. Detailed instructions, preferred snow pile locations, and landscaping protection measures can all be documented and accessed by any technician assigned to the job right from the palm of their hand. Job notes aren’t limited to text; they include images, videos, and even voice recordings. This ensures every team member, regardless of experience level, has the information they need to deliver exceptional service and meet the customer’s expectations.
Save on fuel costs with reduced travel time
While manually dispatching tasks to employees from one location to the customer’s location may seem simple, the dispatcher will not be able to consider the best route to ensure that your technician gets to the customer’s location in time.
Zuper’s route optimization feature allows you to choose from the fastest travel time or shortest distance, helping you save on fuel costs. With this feature, you can also edit your routes based on real-time feedback from a field technician or, in this case, a snow plow operator, ensuring that they reach the customers’ location quickly and accurately based on the optimized route.
With the live tracking feature, you can also predict when an employee will show up at a customer’s location so that none of your customers are left waiting and wondering! You can always keep your customers in the loop by integrating Zuper with your SMS/text platforms.
Optimize your inventory with the Zuper mobile app
Having the right tools at the right time makes all the difference during a winter storm. Zuper’s mobile app empowers managers to optimize their snow removal inventory and ensure technicians have the equipment they need to get the job done efficiently. Zuper tracks equipment availability directly from your mobile device in real-time. It helps you effortlessly track inward and outward inventory transactions and allows you to allocate resources effectively.
Knowing where your equipment is located ensures technicians are dispatched with the necessary tools for each job. This translates to faster completion times, improved customer satisfaction, and smoother overall operation.
Increase First-Time Fix Rates
To ensure that your technician’s time spent on a job is efficient and effective, they shouldn’t have too much idle downtime between customers. Additionally, revisiting a customer’s location can add unnecessary costs and entail more fuel consumption. You want to make sure that your snow plow operator did not miss an area and then have to return.
You can save a lot of time by entering real-time information about the level of snow and ice at the customer’s location with the live messaging feature available in each job with Zuper. This will ensure that the technician reaches the customer’s location with the right equipment to complete the job in time and move on to their next assignment.
Educate Your Drivers on Fuel-Efficient Driving Habits
Training your drivers with fuel-efficient driving habits is important as this can save your business hundreds of dollars in gas each year. Even the most basic training on keeping their speed limit consistent or removing themselves from the passing lane when they don’t need to be there anymore will help. This also improves road safety and benefits you by reducing the wear on your vehicles.
Maintaining steady speeds and following the speed limit will help maintain efficient fuel consumption. Use the brakes gently and avoid idling your engine. Maintaining optimal tire pressure and using manual transmission properly will help you significantly save fuel costs.
Final Takeaway
Are you dreading the slowdowns and disruptions winter brings to your snow removal business? Imagine a season where technicians of all experience levels excel with remote expert guidance. Zuper optimizes team efficiency, minimizes labor costs, and ensures crews are always equipped with real-time inventory tracking. Manage your entire operation from your mobile device!
See where your fleet is located on the map and guide them efficiently to save time and fuel. Provide your team with real-time updates on the job assigned to them through the notes and messaging feature available on each job. Suggest the best routes for your technicians with Zuper’s route optimization feature to help them choose between the fastest route or the shortest distance. Here is a case study to showcase how Zuper helped a business improve its operations with AI-powered route planning to minimize travel time, reduce fuel costs, and maximize crew productivity.
Don’t let winter slow you down, learn more about how Zuper can help improve your snow removal business. You can also book a personalized demo to experience how Zuper can be implemented into your snow removal season!
