We Can’t Save You From Your Brother-In-Law

Did you ever hear the old saying that nobody buys a drill because they want a drill?

The tagline is they buy a drill to get a hole.

But what if a hole won’t help?

Sometimes I find myself talking to a business owner about doing one thing when maybe they might need something else.

Seems to follow the same script.

Here’s how it goes: business owner (let’s call him Jack) calls on the phone and wants to talk about GPS fleet tracking – great – I ask about what they need.

“I need to know where my vehicles are?”, says Jack.

“Ok, we can do that. What are you looking for?”, I ask.

Jack says he has this one employee that

  1. takes too long to complete the route, or
  2. is using way more fuel than anyone else, or
  3. is short on cash receipts, or
  4. stealing inventory, or
  5. doing side jobs – the list goes on but you get the idea.

And then it comes. Jack asks if we can do the install on a weekend or really late at night and will the drivers know they are being tracked?

“Sure, we can do that, but tell me”, I reply, “Why don’t you want your drivers to know you are using a tracking system?”

(… here is where the drill comes back)

Here is where I sometimes suggest they don’t need a drill because they don’t need a hole, “Seems to me, Jack, that you know what is going on, have you considered getting a new employee?”.

Big pause – then Jack and I talk about the about the real problem and how to better manage their drivers and fleet.

One time Jack had an interesting answer to the question.

In this case Jack was a Jane — nice lady. When we get to the part about a new employee she says, “I can’t fire him because he is my brother-in-law. My husband’s brother.”

Now it was my turn to pause. Technology can only solve so many problems.

Call me if we can help.

Take care,

Robert

Robert Dixon
Fleet Tek Inc
1-888-232-4470 x 801
robert@fleettek.com