In my role as Lead for Customer Health, I speak to customers from many different industries all the time and I find it fascinating to learn about different types of business. I was recently speaking with a CEO who had just hit a major milestone - scaling from a small operation to a full-fledged company with multiple locations and growing demand. He told me it was super exciting but also quite overwhelming. The more they grow, the more moving parts there are to manage and what once was simple - like fulfilling orders or coordinating logistics - is now a constant juggling act. 

That’s the challenge of scaling a business. Growth brings opportunity, but it also adds complexity. Processes that worked in the early days often need a complete overhaul. You need new systems, better coordination and smarter resource management to keep operations running smoothly.

One of the biggest shifts for this particular business was managing logistics efficiently, especially as they scaled to reach a moment when they needed their own fleet. The CEO explained to me that when done right, a fleet can be a major competitive advantage, reducing costs, improving delivery times, and giving you more control. But without the right structure in place, it can quickly turn into a drain on resources.

I got curious and did some research on how to make sure that your business fleet supports your growth goals instead of creating new challenges. Let’s break it down into eight key strategies to help keep operations efficient, compliant and cost-effective.

8 Smart Strategies to Scale and Streamline Your Expanding Business

1. Develop a Proper Management Strategy

Your management strategy is at the very core of ensuring daily fleet operations go according to plan. There are many separate moving parts to this process, each with a small bit to play in the bigger picture. Sit down and systematically write down every element you can think of in a document or spreadsheet. 

You should prioritise factors like fuel usage, vehicle maintenance, driver expectations, insurance, and so on. From there, you can start to work through individually to ensure you’re ticking the boxes with the following steps.

2. Understand Your Vehicle Usage Policies

When you’re running a fleet, accountability is essential. You have drivers going here, there, and everywhere, and usage policies govern exactly who is authorised to drive the vehicles and precisely what they can be used for.

Laying out a robust policy and ensuring that both you, your drivers, and anyone else involved are crystal clear on each point will go a long way in preventing big problems down the line and at the very least, minimise unnecessary expenses by making sure the vehicles aren’t being used for anything other than business operations. 

3. Make Sure You're Compliant with Industry Standards

You can’t just buy a fleet and hope it works out. There are strict rules to follow at the national or international level, so it’s essential to familiarise yourself with these before you start daily operations.

The first thing you should do is make sure you have copies of all your driver’s certifications and that each of your vehicles is officially registered. Every vehicle you own will also need to meet certain safety standards – these are different depending on the vehicle in question, so get researching.

4. Regularly Maintain Your Vehicles

From the very start, you should be working to ensure the vehicles you own are in tip-top condition and ready for service. Establishing a good relationship with a reliable mechanic is key: from here, you should have your fleet regularly checked for necessary engine repairs, tire wear and oil changes. 

Remember: if one of your vehicles breaks down on the road, it can cost you significantly more than just the repair fees – you’re losing money because you’re a vehicle down and not on the road.

5. Employ a Fuel Management Plan

Naturally, one of the most important factors for keeping the day-to-day running of your fleet as efficient as possible is proper fuel management. Especially if you have a large number of vehicles or run a business that requires the use of trucks, fuel is going to be one of your biggest expenses so you want to do everything in your power to only use as much as you really need. 

This can involve instilling economic practices in your drivers such as maintaining proper speeds and reducing time idling with the engine on. Optimising routes, which we’ll get to next, is also a critical component. 

Then, depending on the size of your operation, there are tools like Coast fleet cards for small businesses that you can use: this software offers metrics on your spending to impose limits and track fuel efficiency, allowing you greater control. 

If you’re at the point of buying new vehicles, you should also remember that newer models tend to be more efficient than older ones, so weigh up the pros and cons.

6. Optimise Your Roots

Root optimisation can help you in several different ways. We already spoke about fuel economy, but when you run a fleet, time is money: the faster you can have your drivers reach their destination, the better. 

In this day and age, you should always be utilising the power of GPS, even if your drivers have a good idea of where they’re going. Modern apps for smartphones and dedicated fleet navigation software can automatically calculate the fastest route and even account for elements like traffic and roadworks.

7. Regularly Assess Your Drivers

Your drivers are everything when it comes to your fleet: good ones make all the difference.

Try to strike a good balance between developing a good rapport with your drivers and running a tight ship. You should always make your team feel valued, but at the same time, ensure you’re regularly reviewing their performance and scheduling training sessions throughout the year to guarantee their driving is up to scratch.

8. Use Data Analytics for Greater Insight

It’s not just about what you put in place initially that determines your success, but also how you analyse what’s working and what isn’t to adapt over time. 

You should keep clear records for a variety of key metrics such as each cost associated with vehicle maintenance and breakdowns (which vehicles cost more and which break down most frequently) and overall data for how much money your fleet is actually bringing in: for example, you may find that you don’t need as many vehicles as you own and that you’d benefit by selling a couple. 

This was all I managed to research in terms of the ins and outs of running a fleet. As anything it requires a process and structure that needs to be put in place to be truly efficient and effective.