Steeply rising gas prices are hurting businesses that use large volumes of gasoline, especially small businesses that are less able to pass on higher costs to customers.
Predictions are being made that gas prices will double within the next five years.
As gas prices rise, small businesses are struggling to remain commercially viable.
This article presents twenty-five ideas for reducing gasoline consumption and associated costs with the goal of becoming more profitable without the need to impose fuel surcharges, to increase prices, or to cut employees, although these are all options.
Many of the ideas presented can be done at no cost -- they simply require you to look at your business in a different way.
Other ideas require an investment but they increase the possibility to earn a payback over time:

1. Limit your delivery times -- Restrict your customer visits and deliveries to specific blocks of time rather than spreading them out over the week; for example, conduct these activities on Tuesday and Thursday mornings only.
   Appliance delivery companies operate this way so they can make deliveries back to back.
   
2. Visit clusters of customers -- When arranging your appointments or delivery schedule, plan to visit a cluster of customers that live close together on the same trip thus avoiding back tracking and extra mileage.
   
3. Plan your routes -- Map out the most efficient routes to your destination taking into account distance, travel conditions, and traffic patterns.
   Travel in off peak hours to avoid traffic congestion and excessive idling in congested traffic.
   
4. Plan your loads -- If you provide a free shuttle service for your customers, take groups of customers whoare headed to the same area to limit the number of trips.
   This idea could apply to car dealerships, airlines, or hotels.
   
5. Batch deliveries -- Batch the delivery of parts or supplies to your customers and send them via a courier instead of using your own delivery vehicles.
   Couriers can often do the job at a lower cost because of their economies of scale and efficiencies.
   
6. Encourage customer coordination -- Encourage different customers living in the same neighbourhood to plan to buy your services at the same time.
   For example, a group of neighbours could hire a gutter cleaning company at the same time so the company can cover their street on the same day.
   The company could offer discounts to encourage booking appointments during the same time period and even pre-arrange future visits.
   
7. Limit or reduce the geographic area being served -- Focus your marketing and sales in a smaller geographic area thus reducing travel and fuel use.
   For example, if you are a realtor, show homes for sale in a targeted area only to minimize driving time for both the realtor and the buyer.
   
8. "Carpool" with other businesses -- Form alliances with other companies to share delivery vehicles or other equipment.
   For example, different farms could consolidate their cargo into one truck load rather than have a separate truck for each farm with each truck less than full.
   
9. Plan your shopping trips -- Plan to buy all of your supplies in one trip rather than operate in an ad hoc or reactive way and having to make a trip every time you run out of something.
   Buy larger quantities for less frequent trips.
   Shop together with other business owners nearby so you can carpool.
   
10. Have driver rules -- Develop rules and provide training for drivers that maximize fuel efficiency; such as don't idle the engine when waiting; obey the speed limit; and don't patrol for customers.
    For example, taxi drivers can wait at strategic locations for customer calls rather than patrolling the streets looking for customers.
    
11. Do the job right the first time -- Train your delivery personnel or installers to do the job right the first time so that return trips to the customer's premises to fix mistakes are unnecessary.
    Focus on quality in your processes and production.
    
12. Pre-qualify your prospects -- Before making a house call to give a free estimate or quote, carefully qualify the prospect by phone or email to avoid wasted trips.
    Determine if the opportunity fits your criteria for an ideal prospect.
    Do they really need your service? Are they ready and able to buy?
13. Swap clients -- Even if you target your marketing to a specific geographic area, you are bound to attract interest from prospects outside your area.
    Or you may already have distant customers.
    Find a business in the same industry and swap clients so each ends up with customers close to home.
    This arrangement could work for a concierge service, for example.
    
14. Maintain your equipment -- Fuel efficiency is optimal when vehicle and equipment are properly maintained and repaired.
    Keep your equipment tuned up, maintain proper tire pressure, rotate your tires, and follow other manufacturer recommended maintenance suggestions.
    
15. Right-size your equipment -- Use the smallest vehicle or equipment that will get the job done effectively.
    For example, there is no sense in using a large delivery van when a subcompact car is adequate.
    You could even consider reimbursing expenses incurred by your employees to use their own more fuel efficient vehicles to make deliveries and calls.
    
16. Switch to alternative energy -- Switch to more fuel efficient, less costly and more environmentally friendly energy forms, such as electricity or hydrogen; for example, some taxi fleets have converted their entire fleet to hybrid vehicles.
    
17. Change your operations -- Ask if the work can be done in a less fuel intensive way.
    For example, is it really necessary to use motorized leaf blowers or could hand raking do the job without undue sacrifice in productivity?Could your "road warriors" be based at their home office rather than having to travel to your office building everyday?
18. Be innovativewith customers -- Collaborate with your customers to discover ways to reduce travel to your customers' premises.
    Possible ideas are to maintain a parts/supply inventory at your customer's location; to set up waste reduction programs onsite; to perform product maintenance at the customer's location (rather than shipping things back to your warehouse for repairs); or to give customers the option of what to send back to your location.
    For example, hotels give their guests the option of having their towels washed every day or not thus saving on transportation to the laundry.
    
19. Use communications technologies -- Scrutinize whether business trips or customer visits are essential.
    Often a phone call, a teleconference or an online meeting can get the job done.
    Help customers by putting information about your business online.
    For example, many realtors put home video tours on their web site so prospects can assess whether it's worth a trip to visit a home for sale.
    Many types of equipment can be monitored and maintained remotely via computer.
    
20. Offer incentives to "go green" -- Where employees or contractors use their personal vehicles and charge your company for mileage, offer incentives to use more energy efficient modes of transportation; for example, offer subsidies for bus passes, small car use, or cycling.
    This type of policy has additional benefits including employee retention, environmental stewardship and a stronger company reputation.
    
21. Develop a "100 mile supply line" -- Imitate the popular 100 mile diet and develop sources of supply that are close to home to minimize fuel costs which are embedded in your supply purchases.
    Identify and assist local companies to develop their capacity to serve your needs.
    Moreover, buy larger quantities for less frequent deliveries at a lower per unit delivery charge.
    
22. Change your business model -- While simply raising your prices or imposing a fuel surcharge are options, it may make more sense to recast your underlying business model.
    Have a model that better reflects the energy costs of your business.
    For example, instead of a flat delivery fee regardless of distance, have a delivery fee that is based on mileage.
    
23. Use software tools -- There are a variety of customer relationship and sales force management software tools available to make scheduling and tracking as efficient and effective as possible.
    There are also tools incorporating Global Positioning Systems to track vehicle utilization and driving patterns.
    These tools can help you to control energy consumption and costs.
    
24. Reward suggestions -- Challenge your employees, customers and suppliers to suggest ways to reduce fuel consumption in your business.
    Create a contest and give rewards and prizes.
    
25. Be an Opportunist -- Rather than view this as a risk, take the view that this challenge presents opportunities.
    This is a business opportunity to think strategically and to infuse innovation into all areas of your business.
    

There are bound to be many other ideas out there to cut gasoline consumption and costs.
We hope that this paper gives some useful ideas that you can implement immediately while inspiring you to use your imagination to discover other solutions for your business.
© 2008 all rights reserved, The Surge Strategies Group Inc.