ServoPro has recently teamed up with Drive Off Alert, founded by Mal Bandyala – and in order to help our members get to know him a little better, we caught up with Mal to tell us more about his solution for Drive offs.
Tell us a bit about yourself. Where are you based, what are your hobbies and what do you do to relax and have fun?
I am originally from India, married with two wonderful kids. I originally came to Melbourne for my postgraduate studies. I fell in love with the city ever since and I’m still based here to this day.
Drive Off Alert is my full time job, and it’s my passion to help as many operators as possible. But in my free time, I enjoy looking after my backyard chickens. They are my everyday stress busters. Fishing is also big on my list of things, whenever I get long weekends or school holidays. I like playing club cricket in the summer with my 14-year-old and I’m an avid follower of aerospace and sustainable energy technologies.
Why did you decide to start Drive Off Alert?
I was managing a service station for a petrol station group, I really didn’t know much about how the industry worked. I was always amused that customers pay later here and that they self-serve. Once I started my operations, it only took a week to realize that, however good it was, it was not in the operator’s favor. Police used to help by making a call to the car owner, and somehow they would show up in the next day or two. A few years passed, and all of a sudden in early 2015, the police had enough of following it up and declared that drive-offs can no longer be entertained and that the police are busy with other important matters.
I remember that moment. I was in a franchisee meeting and discussing ways to reduce the problem. The measures discussed were manual in nature, and didn’t really address the problem. I thought I could build a system that could help this situation. My post graduation was IT and I always had this urge to work with technology, so I thought this is the challenge I could take. As a future user, I would be in a great place to design and manage it.
I was more convinced that we needed this tool as days passed. You are in one of the safest societies, yet petrol retail operators are vulnerable to somebody who can just pick your earnings and walk away – and not much can be done about it. It’s like you’re in a shell within a shell where you have completely different circumstances to deal with and manage. Banks have a credit rating system to look after their interests. Insurance companies have their own safeguards. Utility services check your financial history and know everything about you before they even give you an account, let alone credit.
It’s not just the police who aren’t lodging complaints and investigating, but nobody is compiling them at a state or national level either. There was also not really a system to compile one car’s many incidents.
So, my thesis revolved around how we can help businesses know their customers. At a minimum, a petrol station operator knows his customer at least by how many times they have come into the shop before. Whether they paid on the last visit. Did they do a drive off before? These are a few contours that we can build on and improve as we go.
As an operator, I am happy with this process. I have some control over who gets the post-pay now. Would I pay for that service? Yes, I would. I asked around to other managers and group supervisors etc., and the answer was a resounding yes. So that is it, Drive Off Alert had the business case to go ahead. I followed up with the design specifications and trusted the project with my savings
What’s your favorite part of working with independent petrol station owners and the petrol and convenience industry in general?
It’s wonderful to work with them. I get connected to them and their ongoing issues very well because I have previous experience being in their shoes. When I introduce the product, I get to know their decision quickly – unlike in a corporate structure. When losses are going out of the store operator’s pocket, they should have full freedom to implement necessary technologies. Independent operators have the capacity to make decisions quickly if they want to go ahead with any new technology or tool.
I also see independent operators as extremely hardworking and as making a genuine contribution to the local community. They have more room in this industry going forward because their operations are based on real economics where the loss is a loss and profit is a profit. I have never met a manager who is not occupied with their job all day, it’s just the nature of the undertaking, especially nowadays due to staff shortage etc. I am very optimistic that the situation will improve in the coming months.
Drive offs are one of the biggest issues for petrol station owners. How can you help them through your solution?
As I mentioned before, petrol station owners must note that you are giving post pay facility out of necessity and as an industry-wide tradition. It is hugely beneficial to increase shop sales. Even if one decides to prepay all the time, the competition will not follow suit. So they will be at a disadvantage.
If you press too hard on drive offs with law and enforcement, they will simply say to take money first. In these circumstances, petrol stations must think about how we can mitigate the situation but also not lose out the benefits of post pay?
An operator must think about these questions:
- When the whole business depends on post pay, do you have a system when things go wrong and not as planned?
- It doesn’t matter how low or how high your drive offs are, do you have a system that records, shares, and alerts console operators on cars that owe you money?
- How do you manage “failed to pay” records and remind those customers on their next visit?
- Not just in the store concerned, but all of the stores in the network get the alert to prepay so they will be reminded of the money owed to the station. Do you have such a system?
- Do you have a mechanism if a customer genuinely forgets but doesn’t know yet, and will be alerted in their next visit automatically. Wouldn’t that be great for the business bottom line?
If any of the answers include words like ‘pen and paper,’ you are not doing it right. With advancement of technology, service stations can now easily afford automatic number plate recognition technology. Back in the day, it used to be cost prohibitive – but no more. It also works with your existing IP cameras. We can do a free quick check on the team viewer and see if they are compatible.
It suits any size of service station business that is operating either 24 hours or limited hours. Investing in our system makes your operations smooth, as you would have established a system and staff would know how to use it effectively. You will be least bothered about what may happen in the future when it comes to drive offs and failed to pay incidents. It will also keep your console operators less anxious and help them concentrate more on customer service.
You already work with a lot of independent petrol station owners. What are the things they love about Drive Off Alert?
Versatility of the tool, ease of use, tech support and time-critical information help in making decisions so their pumps are secured with verifiable information. The last thing you want to do is to stop pumps on suspicion, for no reason, or based on the appearance of the customer. If it doesn’t go well, you will lose that customer permanently.
The Drive Off Alert takes this predicament and perplexity away and gives intelligence with detailed information of why that car is flagged for prepay. So, you could ask them politely and respectfully to prepay for that transaction. As they say in military aviation, situational awareness is paramount and know where you are flying. Here Drive Off Alert inserts who in place of where. Who are you transacting with? If you can manage it, you can control the outcome in your favor.
For more information or to contact Mal, click here