By Fleet Management Weekly Staff
June 3, 2026
The fleet industry is becoming more complex, more data-driven, and more consolidated.
On paper, that should make scale the ultimate advantage.
But as the fleet industry continues to evolve, Merchants Fleet CEO Matt Dyer believes the industry is being challenged to maintain something increasingly important.
Human connection.
Fleet leaders today are navigating a difficult balance: reducing cost and increasing efficiency without losing the responsiveness and partnership their businesses depend on.
“Clients never see us in silos. They see one connected experience.” For Dyer, that realization has shaped how Merchants operates and how the company is positioning itself in a rapidly evolving market.
As fleets navigate rising costs, growing operational complexity, and increasing pressure around utilization and total cost of ownership, the industry has understandably focused on technology, efficiency, and scale. Fleet operations now involve managing more data, more decisions, and more transactions than ever before. Those things matter.
However, the reality is that top quality fleet management has always been rooted in partnership. It requires strong, multi-layered relationships that enable better decision-making, faster responsiveness, and alignment between both client and fleet management provider.
That balance between operational efficiency and strong human connection has become one of the defining leadership themes shaping Merchants’ strategy.
The Industry is Becoming More Transactional
Fleet management has always been an operational business.
Vehicles are acquired, funded, maintained, repaired, fueled, remarketed, and replaced through millions of transactions across the lifecycle of a fleet. Increasingly, those processes are being automated and centralized as consolidation continues across the industry.
But clients do not experience fleet management as a series of disconnected transactions.
They experience it as one relationship, one journey.
“How our teams come together to deliver for clients is what really differentiates us in the market,” says Dyer.
That perspective becomes even more important as organizations outsource larger and more complex portions of their fleet operations. Trust matters when fleet directly impacts productivity, service delivery, and customer experience for the client itself.
And trust is rarely built when everything goes perfectly.
“How you respond when things don’t go along the happy path is what really builds trust.”
Vehicles break down. Accidents happen. Registration issues arise. It’s the nature of business operations across fleets. What clients remember is responsiveness, accountability, communication, and whether their partner acts with urgency and ownership when challenges occur.
That is where Dyer believes the real competitive advantage is emerging.
Why Client Experience Became the Center of Merchants’ Strategy
Under Dyer’s leadership, Merchants anchored its strategy around one central priority: client experience.
Internally, that philosophy is known as Heart and Hustle.
Heart and Hustle is about creating a culture where service, accountability, responsiveness, and collaboration show up consistently across every part of the business.
“At the core of Heart and Hustle is a culture of service where every single person can positively influence our clients every day.”
Importantly, Dyer does not view client experience as separate from business performance. He views it as a driver of it.
That philosophy has helped shape strong momentum across Merchants, including growth in leasing, services, and new business wins while also strengthening client retention and expanding strategic client relationships.
One example of that culture can be found in Merchants’ title and registration teams, where employees often use the phrase “Reg or Die” to describe the urgency and ownership they bring to keeping client vehicles compliant and on the road.
“That team is absolutely relentless about making sure vehicles stay operational for our clients. It says a lot about the pride our people take in helping clients succeed.”
This mindset shows up across the organization, from driver support to maintenance to consulting teams. It reflects a broader belief that strong client relationships are built through consistency, responsiveness, and a willingness to take ownership when challenges arise.
Since launching Heart and Hustle, Merchants achieved a 28-point increase in Net Promoter Score (NPS) and are consistently achieving an NPS from drivers of over +75, reflecting strong satisfaction among both fleet decision-makers and drivers interacting with the business every day.
For Dyer, those numbers validate something larger.
“Community, teamwork, and collaboration show up in our client outcomes. We see it in our NPS scores. We see it in retention. We see it in the willingness of clients to trust us with more of their business.”
That trust becomes especially meaningful in a market where many organizations increasingly feel underserved.
“With fewer choices available, many businesses are experiencing inconsistent service and do not feel prioritized. They feel left behind.”
As consolidation in the fleet management industry continues, Dyer believes some providers are allowing distance between themselves and their clients by reducing direct relationship ownership and over-standardizing service models.
That is an area where Merchants continues to deepen its commitment with a strong focus on partnership, multi-layered relationships, service quality, and helping clients move and win.
Technology Enables Scale. Relationships Sustain It.
Dyer is clear that technology remains essential to the future of fleet management.
The growing complexity of fleet operations requires better visibility, faster decision-making, and more connected systems. Utilization, lifecycle management, and total cost of ownership are becoming increasingly important strategic priorities for fleet leaders.
“Fleet decisions are no longer about purchase price or lease rate alone. Leaders are being forced to manage total cost across the entire vehicle lifecycle.”
That shift is changing how organizations operate.
Idle assets are increasingly viewed as unacceptable. Fleets are looking for more flexibility, more data-driven insight, and operating models that can adapt in real time. Merchants has continued expanding capabilities like FleetShare in response to that shift, helping clients improve utilization and align vehicles more closely with demand.
But Dyer believes technology only creates value when it strengthens relationships instead of replacing them.
“You can have a knockout plan around the what. But unless the how is strong, it won’t resonate and it won’t be sustainable.”
For him, the how is culture, leadership, communication, and trust.
It is ensuring that clients feel supported, understood, and prioritized while navigating increasingly complicated operating environments.
The Leadership Challenge Ahead
Dyer believes leadership today requires more visibility, authenticity, and connection than ever before.
That challenge has intensified in a hybrid world where organizations are balancing growth, operational demands, and evolving employee expectations at the same time.
“People come to work because of who they work for, because of the team they work with, and because they want to do the best job they can for clients.”
That means communicating transparently. It means helping employees understand how their work contributes to the client experience. And it means reinforcing that service is not limited to client-facing roles.
“If you’re not working directly with a client, you’re working directly with somebody who is.”
That philosophy extends across the organization, from executive leadership to operational teams managing registration, maintenance, consulting, and driver support.
As Merchants continues executing its multi-year strategy and vision of “Moving America,” Dyer believes maintaining strong human connections will become even more important as the business scales.
“The how is what creates sustainability. It’s how you continue to progress when conditions change.”
What Fleet Leaders Should Take Away
The fleet industry will continue evolving rapidly.
Technology will advance. Operating models will become more sophisticated. Data will play a larger role in decision-making. And competitive pressure will continue increasing.
But Dyer believes one thing will remain true.
The companies that win over time will not simply be the ones with the biggest platforms or the most automation. They will be the ones that combine operational capability with strong relationships, accountability, and trust.
“Client experience is a critical differentiator.”
For fleet leaders, that means thinking beyond transactions.
In fleet, client experience is not separate from operations. Faster communication, stronger accountability, and coordinated support directly impact uptime, productivity, speed of issue resolution, and ultimately total cost of ownership.
Responsiveness matters. Communication matters. Trust matters. Human connection matters.
In an increasingly automated and consolidated industry, those things are not soft skills.
They are competitive advantages.
And in a business built around moving people, vehicles, and operations forward, relationships still move everything.
To find out how Merchants Fleet can keep your business moving, click here.
