Best Way to Learn Fleet? Become a Sponge — with Jamie McKay
Jamie McKay walked into a role that had never existed at Aptive Pest Control — in the middle of COVID, knowing almost nothing about fleet. Six years later, she manages a fleet that's grown from 400 vehicles to more than 2,400 across 76 locations.
Her approach has been simple: get into the room, ask questions, and keep information moving. In this conversation, Jamie explains why she spent her first year being "a sponge," why fleet needs visibility into the company's goals, how strong FMC and vendor relationships live or die on transparency, and why the best upfit decisions come from listening to the people actually using the vehicles in the field.
What we get into:
- Why "I wanted to be a sponge" beat pretending to be an expert
- How to say no without ever saying the word "no"
- What the C-suite really needs to hear about fleet cost
- What separates a true FMC partnership from a vendor
- Why you can't design a fleet vehicle from a desk
- The EV, safety-tech, and spec non-negotiables on every new vehicle
Chapters
0:00 — Introduction: 400 to 2,400 vehicles across 76 locations
1:38 — How Jamie fell into fleet: the COVID RIF and the phone call
4:35 — "I wanted to be a sponge": surviving a role that never existed
8:07 — What actually helped scale from 400 to 2,400 vehicles
9:36 — How to say no without saying the word "no"
11:50 — Managing supply chain chaos and market change
13:38 — "Fleet's really expensive": what the C-suite needs to hear
16:52 — Why fleet is an octopus, and touches every department
22:00 — What a real FMC partnership looks like (vs a vendor)
25:11 — Selling fleet spend to a skeptical CFO
26:16 — The most expensive thing a fleet manager can do
30:23 — Why you can't design a fleet vehicle from a desk
35:03 — The backpack problem, and the Decked cargo-glide fix
42:34 — Order Bank Open Day: fleet's Rex Manning Day
45:50 — EVs, safety tech, and the non-negotiables on every new vehicle
49:52 — What keeps a fleet leader up at night
Guest: Jamie McKay, Fleet Manager, Aptive Pest Control — LinkedIn
