Tag: Propane Only

Stagnant Sales? It’s Time You Got a ​Custom Propane App for Your Business

The propane business is not what it used to be. You can no longer place an ad in the local directories, sit back, and wait for customers to call you for a new propane tank. Gone are the days when customers had a choice of a few companies to fulfill their energy needs. Today, there are thousands of suppliers competing in a stagnant market. You’ll have to pull out all the stops, put in more hours than your competitor, and even lower your prices a bit to get the attention of the typical customer. Only the most innovative and forward-thinking companies survive in the fuel industry. It is no secret that these are also the most successful companies in the market. If you want your business to join the ranks of successful fuel companies, it’s time you got a custom order fuel app. An app might not sound like the next revolutionary idea to take your business to the next level but hold on for a minute. Remember the taxi business a few years before Uber? Well, you can bet every taxi business back then did not think a smartphone application would kick them out of business. Airbnb is causing a similar stir in the tourism industry. The App lets small entrepreneurs and homeowners compete with corporations. Today, more than 60 million people have used Airbnb to find accommodations while on vacation. This is startling news in an industry where 1.4 billion people seek luxury accommodations yearly. The story repeats itself in almost every industry. Netflix is changing the movie industry, Duolingo altered how we learn a foreign language, and Square changed how we pay for things. Isn’t it time that an app came along and changed the propane delivery business?

​”Why an app?” you ask. “Why an app and not any other thing, like a self-driving gas delivery truck?” Slow down, buckaroo. For starters, you’ll probably have a fleet of self-driving cars in the next couple of years. If your business survives in the next few years, you can bet most cars will be autonomous. But the trick here is staying. Like the chameleon, you must adapt to your environment to survive. You’ll have to use every resource available to remain relevant to your customers. Because of your customers, you’ll need a custom propane app for your business. If you don’t believe it, let’s step into the shoes of your typical propane gas customer. Your customer wakes up, turns on her gas oven, and prepares breakfast. She may also use propane to warm her house on those chilly winter mornings. When she runs out of propane, she doesn’t pick up the Yellow Pages to search for a propane supplier nearby. She takes out her smartphone, and after a short online search, a full propane tank is coming. That’s the convenience your customers want. They want a gas supplier they can get to quickly, one who meets their needs, and one with the foresight to solve their problems even before they realize they have them. In short, your propane customers want a supplier with a magic crystal ball. An app does all this and more. Let’s explore precisely how…

1. Keep Tabs on What Customers Need

Folks leave their usual gas companies daily for new ones for superficial reasons. Maybe they were not happy with the service, pricing, or even how the fuel conversion was done. How do you ensure you don’t lose customers because of such avoidable issues? By keeping tabs on what they might need. With an order propane app, for example, you can track when a customer’s tank is due for a refill and alert them well before they run out. In fact, with a custom order fuel app, you get instant notifications whenever a client needs anything. This will significantly enhance your company’s customer service while minimizing complaints. Your clients will show their appreciation by buying from you every time.

2. Enhance Marketing Efforts

More and more players are entering the fuel supply business, making it harder to gain market share. Almost everyone else is doing the same kind of marketing you are. Advertising in the local newspaper? You’ll probably find half a dozen ads from gas suppliers in the same paper. Thinking of attending a local event to network with clients? You’ll find every other gas supplier in the state there. Get a custom app with your business logo. Grab your seat at the front of the pack because not many businesses have mobile apps. The beauty of having a custom application for your business is once it’s downloaded, you have a direct communication channel with the customer. A custom application increases the success of your marketing campaign because you’re sure all promotional messages are sent to existing consumers. Alerting existing consumers about a sale through your custom propane app is much more effective than an untargeted mail campaign. If you don’t believe it, Apple reported recently that the average conversion rate on their App
The store was 25%. That means that out of every 100 people who install an app, 25 will make a purchase. In the propane market, a conversion rate of 25% can translate to hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.

​3. Receive Real-Time Feedback

A lot of the time, consumers have something to say. It pays to listen to them; otherwise, you end up in the ever-growing heap of failed businesses. Not long ago, getting consumer feedback wasn’t the easiest of tasks. Companies often had to scrape together information from different sources to understand what their clients were saying. Not anymore. With a custom app, you collect feedback in real-time. If a person has a review, suggestion, or complaint, they can tell you about it through the App. Honest time feedback is crucial to your gas supply business because it helps you adjust to meet demand on the fly.

4. Step Out of the Shadows

An app allows you to make a name for your business. Once consumers associate your business with an app on their phone, you’re well on creating brand awareness. Think of a mobile app as a blank billboard sign. It’s an empty canvas you can use to promote your products, entertain customers, or even inform them, making it easy to relate to your brand and its ideals.

5. Improve Customer Engagement

Buyer-seller relationships shouldn’t end after a sale. Cultivating a lasting relationship with a buyer turns them into a lifetime source of revenue. How do you develop such a relationship? Simple, by keeping the conversation going. Reaching out to previous customers is an excellent way of keeping them engaged. An app allows you to keep your customers engaged, even when they’re not purchasing from you. You can send them the news, reports, and promotional materials through the App to keep them involved. That way, the name of your business will be at the back of their mind the next time they want to buy propane.

6. Streamline Your Sales Funnel

An app is the best tool to streamline your sales funnel. Rather than having prospective clients read your website and decide whether or not to order from you, have them download your mobile application. Once they have it on their phone, the battle is half won. A custom application makes converting a prospective buyer into a customer easier. It is much easier to place an order through an app compared to calling a number on a website to place an order. Those are some benefits you get from having a custom order fuel app for your propane business. A mobile app is your ticket to the big boy’s league, but only if you have it done correctly. If you had a professional do the signs on your delivery trucks, get a competent developer to make an app for your propane business. You don’t want to end up with one of those hybrid apps that are nothing more than website imitations. Make sure you get a native custom fuel app for your business. If you want consumers to use your application, even when they don’t have an internet connection, get a hybrid app. If you don’t, expect complaints regarding the App’s poor user experience and limited capabilities. With the right App for your fuel business, you minimize errors, improve customer experience, reduce service times, increase efficiency and capacity, and most importantly, you’ll future-proof your propane delivery business in an increasingly interconnected world.

Click here to download the App.

New Propane Gauge Evolution & Innovation

Recently, at the World Propane Convention held in Houston, Texas, many new innovative solutions for the propane industry were unveiled. As our industry has been around for many decades, it is always exciting to see how we find ways to simplify and streamline. Getting to speak with the industry leaders who create the tools we use regularly and occasionally discover how they continue to push the envelope and dare to make the “next thing” is one of the reasons many periodically attend these shows. At this year’s World Expo, one impressive company showed up with technology poised to serve the industry for decades.

Something that our industry uses every single day is the propane gauge. Be it on a bobtail, a bulk tank, or a tank in the
field, we have meters everywhere and use them constantly. We see and use these gauges so much that they almost become mundane and part of the landscape. Fortunately for us, the engineering teams that build them are quietly taking them to the next level in a way that will benefit us all.

Rochester Gauges, a well-known and established name here and abroad with offices and manufacturing around the globe (Texas, Europe, Mexico, and China), has been making reliable, accurate, and easy-to-read gauges for our industry and many others for decades. Around 20 years ago, they reinvented their meters, so tank monitoring companies could snap​ on a device that reads the gauge, sends that reading by a wire to a transmitter, broadcasts the same out to a cloud database, and remotely tells us the fluid level inside fuel tanks located anywhere on the planet. Their foresight to imagine, create, test, develop, and provide the industry with this “connected” gauge has helped eliminate potentially millions of deliveries, reduce the cost of running propane companies globally, and significantly helped birth the remote tank monitoring industry worldwide.

In speaking with the dozen or so tank monitoring companies at the show, every one of them refers to Rochester Gauges as the
a staple of the industry and the “go-to” gauge for tank monitoring in every corner of the world. With such market dominance and penetration, one might wonder if this company should risk further developing new products with the ever-present potential for failure. That is where the story gets interesting. It’s been said that the leader’s speed is the team’s speed and that innovation follows on the heels of great leaders. Recently, Rochester Gauges changed ownership and handed their reins to Ben Lease, a long-time engineer who has spearheaded other inventions during his career and is skillfully combining the best of Rochester Gauges – their reliability and ease of use – with the best aspects of today’s technology. Lease and his top-notch team of engineers, led by Sam Fung and Hovik Chibukhchyan, have carefully developed a new way to ​connect to their gauges in a way that eliminates the wires and clips presently used by tank monitoring companies to click and read tank fluid levels. They have, in essence, replaced the cables and clips with tiny, low-energy Bluetooth transponder technology.

​This can allow drivers to see the fluid level in their trucks without leaving the cab or enable the office to remotely get the liquid inventory of all trucks in the yard. Eventually, this could mean that remote tank monitoring companies will no longer need wires and clips, thereby making installations more straightforward, faster, and more accessible and increasing the accuracy of the gauge reading. That is great, but it does not stop there. The Rochester Gauges team then connected wirelessly to the temperature probe on that same bobtail, so now the driver can see, via an easy-to-use smartphone app, the temperature compensated (or non-compensated) liquid level in his tank and set alarms to alert him of low status or high-level situations. These innovations will initially allow drivers and companies to have a more accurate and instant reading of the fuel in their trucks. Eventually, Rochester Gauges sees this technology enabling the industry (via the tank monitoring companies already in the market) to more efficiently and affordably see the ​ fuel volume in every tank they have.

Rochester Gauges first grew to market dominance via their reliable and affordable gauges, then furthered their use via the remote-ready gauges. The wireless innovations now being rolled out by this cutting-edge company will undoubtedly increase the benefit and ease of use associated with their meters, thereby serving our industry’s demand for simple-to-use, reliable, and affordable tools that help us reduce operating costs and increase bottom-line profits. Lessons learned… In today’s marketplace, continuing innovation based on industry-led demands is essential. Companies who listen to their customers and develop new innovative tools that serve them well will provide a win-win gain with benefits. Dreaming big and creating unusual solutions will have lasting benefits for everyone.

Customer-centric innovation wins yet again.

Spotting Potential Challenges and Traversing Possible Problems with the Power of a Technological Tank

Tank spotting features alert professionals to potential Challenges problems before an event or crisis occurs.

The propane and heating oil industry depends on many things, including safety. That includes regulatory compliance involving gas and leak checks, legal documentation, maintenance of the tanks themselves, and intelligence about the location, size, and fuel provider for each tank within a given town, city, county, or state.

Mobilizing that information – making that data available from the convenience (and safety) of a smartphone or tablet – can save businesses tens of thousands of dollars.

These real-time updates enable workers to ensure fuel tanks function without environmental risk or danger to the surrounding community.​

This technology represents a new breed of sales, maintenance, compliance, and safety management for companies that need an all-inclusive solution for these challenges.

It informs as much as it inspires because the latter motivates business owners and fuel providers to act.
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At a minimum, it gives them a financial incentive to streamline operations, reduce the flow of paper, and upload files containing seals of inspection, orders, authorizations, and other relevant or essential materials concerning the use of fuel tanks.

The freedom factor alone is important because it does not require the manual entry of data or a late
night call to an attorney, who must then write – and charge his client for – some otherwise standard legal notification.
​
These benefits are significant, but the emphasis on accuracy is still more powerful.

Reliable information begets reliable leads, which lowers marketing costs, eliminates questionable guesses, and ends wasteful spending.

When you can focus on a fuel provider like a laser beam when you have a complete dossier about a prospect, when you know a particular territory and the best cartographer or better than the most lively tour guide, you know how to communicate with that person.

You know how to avoid the superfluous – and largely superficial – content that governs most conventional marketing campaigns.

You can do these things (and more) thanks to an appeal to practicality.

You can speak to the immediate needs of a fuel provider, which have everything to do with efficiency and economy; which have everything to do with safety and success; which have everything to do with legal requirements and state regulations; which have everything to do with efficacy and ease of use.

These advantages appeal to fuel providers since these strengths represent a return on investment (ROI) far more significant than existing alternatives.

The emphasis on maintenance and protection also attracts the interest of the community at large since it is imperative to safeguard every fuel tank in every area. Period.

We can make this goal a reality right now.
​
Starting now, we must offer this technology to those who need it most.​

Leverage the 34 Flavors of Fuel Delivery Technology

Most fuel delivery companies want to improve profits. But most of us had no idea that new technology could make such a dramatic difference.

Take fuel delivery optimization (aka, in-vehicle computers or point-of-sale systems). There are now 34 different “flavors” to choose from. That provides plenty of options to find one that fits your company’s needs.

First, why are there so many options? Every back-office enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution seems to be making its version of in-vehicle computers, as are the register companies and everyone else. Although these solutions may seem dull and unimportant, their hidden benefits can shock your bottom line. When used thoroughly, these solutions can put an additional $10k-$30k profit to your bottom line per front-line bobtail (more if you learn some super easy tricks).

One of the tricks is getting a solution that hits the sweet spot of easy-to-use, affordable, reliable, secure, and works with your already-present software. So, whether you have an answer already or are shopping, here are some tips to use when upgrading, replacing, or getting your first in-vehicle computer.

Cost may be the first place you look. Guaranteed, you will find that the most expensive solutions on the market are those sold by the software ERP solutions. This may be due to their ability to position their proprietary connection to their ERP or because they can only sell their in-vehicle solution to their customers, so they must spread development costs over a small subset of prospective users. Whatever the reason, their cost structure is always the highest. Strangely, the highest and lowest cost solutions are those provided by companies that only do the in-vehicle solution. Some new entrants to the market are exciting and much lower in cost, such as the Liquid Controls Android app (see it on the Google app store) that directly connects to their LC registers via a very long-range WiFi connection. Another great example is the Fleet Navigator, which connects with more records than any other and handles both regular delivery and fleet fueling better than most others (a great option for ease of use and the lowest ongoing fee cost).

As for lifetime cost consideration, many of us forget to figure this piece into the equation. However, with monthly subscription costs, expensive equipment, and burdensome installation costs, the lifetime cost can be much higher than expected. Some tips here include looking for solutions with little or no ongoing support costs (Fleet Navigator is a winner here). For low equipment costs, it is suggested to find a solution that is app-based and will work on any Apple or Android device, such as the Liquid Controls solution or other in-vehicle fuel delivery solutions that are app-based (Vertrax, Cargas Systems, ADD Systems, Bizsmart or the lesser known Dreamtec i-Meter).
Every company seems racing to transition its in-vehicle solution to an app-based one.
​
The benefits are that your equipment and installation costs are much lower, screen resolution is much more precise, and there are many more equipment providers. ​​

Low, upfront equipment costs via an app-based solution are significant, but there are still obstacles to consider. For example, many app-based solutions still utilize out-of-date and overpriced “ruggedized” tablets, or their ongoing support costs are double or triple what others are charging. We also see some rather complicated installations that add to field maintenance issues. While these issues can be found in any in-vehicle solution, they can and should be avoided. So when you’re shopping, do not be sold into a solution with ongoing support costs or significant equipment requirements when 33 other options could cut your costs by 50 percent to 70 percent, upfront and continuously.

As everything in our industry (and outside our industry) is becoming app-based, it makes sense to choose an app-based solution so you can use that device to work with all the industry apps being built. After all, it makes no sense to get two in-vehicle devices when you can do everything on just one device — an Apple or Android smartphone or tablet. It only makes sense to take advantage of great apps — one way to do this is to transition all drivers and employees to Apple or Android devices. You can find many apps on both the Apple and Android app stores.

Many fuel companies share that they are either looking to replace their in-vehicle point-of-sale systems or are considering getting one for the first time. Despite the shift toward technology, some are committed to the old way of paper, pencil, and mechanical registers. Some are honest enough to share that they are concerned about learning new technology or dealing with the cost of setup. This is understandable, but now that this technology has been in the industry for over 20 years, it is easy to learn and will pay for itself much faster than your investments in tanks or trucks.

When I was running operations, my team had to virtually trick me into trying the newest technology on the market. Still, when we fully implemented it, profitability was dramatically different. Maybe you are like me and many other fuel company owners and managers. We get into a routine that becomes very comfortable over time and doesn’t want to leave the safety of the known for the unknown.

Things seem to be changing faster and faster these days, and those taking advantage of technological advances benefit from lower operating costs so they can reinvest in growth and improved sales. From coast to coast across North America, the companies that evolve are growing and are more profitable, and those that are not changing are losing margin and growth opportunities. Your choice to develop and advance with technology can help you increase market share and profits simultaneously.

Don’t lose this window of opportunity. Jump on the technology bandwagon, go with one of the lower-cost, app-based solutions, and get rolling. You, too, will find out it is easier than you thought and provides more benefits than expected.

Optimize Propane Operational Efficiency for Improved Profits

Many of us annually look for new ways to improve profits. Often, we look at our operations to see where we can squeeze out some additional savings. Fortunately, many new technology tools have come out to help us “get there.”

Suppose you’ve gone to a trade show recently. In that case, you may have been assaulted with operational efficiency tools, tips, and tricks to help advance your company’s profits, reduce waste, streamline hours, and work out of business. But which means you choose depends on where you are in your business productivity enhancement life cycle…what you have already implemented is an indicator of what you should look at next.
​
This trend of using technology to improve profits started around 30 years ago when the first propane software solutions designed to combine billing, forecasting, customer relationship management, account receivables, inventory, etc., hit the market. They were great and allowed us to run our businesses with fewer office personnel. They even helped us improve our pricing and fee structures to get 50 percent to 200 percent or more profit per customer. It significantly enhanced how our offices functioned in multiple
ways and had a meaningful impact on the bottom line.

Next, around 20 years ago, electronic registers and “in-cab computers” started to appear, eliminating hours of manual en-
try to deliver tickets into the office software. Fewer mistakes and tons of time saved showed us that this tool also helped the office teams streamline and increase productivity.

Routing and dispatching solutions then started appearing. Like the earlier answers, these were costly, but because the savings far outpaced the costs, companies plowed into them. These solutions began to save the dispatcher substantial time, allowing one dispatcher to do the work of three and allowing drivers to deliver between 10 percent to 50 percent more deliveries in a day… That, of course, can result in significant payroll and vehicle cost savings.

More recently, tank monitoring solutions (17 and counting) have appeared at every trade show. They are yet another great tool to reduce total deliveries per customer. A 25 percent reduction in deliveries per customer very quickly means you need 25 percent fewer trucks and drivers… a remarkable feat. And now that the newer monitoring companies are finally bringing the costs down, the cost-benefit equation is starting to make sense here… Due to new entrants and price pressures, the industry projections are that this tool will cost significantly less very soon, foretelling intriguing ROIs here as well.

Again, these are another way to bring operational efficiency to the office manager or dispatcher role, as this is the person who typically determines the frequency of delivery and tries to minimize deliveries while preventing run-outs. This tool also brings some excellent efficiencies to the delivery driver workforce.

We are also seeing the merging of technologies as the in-cab computer for delivery tickets has merged with the routing software and turn-by-turn devices and, in some cases, has combined with the office software. This combination of tools does bring surprising benefits, which may be why there are now over 32 different “in-cab computer” solutions on the market. The costs, ease of use, reliability, and features vary wildly, so you must do a deep dive before purchasing…compare several solutions before buying. (Contact us for the inside scoop, if needed). The choices and competition are a blessing, as the pricing has decreased while the features are improving.

​All the tools above seem to focus on office efficiency, delivery, efficiency, and driver efficiency. The next frontier for our industry is to bring efficiency to the masses of paperwork for service technicians, sales reps, and safety documentation. Though it costs more, there are some solutions like Salesforce, but unfortunately, the single format solutions seem to cost substantially more. The few service tech solutions in the market (often provided by your back-office software solutions) can only work with that one-office software platform and are typically priced as very few propane companies have purchased.

Fortunately, consolidation is occurring here, so you can now get single solutions that automate the combination of service, safety, and sales in one app. This lets us get a three-for-one bringing exciting cost reductions to the industry.

One such solution combines propane-specific safety, service tech, and sales rep tools into one easy app (Apple and Android) so you can bring a whole new level of efficiency, automation, increased sales, increased installations, less paperwork, and less clerical work, which means improved profitability. The new frontier is safety, service, and sales automation, an all-in-one app downloadable from the app store. You can check it out at TankSpotter.com or on your favorite app store. Technology sometimes feels like a moving target as every solution is either making improvements, merging with other solutions, adding features, or updating, or some are not evolving but are getting left behind. That said, the trend has been and continues to be that everything is becoming an “app.”

The critical point is that there are different versions of apps. Native apps are the kind that works outside of cellular areas (where our industry thrives)… make sure that you only work with solutions that are true “native” apps and that can work on both Apple AND Android devices, as this shows a stronger software technology company backing the product and shows that they understand the needs and desires of the entire propane industry. Apps that do not work outside of a cell signal may be good if you only work in a highly metro area – these are not native apps and, for the propane industry, may be problematic once you get into rural areas, hence not recommended. As tools merge, blend, and combine, the benefits to our sector somehow get larger. Somehow it means there is less paperwork that needs to be shuffled around. The synergies of combining the solutions mentioned above result in less work, so we can focus more efforts on acquiring more customers, improving customer service, installing more tanks, and doing more deliveries, not to mention enhancing the safety of all our faithful customers.

In the years ahead, we may see other new technologies that will significantly improve our industry. Those listed above are providing the best bang for the buck at present. If you want to know the ROI (return on investment) analysis for some of these solutions, let us know; the benefits of the right technology can be astronomical. Feel free to reach out if you need guidance or insights into these. If you have other technologies or techniques that you are using to improve operational efficiencies that also bring significant bottom-line benefits, feel free to reach out and share your thoughts, comments, and suggestions.

“These solutions began to save the dispatcher substantial time, allowing one dispatcher to do the work of three and allowing drivers to deliver between 10 percent to 50 percent more deliveries in a day.”

Low Tech Profit Booster

Sometimes using low-tech tips and tricks to improve profits work great and cost nothing. There are some real gems that it seems very few companies are using. Those who are using this low-tech trick love it. Why? Because it saves them $150,000 upfront and then more each year.

Years ago, I scoffed at this “insider” trick. After doing the math, seeing it in action across dozens of other propane and fuel delivery companies, then using it in over 80 fuel operations of my own or with clients, we all agree that this is a fantastic, easy to use and effective “No/Low Tech” way to boost profits.

Better yet, when you too invest these “newly found” improved profits into High Tech tools, your earnings will get a double boost. “Save money in one place and reinvest it in high-tech tools for your business where it gets a 10X return”.
​
So what is the Low Tech trick? Simple… “It’s all in how you slice up the work week.”

A few years ago (in one of our colder winters), while at a client’s office, the owners shared that their spares were all out of action, and now one of their front-line fuel delivery trucks just went down too. It was cold, deliveries were stacking up fast, run-outs were imminent, and they had a severe fuel delivery truck shortage. We shared this trick with them, and not only were they able to handle the increased deliveries, prevent run-outs, and reduce payroll hours, that spring, they sold off one fuel delivery truck (banked the money). Since then, they have continued this trick, saving them tens of thousands of dollars yearly.

The trick is more straightforward than expected, yet it works great. It is a perspective change in how we approach the delivery schedule. It requires knowing how our delivery drivers operate and how we can better utilize their billable time. No, it may not work everywhere, but it works 95% of the time.

Most companies have their delivery drivers work 40-hour work weeks. Any more than that becomes over time. Most companies split the 40 hours over five work days – Monday through Friday. Then they usually have to pay more overtime for weekend deliveries. When you change their workday to Four 10hr days AND open the workday up to Monday through Saturday, several Fascinating things take place:

• You now can minimize overtime daily as you have drivers on duty a bit longer
• You can now minimize overtime on the weekend as you have a driver working Saturday as a regular occurrence
​

As each driver only needs 4 of the 10-hour delivery slots to fill their 40-hour requirement, you have 2 – 10 our slots available for a truck each week. Doing the math on two fuel trucks offers 12 total 10-hour weekly delivery slots. That is equal to the 12 scheduled delivery slots that three drivers need. So, in essence, you can prepare three drivers on two fuel trucks, as seen in the image below.

Benefits:

• Need 33% fewer fuel trucks – save $150,000+ on purchasing a new truck
• Less overtime on weekends and evenings – save money
• Drivers love 4-day work weeks – retain and attract better drivers
• You get 7.5 more delivery hours per week from each driver saving over $8,600 in payroll annually *see explanation at the bottom
• You get better asset (fuel truck) utilization and better Return On Investment for each fuel truck
• Better customer service by handling after-hours and weekend delivery emergencies faster.
•Take your extra truck and get it fully serviced so you can rotate our other front-line vehicles so they are always fully maintained with NO loss of delivery time.

It would be best if you had 50% more trucks compared to the new paradigm – very costly to purchase and maintain extra vehicles

• More Overtime costs
• Less flexible schedule.
• Drivers are accustomed to it but would prefer 4-day workweeks

​A funny thing happens when you implement this flexible 4×10 workweek. First, it is new and different, so everyone is skeptical; I certainly was too. That’s “OK” and normal across every company. Next, the management (after a close study) realizes that this will save them tons of money, so they “buy in.” Then the drivers hear about it and consider it a “mutiny.” After convincing them to try it for a month, they finally figure out that they all get to work 4-day work weeks, so they get an extra day off each week… they fall in love with the schedule and threaten to “mutiny” if you dare change it back.

So, by now, you may be figuring out that you have six drivers and six front-line trucks – you only now need four and can “pass” on purchasing two replacement fuel trucks… true enough, you just tripped over $300,000.

*note: Most fuel delivery company drivers come to work, and during their first 30 minutes and last 30 minutes of the day, they are paid for doing paperwork (filling it out and delivering it), doing pre-trip and post-trip inspections, and doing the start of the day and end of the day “chit chat.” Also, every day, you pay them at some point for breaks and lunch breaks for around 30 more minutes. So, all told, you pay them for 90 minutes a day of unproductive work. If you have five drivers and could eliminate 90 min/week of the wrong time, you can save 7.5 hours of inefficient and unprofitable payroll expense at $23/hour, an annual savings of $8,625. This is one way that 4x10s help get more work per driver per week, lowering overtime and payroll costs.

I hope you, too, have fun with this. You, too, may find that this schedule works excellent in-season and off-season by the ocean/mountains/lakes/prairies. If you have any questions about how to implement this or would like our team to help you too get the extra $150,000 you deserve, then feel free to reach out to us at propanequarterback.com

Optimize Propane Operational Efficiency For Improved Profits

Many of us in the industry, annually look for new ways to improve profits. Often, we look at our operations to see where we can squeeze out some additional savings. Fortunately, it seems that many new technology tools have come out to help us “get there”. If you’ve gone to a trade show recently you too may have been assaulted with operational efficiency tools, tips and tricks that can help you advance your company’s profits, reduce waste and streamline hours and hours of work out of the business. But which tools you choose depends on where you are at in your business productivity enhancement life cycle…what have you already implemented is an indicator of what you should be looking at next.

​It seems that this trend of using technology to improve profits started around 30 years ago when the first propane software solutions hit the market designed to combine billing, forecasting, customer relationship management, account receivables, inventory, etc came into the market. They were great and allowed us to run our businesses with many fewer office personnel.

They even helped us improve our pricing and fee structures, so we could get 50% to 200% or more profit per customer. It significantly improved how our offices functioned in multiple ways and had a meaningful impact on the bottom line.

Next, around 20 years ago electronic registers and “in-cab computers” started to appear eliminating hours of manual entry of delivery tickets into the office software. Less mistakes and tons of time saved showed us that this tool also helped the office teams streamline and increase productivity.

Routing and Dispatching solutions then started appearing. These like the earlier solutions were costly but because the savings far outpaced the costs companies plowed into them. These solutions began to save the Dispatcher substantial time allowing one dispatcher to do the work of three and allowing drivers to deliver between 10% to 50% more deliveries in a day… That of course can result in significant payroll and vehicle cost savings.
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More recently we see tank monitoring solutions (17 and counting) appearing at every trade show. They are yet another great tool to reduce total deliveries per customer. A 25% reduction in deliveries per customer very quickly means that you need 25% fewer trucks and drivers… a great feat no doubt. And now that the newer monitoring companies are finally bringing the costs down the cost benefit equation is starting to make sense here… Due to new entrants and price pressures the industry projections are that this tool will cost significantly less very soon, foretelling of intriguing ROI’s here as well. Again, these are another way to bring operational efficiency to the office manager or dispatcher role as this is the person who normally determines frequency of delivery and tries to minimize deliveries while preventing run outs. Yes, this tool also brings some nice efficiencies to the delivery driver workforce as well.

We are also seeing the merging of technologies as the in-cab computer for delivery tickets has merged with the Routing software and turn by turn devices and in some cases has merged with the office software as well. This combination of tools does bring surprising benefits which may be why there are now over 32 different “in-cab computer” solutions on the market. The costs, ease of use, reliability and features of each vary wildly so it is imperative that you do a deep dive prior to purchasing…compare several solutions prior to purchasing. (contact us for the inside scoop if needed). The choices and competition are a blessing as the pricing has been going down while the features are improving.
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​All the tools above seem to focus on office efficiency, delivery efficiency and driver efficiency. The next frontier for our industry is to bring efficiency to the masses of paperwork for service technicians, sales reps and safety documentation. Though it costs more there are some solutions like Salesforce but unfortunately the single format solutions seem to cost substantially more. Case-in-point, the few service tech solutions in the market (often provided by your back office software solutions) can only work with that one office software platform and typically are priced such that very few propane companies have purchased. Fortunately consolidation is occurring here so you can now get single solutions that automate the combination of Service, Safety and Sales in one app lets us get a 3 for 1 bringing exciting cost reductions to the industry. One such solution combines propane specific Safety, Service Tech, and Sales Rep tools into one easy app (Apple and Android) so you can bring a whole new level of efficiency, automation, increased sales, increased installations, less paperwork and less clerical work which means improved profitability. The new frontier is Safety, Service, Sales automation all in one app downloadable from the app store. You can check it out at TankSpotter.com or see it on your favorite app store.

Technology sometimes feels like a moving target as every solution is either making improvements, merging with other solutions, adding features, updating or you find that some are not evolving but rather are getting left behind. That said the trend has been and continues to be that everything is becoming an “app”. A Critical Point is that there are different versions of apps. Native apps are the kind that work outside of cellular areas (where our industry thrives)… make sure that you only work with solutions that are true “native” apps and that can work on both Apple AND Android devices as this shows a stronger software technology company backing the product and shows that they understand the needs and desires of the real propane industry. Apps that do not work outside of a cell signal may be good if you only work in a highly metro area – these are not Native apps and for the propane industry may be problematic once you get into rural areas, hence not recommended.
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As tools merge, blend and combine the benefits to our industry somehow get larger. Somehow it means there is just less paperwork that needs to get shuffled around. The synergies of combining the solutions mentioned above actually result in less work so we can focus more efforts on acquiring more customers, improving customer service, installing more tanks and doing more deliveries not to mention improving the safety of all our faithful customers as well.

In the years ahead, we may see other new technologies that will also bring great improvements to our industry. Those listed above are providing the best bang for the buck at present. If you are interested in seeing the ROI analysis of some of these solutions let us know, the benefits of the right technology can be astronomical.

If you need guidance or insights into these feel free to reach out. If you have other technologies or techniques that you are using to improve operational efficiencies that also bring significant bottom line benefits feel free to reach out and share your thoughts, comments and suggestions.

Ultimate Propane Marketing Guide

What would you do with a mailing list of all propane users in your marketplace including their tank size and present fuel provider? Have you ever wondered what you would do if you had that list? Wouldn’t a list like that be helpful in growing your business?

Afterall, what is the most valuable asset every propane company has? Is it their bobtails, their payroll costs (employees) is it their bulk yard or their array of bulk and satellite yards? Maybe could it’s their safety and operations programs or their pricing and marketing strategy? There is only one way to determine what is the most valuable asset each company has… ask the “market” we call the propane industry.

To find out what the asset is to a propane company we can look at what they are willing to pay for. What is it that propane companies are willing to pay for when considering purchasing another propane company? In most cases propane companies may retain the employees of an acquisition for a time but employees = payroll costs + benefits costs + payroll taxes, and potential issues. Most companies look for ways to reduce costs after purchase and the first place they turn to is payroll reductions.

Next, while most propane companies pride themselves in their fleet a purchaser will quickly sell off extra trucks to reduce debt and insurance/maintenance costs so bobtails and service trucks are not the most important thing either. How about tanks? Well with steel prices going up steel is a nice plus from any acquisition but its easy to get more so that is not the top of the list either.

Bulk yards and storage can be a nice bonus but many companies will simply shut it down, sell off the tank and the yard separately and eliminate another cost so that is also not the most valuable asset of a propane company.

So what is the most important asset of any propane company? The answer is THEIR CUSTOMERS. You don’t often (if ever) see a company purchase another company only to sell off the customer list and keep all the employees, trucks and offices. On the contrary, usually the opposite is what we observe. So that being our consistent observation across North America we can safely say that the propane market values the propane customer list above all.

The next question might be “what is the value of a propane customer”? It seems that there are many ways to value a propane customer like their annual volume used (in liters or gallons) multiplied by the average margin and the expected life of a customer, that gives us the lifetime value of a customer. So a 600 gallon customer * 50 cent margins * 12 year lifetime average equals a value of $3600 for that customer.

So if your company has 1000 customers with similar stats throughout is worth $3.6 million on the open market. That may be low or high in your eyes and many will argue that there are other factors involved (I might agree) but the market decides what it is truly worth.

​That is not the point of this article and probably something for another article, but for now one can say that based on your number of customers, average gallons per customer, average margins per customer (plus annual fees per customer), gets us a lifetime value of a customer so we can get close to the value of their customer list.

What would you do with a mailing list of all propane users in your market-place including their tank size and present fuel provider?
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Imagine, if a 1000 customer list is worth between $3-$4 million then what would it be worth to you if you had the list of every propane customer in your market place? Would that list have 5,000 or 10,000 people on it? Maybe more or maybe less. The math could be quite interesting.

For most propane companies their sales, marketing and growth efforts are designed to gain new propane customers but what is the most effective way of doing this? For decades consulting firms have suggested that census data might be the key only to find that it is inaccurate, full of missing info and usually does not provide customer level info. Some companies pay realtors to get them info only to find that info is incomplete, inaccurate and hard to put into a usable format. List companies fall even further short of the mark as their information can be older and less accurate than the other options.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could avoid the misinformation and get the ultimate list of propane users in our market place?

Here are some items most companies would like to have in a prospect list:

1. Prospect name
2. Prospect address (with Geo-code)
3. Who is their present fuel provider
4. Who owns the propane tank
5. Size of propane tank
6. Propane useage type (cooking, heating, wate heat, fireplace, forklift, refill, generator, 8. irrigation etc)
7. Customer type (residential, industrial, commercial, autogas, agriculture, etc)
8. Average annual useage
9. Photo of the tank

Sure, there may be a few more items in the magic list, but you get the idea. Using your customer lifetime value its easy to see that a great prospect list could be worth a lot. Then of course what would be an affordable and cost-effective way to get that list?

Here are 3 ways you might start.

1. Get some simple inexpensive technology like TankSpotter.com – an app that helps you gather all the information noted above so you can have the ultimate list of 1000 to 10,000 propane prospects by year end.

2. Go to propanequarterback.com and have their programmers use a scraping software solution to gather all the propane addresses who sold their home in the last decade so they can gather a list of the propane users in your market area in a matter of weeks.

3. As a last resort, Go to your list of lost customers, “quoted” customers, online inquiries. This is a good starting point for a marketing mailing list.

Assembling a list of 100% of all propane users in a marketplace may take two or three of the items mentioned above.

The most valuable asset to any propane company is their customer list and Second is a Great Prospect List to get more customers. Getting and using the ultimate propane user prospect list could double your company’s value.

Why wait until your competition figures this out? Why not get on it today? Happy hunting.