By Philip J. Baratz, CTA Angus Energy pbaratz@angusenergy.com Oilheat Marketing... Are your best years ahead of you? Embracing, putting up with or avoiding technology driveways, no…any of that practical stuff) customers and deliveries usually average around what you want them to average. Hardly any customers run out of oil. That only sounds pedestrian when you consider that if you knew absolutely how much oil was in someone’s tank, not only would you not allow them run out, but you would also not allow them get a “side fill.” You would also be able to raise your targeted delivery size and save a delivery or two per year. How would that impact your profitability or ability to compete? Monitors are not free of cost and they are not free of complexity, but they are loved by homeowners. Are your best years ahead of you or behind you? Whether you have a wall full of file cabinets housing manila file folders, a bunch of Excel workbooks or a brand new BOS, you likely have years and years worth of data on customer behavior, patterns and proclivity. You also are likely unaware of many of the tell-tale signs from customers. If a customer who is on a fixed-price program goes on a “delivery hold”, don’t you know that he already has one foot out the door? If a customer asks for copies of his bills for the last two years, do you think that she is looking for free paper? If a customer chooses to not renew their budget, after being on a budget for the last four years, what does that mean? Are you collecting and reviewing any data that would give insight into whom you should reach out to, or what types of customers prove to be the best ones? Are your best years ahead of you or behind you? You can look at getting a budget to the bank because they require it, or you can automate a process to do a monthly (or daily) budget variance report. You can invest in routing software or hope that your dispatcher comes off of disability before October 1st. You can find out what all this stuff about “pay per click” is, or keep buying a full page ad in the Yellow Pages because the sales rep is attractive. Are your best years ahead of you or behind you? Our industry is full of different silos of needs that all need to magically come together to form a great experience for customers, so that they will continue to purchase your services. The silos include finance, marketing, sales, operations, service, dispatch, hedging, H.R., etc. The world is getting more complex, but the solutions are becoming easier to obtain. If you want to view what your business will look like when you are ready to retire to Florida and give it over to the next generation, you need to start thinking and acting that way. ICM /company/angus-energy /AngusEnergy @AngusEnergy Our industry is a very complicated one. On one hand, the geopolitical and economic ramifications of a small group of oil producers are enough to rock the globe financially and impact you in its wake. On the other hand, if you can only manage to make your deliveries a little more efficient to your 3,000 customers in (your-town-here), PA, you might be able to save over $200,000 per year, which is a big number. Your business is likely a good deal of “old school” hard work, personal relationships and “gut feelings,” combined with the necessary component of required technology to make your life (or the lives of your accountants, managers and employees) easier. Big global numbers, big local numbers. Old school, new school. These are not absolute choices that you need to make, but they can tell you a lot about your approach and attitude. As a company, we have become very involved in helping our clients in many facets of their business. As our client count is well into the hundreds, we have been afforded a unique position to gain perspective as to how different companies work. One thing that we look at is the “best days—ahead or behind?” question, when assessing the best way to approach a client about an operational or financial matter. Some clients pine for the-good-old-days and have an understandable yearning for the simpler times; before things were “in the cloud,” before predictive analytics, routing software and back-office systems that need to be updated every couple of years. They also hearken back to the days when customers remained loyal for decades. The polar opposite of that feeling is by those who have embraced technology, with all of its bells and whistles. A customer is no longer just a person who saved up and bought a house, but a combination of demographic, credit score and operational data. Neither school of thought is right, but we have found that those who are embracing the future and the value that technology brings to the table, while understanding that small businesses and relationships are still the backbone of our economy, are those who truly see the future as very bright and also those with the greatest likelihood of success. Technology is not about spending money. It is about investing money and expecting a return. You can stick with your DOS version of a back-office system, and still have “Sally” email the random customer from her private @netscape.com account. That is much less expensive than upgrading to the newer and better version the BOS company might be offering. Are your best years ahead of you or behind you? K-Factors are pretty good, especially for deliveries to heat-only (no heat pump, no hot water, no heated 30 ICM/March/April 2016
ICM March-April 2016
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