An Embarrassment of Riches
Phil Baratz provides his insights from a 5-year collaboration with fuel distributors, showcasing significant improvements in operational efficiency and cost management through data-driven strategies.
The Silent Profit Killer
With consumption falling, governmental intervention increasing, and competition becoming wiser and nimbler, it appears the only true lever for a fuel distributor to keep their margins is by increasing prices. However, higher prices don’t help with the silent killer of profits in a world where others are managing those risks. How high will you be able to take prices to offset inefficiencies that are only getting worse? How long will it be till your customers wonder why the competition is cheaper?
Why Business Intelligence is Your Key to Operational Success
Imagine what you could achieve if you could easily combine all the information that is available about your operations and your customers. Business Intelligence (BI) is the solution that makes this a reality. It collects and analyzes data from various sources, transforming it into valuable insights that can drive your business forward. There are numerous reasons why businesses invest in Business Intelligence. Let's explore five of them...
Unlocking Efficiency
While tank monitors aren’t new, they are indispensable tools that can revolutionize the way businesses operate. Tank monitors don’t just monitor tanks, they empower fuel delivery businesses to become more efficient, so they are able to do more with less. Explore five key benefits of incorporating tank monitors into your system.
Optimizing Delivery Efficiency
In the world of heating fuel distribution, efficiency is paramount. Today's heating fuel dealers face the day-to-day challenge of ensuring timely, dependable, and cost-effective deliveries to their customers. Optimizing delivery operations not only enhances customer satisfaction but also streamlines business processes and positively affects your bottom line. To help get you started, our team has put together a few strategies you can implement to optimize delivery efficiency (and profits).
2023: Year In Review
How do you describe a year that began with one of the warmest winters in recent history and ends with OPEC+ members signing off on an admittedly vague plan to phase out fossil fuels at COP28? My answer is… it was better than the prior two years! We are completing a year of relative normalcy…
Deliveries need to be bigger – but not all of them
Keeping customers warm through the winter is the most important part of your business. So, it’s no surprise that deliveries are the largest component of your expenses. When you dig into ways to cut down on those expenses in many cases it comes down to making larger and (therefore) fewer deliveries. However, simply targeting larger deliveries may or may not be optimal and as such may not decrease but actually increase delivery costs! How do you define an Optimal Delivery?
Who’s Monitoring Your Monitoring?
Tank monitors are meant to take away the uncertainty of asking yourself, “How much will I deliver to this tank today?” Better put, tank monitors put an end to the challenge of relying on questionable K-factor consumption calculations. If you know how much you will deliver to a particular tank, you can achieve the two most important improvements imaginable: increased delivery size and optimal fleet management.
A Modern Approach to Delivery Planning
Most fuel marketers still rely heavily on K-Factors to predict, prioritize and route their deliveries. This method of calculating next delivery based upon a mathematical formula has allowed fuel marketers to operate as efficiently as possible. But are K-factors really the most efficient option?
Unlearning Is Hard!
Albert Einstein said, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” Almost 100% of the objections we see relative to our offerings are based on prior behavior that has become part of a company’s DNA. Routines and mindsets become rooted in consistent behavior and thought – people and…