How propane marketers can track performance beyond gallons and margin

November 11, 2026 By Aaron Huizenga 0 Comments

Anyone inside our industry who operates, runs, manages, owns or participates in a business function knows there are things we are responsible to complete. As we look at our businesses and responsibilities, we want to know how we are doing daily. We talked about a few of these items in last month’s conversation when we discussed measuring employee performance. As we take this one step further, we need to think about how well we are performing.

First, you will need to look at how you want to make your measurements. If you want to measure what you are doing right now, then perfect, but you also need a standard to measure it against. Do you want to measure against last year, your budget, your best year ever, your future perfect year or perhaps something completely different?

These measurements can be similar for many organizations, but how deep do you really look at your operation? Everyone looks at the number of gallons that you sell and the margin that you earned from those sales, but there is so much more.

Here are several questions to think about that can help you run a more effective business through mathematics.

How many gallons do you average at each or your deliverers?

Do you know your average starting tank percentage for each of your automatic-fill customers? If not, you should. That is an efficiency number to help you make more ideal deliveries.

How do you measure your people? Do you look at your overtime spend? Too much overtime has a point of diminished return, and it could be time to add another team member or two to increase output without spending any more money.

If you are delivering primarily space-heating fuel, do you look at the degree-days vs. last year, or another standard? This can help you understand your gain or loss in gallons from year to year as it relates to the weather mathematically. Not an end-all metric but something to be mindful of year over year when making percentage comparisons.

These are only a few suggestions, but it varies by organization. The real message here is to think about what is important to you and your business and then do the math to measure how you are performing. These metrics, or KPIs, can help you adjust that compass as you navigate the fiscal year and pull the available levers at the right time to maximize your potential.

Let’s work on your upgrade!

Aaron Huizenga is East Division manager for Lakes Gas in Wisconsin. Reach him at ahuizenga@lakesgas.com.

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