New Year’s resolutions for propane marketers

Share resolutions with customers and staff.
(Photo: Adam Yee/iStock / Getty Images Plus/Getty Images)

A high percentage of New Year’s resolutions made today fall by the wayside early in the year, with the most dominant reason being that many people keep their resolutions to themselves. When you keep your resolutions a secret, no one is going to check up on you. Sharing your resolutions with family and friends is the best way to stay on track and meet those personal goals. Think of New Year’s resolutions as your personal business plan for the upcoming year.

Now take that approach to your business planning for the new year. Here are some business resolutions that can take you beyond the normal financial planning that you do as a business owner or unit manager.

⦁ “Make the phone ring.” Setting growth goals doesn’t do any good if you don’t have a marketing plan and the tools to develop prospects. It is time to refresh or replace that tired old website (3 years old or older) and reactivate that seldom-used social media platform. These tools and others are meant to make the phone ring. It is up to you to have your team ready to turn those clicks and calls into propane customers.

⦁ Build floor traffic. An office open to the public should be more than a place to pay bills and order propane. Allocate space to a showroom for unique propane-related merchandise and equipment. You don’t need to be a full-service HVAC or appliance store to have an interesting array of propane equipment and related accessories that will draw customers to your showroom. You can have a hunt/fish/camp theme, outdoor room focus, water heating specialty or any combination of products that fits your location and customer base. How about a showroom that specializes in gas ranges? Work with equipment distributors in your area to manage inventory levels and turnover. If done right, this can be a mini-profit center for you and bring in more propane business.

⦁ Make propane the most reliable form of energy. Electrify-everything mandates that politicians and policymakers in many parts of the country are pursuing will make the electric grid much less reliable. Electricity demand continues to rise, while the transition to wind and solar chokes off generating capacity. This opens the opportunity to put propane well in the lead as the reliable energy champion. Take care of your business operations first by installing propane standby power generation that will operate critical plant functions in times of grid failure. Then turn to your propane customers to see how you can help eliminate their grid anxiety with propane applications and backup power generation. Finally, work to protect your employees and their families from unexpected power outages. They will help you spread the word about propane reliability.

⦁ Lower the carbon intensity (CI) of your business. Educate yourself and your employees on the carbon cycle, the CI of conventional propane versus electricity in your state, and tactics you will employ to lower the carbon footprint of your business. These tactics can include upgrading your truck fleet to propane-powered vehicles when replacing gasoline or diesel models. Improve your operating efficiency through tank monitors and telemetry and consider adding virtual metering as a service option. Fewer miles traveled and more gallons per stop lower the CI of that delivered fuel. Look to your wholesalers to see where your propane purchases originate and how the propane is transported to you. The CI score of that delivered propane will matter. Talk to your suppliers about ways to access renewable propane for sale to select customers who value an even lower CI score than conventional propane offers.

Sharing your business resolutions with employees and customers will keep you on track to meet those goals and have a Happy New Year.

Tom Jaenicke is vice president of propane marketing services for Warm Thoughts Communications. He can be reached at tjaenicke@warmthoughts.com or 810-252-7855.