Pat Hyland’s key points for Growth Summit attendees

October 7, 2024 By    
Photo of Pat Hyland speaking at the 2024 LP Gas Growth Summit

Pat Hyland addresses attendees of the 2024 LP Gas Growth Summit. (Photo: LP Gas staff)

Pat Hyland still remembers clearly his first trade show experience in the propane industry.

Photo of Pat Hyland

Hyland

The former newspaper reporter had stepped down as the editor of a Catholic newspaper in the Diocese of Cleveland to become the editor of LP Gas magazine in 1997. He soon found himself at the Southeastern Convention in Atlanta, where he never felt so alone.

After a couple of hours on the show floor, Hyland thought to himself: “You are in the wrong place. You do not belong here.”

How things change.

Hyland settled into his new role and spent the next 15 years leading the editorial side of LP Gas. He spent 12 more years in communications roles with the Propane Education & Research Council (PERC). Not only did Hyland learn that he belonged in the propane industry, but he also began to thrive and lead.

“I eventually realized that I enjoyed helping propane marketers clear their individual hurdles and leverage emerging opportunities to help them grow their businesses, and that’s where I found my place in the industry,” he says.

Hyland, who retired in September, retraced his 27 years in propane, shared some of his observations from his time with LP Gas and PERC, and emphasized helpful points for propane marketers as the featured speaker at the LP Gas Growth Summit.

In his years as editor of LP Gas, Hyland recognized how the propane industry epitomizes the American dream.

“It’s thousands of small, dedicated business owners who are investing in themselves, in their drive to succeed, [with] family names proudly embossed on a bobtail that’s working long hours to help their hometown community thrive,” Hyland says. “For so many, it’s a proud legacy carried down from their fathers and grandfathers.”

Hyland told the industry’s stories to thousands of LP Gas readers before his new position with PERC in 2012 allowed him to expand on his role as a communicator.

He was fascinated by PERC’s role to serve existing and emerging propane markets, to help nudge the industry along in ways propane marketers lacking adequate resources could ever undertake on their own. He called the staff there “some of the smartest, most talented and hardest-working individuals I’ve met anywhere.”

“The industry entrusts PERC to wisely invest its assessment dollars to help it grow the sale of propane nationwide,” Hyland says.

During his time with PERC, Hyland worked closely with the state propane associations – to ensure their members were aware of PERC, understood council programs and the benefits to propane operations, and realized the many resources available to them.

“Whether speaking at state association meetings, writing articles or socializing at industry events, my goal was always to connect those dots,” he says.

For propane marketers to grow, Hyland says, they must consider the following points:

  • Learn what doesn’t work. Early in his career, Hyland recalls propane companies stealing customers from other companies in “a vicious cycle” that wasn’t sustainable.
  • Understand propane is a service industry. “Where the propane industry has always thrived is in those small communities where we live and operate, and we know those people; we know those customers,” he says.
  • Walk the walk; don’t just talk the talk. Hyland says autogas is a good example. “We have for the last 10 years identified autogas as one of the best opportunities to steal gasoline and diesel gallons and pad the propane industry domestically. Worldwide it’s happening; we’re way behind the curve.” More propane marketers should consider adopting autogas in their own fleets, he adds. “There is not a piece of equipment in your fleet right now that cannot run on propane.”
  • Be open to the available tools. “We have a lot of materials to help you and your business do whatever it is you want to do,” Hyland says of PERC. “You tell us what you need to succeed.”

About the Author:

Brian Richesson is the editor in chief of LP Gas Magazine. Contact him at brichesson@northcoastmedia.net or 216-706-3748.

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