Software provider assists marketer with technology transition

August 16, 2024 By Bob Sandrick

Freddie Ridler had tried for at least three years to attend the annual LP Gas Growth Summit. The problem was that the summit, where propane marketers meet service providers that can help their businesses, had room for only a limited number of software companies.

Ridler

Ridler and his firm – Rural Computer Consultants (RCC) in Bird Island, Minnesota – were on the waiting list.

In 2022, a spot finally opened up. He didn’t waste time. At the summit, Ridler met Jason Edwards, general manager of Pacific States Petroleum, a propane retailer based in Concord, California. The two formed a partnership that is poised to benefit both companies.

“First of all, I made a good friend in the deal,” says Ridler, head of business growth at RCC. “Getting to know Jason was amazing. He’s just a great guy. And we have another advocate for our company. The whole word-of-mouth thing and friendship thing are the best parts of it.”

RCC, a back-office software provider for fuel retailers, will host Pacific States’ business information on the cloud, track the company’s inventory, store its customer data, handle forecasting and optimizing functions, and create key performance indicators to show Pacific States’ business performance.

In addition, Pacific States will use RCC’s Mobile Office on the Go, or MOGO, a hand-held workstation for drivers and service technicians. MOGO is paired with RCC’s Dispatch Manager, a mapping system that identifies the most efficient and fastest service routes.

On the RCC members’ hub, Pacific States can watch training videos and learn about new products and services.

“We are constantly pumping the latest information to our customers,” Ridler says.

Jason Edwards, far right, in a panel discussion at the 2022 LP Gas Growth Summit. Photo by LP Gas staff

The Pacific States Petroleum-RCC partnership didn’t happen overnight. Edwards wasn’t quite ready after that initial meeting with Ridler at the 2022 Growth Summit. Ridler says Pacific States was in the middle of a growth spurt and was focused on managing it.

Pacific States has indeed grown. It started in 2001 with one fuel truck, one small office and a unique idea – to deliver smaller-than-normal fuel quantities to customers while providing top-notch service. Today, it has a fleet of 75 trucks and offices in 10 cities, covering the entire state of California.

Ridler could relate to that growth. RCC was founded in 1979 by brothers Brian and Kevin Sheehan, who developed business software specifically for fuel and propane businesses. Today the company employs 75 workers, and its customers span the U.S. and Canada.

After the 2022 Growth Summit, Ridler and Edwards kept running into each other at various expositions and trade shows. Finally, after a year or two, Edwards was ready to talk about doing business.

“They needed 21st century technology, which is our back-office software,” Ridler says. “They needed web service, up-to-date inventory tracking and data mapping for their drivers.”

RCC assembled an onboarding team, with each member having expertise in various RCC functions and services, to help Pacific States with the transition.

“We are not here to change how they do their business, but show how the software can help them,” Ridler says.

Ridler has no plans to stop attending the LP Gas Growth Summit now that he has secured a place there. He says he would never have joined forces with Pacific States without the summit. That’s because summit participants spend time together and get to know one another.

“It’s incredible,” Ridler says. “It’s like you’re dating them for three days. It’s like speed dating. At a trade show, it’s so busy, you forget who you talked to.”

Learn about more partnerships that were formed at past Growth Summits.