By Bill Stomp
More propane and petroleum marketers are benefitting from cutting-edge technology in the form of innovative apps that handle everything from geo-location, on-site invoicing, safety inspections, sales improvements, marketing automation and digital replacement of paper forms and documents.
Hardly a week goes by without some new app rolling into the marketplace to help make business more profitable and efficient than ever before. When going to trade shows for every industry the technology sections are getting all the attention and bringing more cost saving and revenue enhancing tools to the market specifically for the delivery and trades businesses.
After reviewing the options in the market, we came up with some of the most interesting, lower cost, newer technology options that will save time and money.
Newest and Most Interesting
Probably the most complete and interesting app in the market was noted by Propane Quarterback a fuel delivery consulting firm in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who called the TankSpotter app (tankspotter.com) “the newest and most interesting app in our industry.” It is actually a combination of 5 apps, which they described as follows:
• TankFinder — A very popular and super easy-to-use app for documenting all your safety/maintenance issues in the field, with a plus that it allows you to document all your prospective customer tank locations and addresses. It is the easiest way to make a targeted marketing list for new sales as well as a list of all your safety and maintenance issues.
• Estimator — Have you ever wanted your team to be able to create an error free installation estimate or invoice and do it in a quarter the time it presently takes them? This is essentially a simplified way for salespeople and non-salespeople to do easy estimates, proposals, and invoices, with your custom parts list, your fees, taxes, and discounts already in it. Sales reps and managers I spoke with love it, as it helps them close more deals in less time without clerical work.
• TankDocs — A cool app that has all the industry forms and documents needed for installing fuel tanks — trenching release, tank inspection, DOT tank pickup, etc. Customization capable.
• Safety Check — Safety is paramount in the fuel industry, and this app has the safety inspections important to the industry, like their version of the “gas check,” “leak check,” spill reporting, bulk tank [and] inspections, vehicle inspections and more. Customizable forms are available. Recommended by propane safety consultants, safety trainers, and industry insurance companies as the ultimate safety tool for 2018.
• The 5-Star Rating (also inside Tank Spotter) — Boosts a propane company’s Google ratings online. It allows you to capture real customer feedback and get their 5-star rating. If you are like most propane companies you have very few online ratings and your overall online rating score is not what you want it to be. This is the marketing tool for getting known on the internet with great ratings. This five-in-one app is connected to a cloud application ‘command center,’ so all the data is filed instantly, and the management can see issues instantly. This seems to be one of the most useful apps in the industry, and it is a four-in-one combo deal.”
PERC Apps
The Propane Education Resource Council (PERC) invested heavily into five free apps online. These apps are largely designed to help propane companies sell more propane.
• Space Heating — Helps your customers determine their space heating costs for the season.
• Water Heating — Helps your customers determine their water heating costs for the year.
• Propane Autogas calculator — Show prospective autogas customers how propane autogas would affect your fleet financially. Simply input a few numbers and the calculator will show you the cost difference of a propane autogas vehicle compared with gasoline or diesel.
• Propane Mower calculator — Show your client the cost savings of propane-powered mowers compared with gasoline or diesel.
• Propane Irrigation calculator — An easy way to find out how much your client could save with propane by switching to a propane-powered irrigation engine compared with a diesel engine. With competition heating up and the need to grow your overall propane gallons, innovative apps are becoming less an option than a requirement after all they make your job easier, reduce, and eliminate hours of paperwork and clerical work costs every day.
It has progressed to the point that not using technology has a higher cost than using it. Propane Quarterback warned, “Investing in safety and sales is a good investment, but investing in technology that helps you get double or triple the safety and sales results you are after with less effort is the way that every company is headed.” Apps like the safety app or the 5-star Feedback app in TankSpotter typically pay for themselves ten times over in one year.
Want your employees to do more in a day with less “rework?” Looking for a way to reduce costs and grow the business without adding more payroll costs? This may be what you too are looking for.
The app revolution, has reached the shores of the propane industry and is not only a very smart investment it is also the wave of the future. Considering there are already thousands of downloads of these apps on the various Apple and Android app stores, the future is now.
Make 2018 your year to cut costs, increase sales, improve safety, and work smarter — rather than harder.
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