Marketing Heating Oil

Anthony Mobilio_3

Any oil companies on here, if so what type of marketing do you do to create leads. Looking to generate some work. It seems that a lot of C.O.D companies are doing good they have little or no service and its seems that people don't care for the full service anymore.They advertise low prices.




Thanks
Joe

Robert O'Brien

The

majority of heating oil is still sold by full-service companies so they must provide something people want. You're selling a commodity in a market that is not growing,there are very few new oil accounts,the only way to get one is to take it away from someone else.Provide the best service possible and grow slowly by picking up accounts competitors didn't service properly.The only alternatives are buyouts and competing on price which will get you nothing but customers who are always looking for a better deal

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Al Letellier_9

marketing for oil

I have been a service manager for several oil companies and now am self employed. And the reason is service....I honestly believe it is the rare oil company that truely believes in first class service. Most don't know the meaning of the word, because selling oil is their primary objective ( I Know...I know. There are some good ones out there, but they are in the minority). As Robert said in his post, service is where it is at. I've always defined service as meeting the need of the customer, and that's what it's all about. Concentrate on providing good service first, and sell oil to your service customers. Concentrate on quality equipment, fuel conservation and blue ribbon service and you can't lose. There is an oilcompany in CT that has this written on their trucks...." We want to sell less oil to more people". If they live up to that slogan, they can't help but be successful. Do it right, hire the best people you can get, stand behind what you do 110% and you'll be OK

Joe Grosso

Oil Marketing

Ok this is right up my ally.I have a mom &pop oil company in metro ny area.My number one concern is great service to my customers.Do not get me wrong the price of fuel oil is a factor in who you use as a supplier.But if having your unit running correctly year after year and come right over service if and when you have a problem should make it a no brainer that you should stay with the company you already have.I believe this but in the past 10 to 15 years I have watched as people only care about the price of fuel period.Do not get me wrong 35% maybe alittle more care about the overall package but being a full service oil heat dealer is getting very difficult with this attitude.This subject really hits a nerve with me.Most people might say this is what they want but when they find a cheaper price you hear well maybe they will give me the same service as you.Hard to take sometimes.

Tim P._2

As a homeowner, I do have to say that good oil+service companies are hard to find.

My family and I have dealt with a locally owned company for a long time; first-name basis long time.

Lately it seems that prices have gone up and service gone down. I pay substantially more for oil (cash) to know that if I have a problem they will be there to help.

Haven't needed that this year (knock on wood). I did pay through the nose (imho) for servicing, and I didn't even get a service tag!

I think in the future I am going to go with an oil-only company for oil and find one of you good fellows to service my boilers.

I think competition among oil suppliers is having an impact on all companies, be it the big-names or the mom&pops.

Joe Grosso

Here you go

Tim thanks you proved my point.You all think that you are being over charged or not getting all the that it says on the ticket.They did such a bad job that is why the unit has ran with no problem said state of affairs

Anthony Mobilio_3

Joe Grosso-Oil Marketing

Joe I know what you mean. How long have you been in business, Where do you get the most of your leads from, do you deal with real estate agent's




Anthony

Long Beach Ed

Preaching to the Bishop Here...

...but I have to add my two cents.

For many years, I operated a dozen buildings and delt with full service oil companies. Probably have bought from over a dozen different full service suppliers.

I can say that only one did the work correctly. IT was a union shop that paid high wages and charged high prices.

Since then we have expanded and do all the work ourselves. Still deal with a first-rate supplier but opt to do our own service.

What I wonder about is how these hacks behave when the chickens come home to roost. Afterall, if you have 800 boilers out there and none of them have been vacuumed in four years, isn't all hell going to break loose? Gads, they are all yours and you have run every one into the ground and you have contracts to repair each and every one. I don't get it. How do these companies survive?

I remember one Brooklyn outfit which put one of my 1.75gph nozzles in a coffee can of kero to shake around and clean it. That was their annual service.

No wonder its a tough business.

Long Beach Ed

joel_19

Joe

Joe I'm going to say "You" in here but please understand I'm talking about some oil companies not all and certainly not you personally.

It is true that some do a great job, the majority do not. The boiler may run fine but not efficently . I just spent several hrs cleaning my brother n laws boiler it was plugged solid. The tags hanging next to it all said "cleaned and checked" same oil company for years. Judging by the rusted cleanout bolts and the fact that it was totally plugged I'd say it hadn't been cleaned in years.In addition when we where done the flue temp was 70f cooler than the last tag and no I didn't fire it down, just cleaned it and put in a new chamber.

The price difference in many places between discounts and full providres continues to grow,this is because service departments are getting very exspensive to run and most full service companies do not charge what they need to for service they use the oil charge to supplement.

I have yet to find an oil company that is willing to open thier books and prove they make money on service. Meaning that the office help,computers,owners salary,service vans etc is all covered by service charges. I've even had oil guys tell me "it's impossable to make money on service" if that's true how come the rest of us do it every day??

My first advice would be charge what you need to for service (many will find that is double or tripple what they charge now) and lower the oil price, if your fuel price where closer to the non service companies folks would be less tempted to jump. They tend to only look at the oil price and think the service is not worth much because you guys virtually give it away,so therefore it can't be worth much. They get a big shock when they go with an independent service company and find out what service really costs.

Second embrace new technology. Almost every 30 yold boiler I see has "excellent" circled on the inspection tag,sure think any H.O under 50 believes that? Every oil company around tries to talk our clients OUT of buying a Viessmann. That's brillant it just makes you guys look dumb when you tell owners "we don't service those" "Those have computers they're too complex" " A Tekmar controll?" You don't want that thing who knows how to fix it" Oil guys constantly tell folks stuff like that around here. Translated to the H.O. at least younger ones who thrive on technology they think "what an idiot this guy is" or "why don't they go back to school and learn more". This is what the folks tell me about you guys. Right after that they ask if I can switch them to gas. I try and keep them oil all the time so don't shoot me cause I'm trying to help you guys.I'm all for the little guy not the monster gas utility.

I go into houses all the time that have 20-50yold tankless boilers . Housewives say tankless always runs out and they want to get a regular gas hot water heater. I wonder why the oil service tech who comes every year hasn't sold them an indirect WH,or new Riello ,and a Tekmar?? Your clients WANT to buy this stuff, but they come to us because you guys never try and sell it to them!!!. All the tech has to do is just ask Mrs Housewife "Mam you've got this old tankless does it ever run out?" No need for pressure just ask what they'd like to fix.

The oil industry needs to get with the program and give folks what they want and you guys will be just fine. If your afraid to raise your service and install rates consider this idea. Split off your service and install dept as a seperate company. If you have 3000 acounts that will be 3000 clients for the service company to start with easilly supporting a few install guys and service people as those folks will need upgrades,A/c,additions,basement remodels etc. 3k accounts should yield a minimum of 3million in sales (and that's conservative) for a good smallHVAC/hydronic crew. Great service and word of mouth will grow that company easilly.

Then lower your oil price to atract more clients, who will all need service and hand those off to the seperate company. You'll blow the discount oil companies away as they won't be able to match the service your seperate "service" company can provide. This is the oil buisness model of the future.

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Joe Grosso

Joel

I do here you.I do make money in my service dept.I do a annual overhual the right way.Little more than 1000 accounts and really very little service.Very big on upgrading equitment and keeping everything running correctly.If I have a customer that will not do upgrade that is needed to make system trouble free I cut them loose period.I do need to charge more to do the job right and make a living.We are a small union shop but it is getting almost impossible to compete against the cod companies and other full service that do a half baked job on service.Most consumers not all look at price period makes it tough

joel_19

Uhhuh

It's very tuff out in HVAC world right now. lots of layoffs here both HVAC and oil companies these guys are collecting and doing side jobs at the same time. Even worse than the typical hackers in the sense that they have 0 overhead. It's making it very hard on the rest of us to keep things going

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Ken D.

Oil

I have been at some of the largest companies in the country. And some of the smallest. Being clueless about the customers and the business runs across the board, large and small. And being large does not give you an automatic insight. On the contrary, it insulates the bozos at the top from the customers, who pay our salaries and are the reason we are in business. I could go on and on, but suffice to say real SERVICE is a dying art.

GaryDidier

oil & service

Most of the oil companies in my area gave up on service because they were losing money on it. Service is now performed by independants like myself. The majority of the service people are hacks who don't know or don't care. Most oil is purchased by price [cheapest].


I saw an opportunity to fill this void We perform superior service and always educate our customers. We get many compliments on our service and reliability. A typical comment during a service is the other guy never did what you do! I have not had to advertise for three years. We get word of mouth and some referrals from local oil companies.
Gary from Granville

Ken_40

We went the same way...

As members of the FMA in NJ, we found almost everyone suggesting the biz model was this: Make service a zero dollar profit center, make money on the fuel. The independents ate everyone's lunch, selling oil and offering no service.

By "sistering" with these oil-only vendors, and offering to service their accounts, a symbiotic relationship was founded, to both our benefit. They sold oil at decent margins, elminated labor and parts inventory overhead, we worked independently and were specialized in the business they were sketchy on. Specialization is the way for everyone to make more money. The customer benefits from this division of service immensely. When boilers wore out, we not only knew how to fix 'em; we also knew how to install them.

Most oil companies have no expertise in larger boiler installs. I have no idea why. Anyone who can burn over 2,000 GPY, should be an account an oil company could service, or do a replacement. If you want to be full service, be full service. Filling a 5,000 UST once a month warrants coveting. None of the players we knew could handle it. Our opportnity, the so-called "full service" company's loss.

No wonder many owners switched to gas. Between lack of true service, UST over-regulation and the general notion that oil is dirty, the deck was (and still is) "stacked."