Being in the heating oil industry, we get to work with companies of all types. From older companies that operate without even using a computer, to newer companies with state-of-the-art equipment, we’ve seen it all. What’s amazing is seeing what’s important to each of them.
In this post we’ll walk you through some things to think about when shopping for new heating oil or propane delivery software.
Identify What’s Important to Your Heating Oil Business
As you start to investigate software providers, think about what’s important to you. Is your office staff over-worked in the busy season? Are you spending too much time and effort on entering orders at the end of the day? Are orders getting forgotten, or deliveries being missed? What about cash flow?
Order Entry:
If you or someone in the office is spending hours entering orders that were emailed in or left as voicemails, then consider this something to address. A good software solution will include online-ordering that ties your website directly to your back-office. You shouldn’t need to update your price in multiple spots. And you certainly shouldn’t need to hand-write tickets.
A fine-tuned order entry system means orders will be automatically entered into your back-office software – even while you sleep. Come into the office, print your tickets, and hit the road!
Ticket Printing:
You would be amazed how many multi-million dollar oil companies still hand-write tickets. Hand-writing tickets is great on the fly. If a customer calls up when you’re already in the truck, you may have to write out a ticket. But there are better ways to spend your time.
Instead of hand-writing tickets, consider entering every order directly into your software. Once all your orders are in for the day, print them out in one shot. Hand the pile to your driver, and go back to more important tasks. Talk to your software providers about ticket printing solutions for your business.
Online Ordering:
Online ordering will help you sell more gallons without spending more time on the phone. In an ideal world, all of your orders would come from your website and you would not need to answer the phone. We know that’s a bit unrealistic, but not totally implausible. Your online ordering solution should link directly to your back-office software.
Customers should be able to log in, and pay with a saved credit card too. And finally, you should not need to manually enter orders that come in online. They should come in ready to be printed onto a ticket.
Mapping/Routing:
Are you spending hours every week routing tickets? There are some great tools that can help with this. Mapping tools that show every stop on a map can save countless hours of planning. Just assign the stops to a driver and truck and send them on their way in just a couple of minutes.
Even if you know where most of the stops are, visualizing them on the map can be super helpful and save lots of time. Evaluate routing options and try them for yourself when looking at software providers.
On-The-Truck Capabilities:
The sky is the limit when it comes to outfitting your truck. Electronic meters that provide dates and times are a great place to start. Next, think about on-board navigation. Your delivery software should interface with a tablet in the truck. The drivers should never have to manually type an address. They should simply click a ‘Go’ button and get directions to their next stop.
Finally, the best solution is an app that communicates with the electronic meter. The app will automatically preset the meter at each stop. It can then print a delivery ticket right in the truck. This eliminates the need to print tickets in the office before the trucks leave in the morning.
Degree Days:
If you track your automatic delivery accounts using degree day software, think about how important this is to you. If you have to spend several minutes each day figuring out the average temperature and manually inputting it, then you are using some old software.
Modern degree day software will automatically pull in temperature data. It will do so by zip code, not just in one arbitrary town (where your office is located, for example). It should also display how much oil is estimated to be in the tank. You should not have to translate some notion of ‘degree days due’ to figure out how full the tank is.
Payments Processing:
If you’re currently paying over 2% for credit card processing fees, you are missing out on tremendous savings. Talk to your software provider about utility rates for heating oil and propane providers. Your software should be configured to take advantage of these low rates, potentially saving you tens of thousands of dollars.
Your software should also enable you to save credit cards. Stored credit cards make collecting payment a thing of the past. You can improve your cash flow and make your customers’ lives easier as well.
Reporting:
“What gets measured gets managed” is a classic business management saying. If you are not measuring your results on a regular basis, you cannot know if you are succeeding in the right areas. Ask what types of reports are available in your software. You should be able to easily see payments, tax reports, sales reports by date, and many more. Marketing reports should allow you to retarget customers that haven’t ordered in a while.
User Interface:
The most underrated characteristic of your delivery software will be its user-friendliness. If you have a new staff member in the office, think about how much training will be necessary. Test out any software you’re interested in and see how easy it is to use. If your gut tells you it will be very hard to use, trust your instincts.
Schedule a Demo
While there is a great amount of info online, the best way to know which oil delivery software is right for you is to see it for yourself. Schedule a demo with a software provider today. At Droplet Fuel, you can click here to schedule a demo ASAP. Don’t hesitate to ask lots of questions! We do not want to set you up with a solution that is not right for you. We’ll try to understand your needs and determine which tools are best suited for your business.
Happy heating,
Steve