Oil Prophets

Winter 2013

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BUSINESS STRATEGIES Sweeping Changes Dictate a New Blueprint Betsi Bixby, Meridian Associates Marketers continue to experience sweeping changes. As both the refiner and marketer competitive landscape evolves, marketers need forward-thinking strategies to keep their bottom lines growing. One of the most common questions I'm asked is about the viability of smaller marketers. My answer is yes, I do believe they can stay viable, but with seven conditions which concurrently serve as a blueprint for success for any size marketer. To not only survive, but thrive as a marketer over the coming decade, a company must: 1. Revitalize. Vitality is the positive energy that fuels great companies. Vitality stems from a creative, committed workforce bursting with high impact ideas plus enthusiasm for the hard work it takes to bring exciting new projects to fruition. These projects can run the gamut -- from new products and services to efficiency, cost-saving, technology or marketing. As someone beyond the half-century mark, I must also point out that youth on your team will get the energy momentum moving! Temper youthful enthusiasm with your senior management's sage wisdom and you have a powerful weapon for waging war on competitors without youth in their ranks. 2. Strategize. One of the most critical decisions to make is whether to grow through geographic expansion versus existing market penetration. Choosing market penetration where you concentrate on providing more and more and more in diversified products and services within a specific geographic radius can be an extremely wise choice. Providing additional products and services (even totally outside petroleum or your current offerings) to terrific, loyal customers can exponentially increase profit without 30 OIL PROPHETS WINTER 2013 the burden of investment in additional facilities. Choosing this strategy requires company management to redefine their purpose and mission, a very healthy exercise. Be mindful of industry concentrations and sectors in your strategy. Even though your goal is wallet and market share in your territory, risky concentrations can easily backfire. For instance, highly profitable oil and gas drilling accounts are great until the drilling stops from a price change. Keep healthy diversification in your customer base for long term viability. 3. Fanaticize. Treat your precious customers with fanatical service! Throughout your organization, customer service must be top of mind and executed flawlessly. The sad truth is that as companies grow, customer service usually plummets. So, the only way to know if you are continuing to make good grades is to ask. Customer satisfaction measurement needs to become part of your culture, but not the onerous, hated long surveys that we all despise. Yours should be quick and painless. And whatever method you choose, do not have employees whining or even bribing for good ratings. "I'd appreciate you marking me a 5" doesn't get you what you need which is honest feedback. One of your best signs of fanatical service is unsolicited thank yous from happy customers! When those start happening frequently, you'll know you are on the right track! 4. Personalize. In our world of systems and technologies, the personal touch is lacking. While I'm a huge believer in systemization, it's personalization that wins and keeps loyal accounts. Don't fake personalization (don't you just gag when you get a perfunctory birthday card or email from some vendor you don't ever see or know?)

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