The home heating oil industry has a long and proud history, and Fuel Oil News has been there supporting it since 1935. It is an industry that has faced many challenges during that time. In its 77th year, Fuel Oil News is doing more than just holding
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editor's note E D I T O R I A L S T A F F Editorial Office EPG Media/Specialty Information Media 3300 Fernbrook Lane N, Suite 200, Plymouth, MN 55447 Publisher John Prusak 763/383-4402 jprusak@snowgoer.com Editor Keith Reid 847/720-5615 kreid@specialtyim.com Managing Editor Nicholas Upton 763/383-4466 nupton@epgmediaLLC.com Columnists Charles Bursey, Sr. Shane Sweet George Lanthier List Rentals MeritDirect, Jim Scova jscova@MeritDirect.com 914/368-1012 Reprints Robin Cooper rcooper@specialtyim.com P R O D U C T I O N Production Manager – Karen Kalinyak Art Director – Brian Snook A D v E R T I S I N g S A L E S East – Dave Campbell, Associate Publisher 413/528-8835 Cell: 413/717-1007 dcampbell@specialtyim.com Central & South Rich Alden 603/899-3010 Fax: 603/899-2343 ralden@specialtyim.com Barbara Reynolds 603/588-2086 breynolds@specialtyim.com West – Ken Jordan 972/540-2122 Fax: 972/540-2127 kjordan@specialtyim.com M A I N O F F I C E EPG Media/Specialty Information Media 3300 Fernbrook Lane N, Suite 200, Plymouth, MN 55447 C U S T O M E R S E R v I C E 847/763-9565 • Fax: 847/763-9569 Fuel Oil News PO Box 2123, Skokie, IL 60076-7823 A n interesting thing happened during one of my rewrites on the security- focused diversification article in this issue of the magazine. The phone rang, and it was one of those robocalls which, of all things, was making a pitch for a home security service. What a coincidence—though with all the data min- ing going on today the thought did cross my mind that Google might have sold my search history from researching this material. In any case, it reinforced one of the key messages that was developing in the article. When you look at diversification opportunities, one of the important areas of consid- eration is whether or not it fits in with core competencies. There are numerous business opportunities in America, but to be successful in any of them requires the entrepreneur to focus on the specific requirements of that business and become an expert service provider. And, when you are adding a new business focus alongside other established business operations, it certainly helps if there are at least some synergies and shared core competencies to ease the process. At first blush, the synergies may not be as apparent with providing home and commer- cial security services. And, in fact, compared to something like moving into propane the synergies are not as abundant or as obvious. But, they do exist in some significant ways. For starters, security is a natural integration point for the "smart home" concept where it complements heating and cooling automation and a range of other capabilities. Then there is the customer service aspect. To get back to the call, I hung up almost immediately after I realized what the call was about, primarily because home security is fairly low on a fairly expansive list of needed home improvements. But, even if I were more interested in becoming a home security customer, I likely still would have hung up on the call. Mass marketing has little appeal to me, and even less when considering such a service. However, had this offer been presented to me by a trusted heating-fuels dealer with whom I had dealt for many years, then I would have likely listened to the pitch even if uninterested. And if I was looking, that company would have a clear advantage in my evaluations. I am currently going through this process relative to a roof replacement. We've had some fairly significant hailstorms recently and a company going door-to-door doing roof replacements in the area offered us a free inspection. They determined that our roof would likely be eligible for an insurance-supported replacement. Our insurance company came out and agreed that are roof was shot, and that they would pay for the replacement. Now, I really would like to reward the company that brought this to our attention. But… we've had previous experience with companies that were operating as "storm chasers" where we had repair work done that was adequate, but nothing more. In fact, there were a few relatively small but entirely notable mistakes made during the rushed siding replacement that we were unable to get resolved, but that were not worth any legal activity. Trust is powerful, valuable and all too rare for the customer. Even though operating a security business involves some significant specialization and limits, to some extent, the ability to co-utilize field resources, the industry's traditional customer service advantage is fully in play. Having said that, as the article points out the security field itself is undergoing a tremendous transformation today, so any heating fuels dealer looking to diversify into this area really needs to do the homework to see if this opportunity is one that would likely pay off. l F o n Keith Reid 8 JULY 2014 | FUEL OIL NEWS | www.fueloilnews.com Membership applied for January 2014 A customer perspective