28 DECEMBER 2015 | FUEL OIL NEWS | www.fueloilnews.com
BUSINESS OPERATIONS
BY STEPHEN BENNETT
F
uel oil dealers and fuel oil customers
don't see fuel oil the same way.
That's one of many findings
from a survey of dealers and of heating
oil customers conducted earlier this year
by Warm Thoughts Communications, a
research and marketing firm in Clifton,
N.J. The survey results are the basis of
"The 2015 Consumer Research Study,"
funded by the National Oilheat Research
Alliance.
Oil dealers were asked to answer the
survey questions as they thought their
customers would answer them, said
Richard Goldberg, president of Warm
Thoughts. When the dealers' answers
were compared to the answers of 2,579
fuel oil customers "some really big vari-
ances" came to light, Goldberg said.
"The fuel dealers substantially over-
estimated how important it was to the
customers that they're dealing with a
local, family-run oil company versus a
utility," Goldberg said. "That just doesn't
show up as a big deal" in the customers'
responses, Goldberg said.
Even customer service—long seen as
a trump card for and by dealers—isn't
rated by customers as one of the most
important benefits of fuel oil, the sur-
vey showed. (Goldberg emphasized that
despite customers' responses, exceptional
customer service remains fundamental to
dealers' business success.)
Fuel oil dealers underestimate cus-
tomers' expectation that converting to
a different fuel will result in improved
efficiency and savings, according to the
survey, Goldberg said.
Bashing the natural gas industry
might make fuel oil dealers feel better,
but Goldberg said customers indicated
that they paid scant attention to criti-
cisms of natural gas.
"There is a whole line of thought that
we can gain ground by focusing on the
dangers of natural gas to the environ-
ment," Goldberg said. But that issue "is
Talking Points
What to tell customers about heating oil
