There is one convenience store for approximately every 2,000 people in the United States. With all that competition, how do you increase traffic in your stores and at your pumps?

You must build a reputation of clean, well maintained stores and, along with traditional items, you need to provide a variety of fresh, wholesome food options. An attractive appearance, inside and out, as well as reliable dispensers and receipt printers are also basic requirements for a great reputation.

Everyone knows that a good maintenance plan is essential to successfully provide these essentials of a reputable store. What you may not know is that a great maintenance plan sets you apart, increases the number of visitors to your stores and decreases your costs and liabilities by delivering the essentials better, faster and with less expense. What’s more, a great maintenance plan must include a Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS).

Clean, well maintained store: Utilizing a CMMS is more than simply tracking work orders. You can create routine maintenance and inspections that help you monitor the cleanliness of your restrooms, store and grounds. In addition, issues found during these inspections are documented so you can see trends that might need attention at an individual store or at the corporate level.

Fresh, wholesome food: Wholesome food usually means delicate food. Preventive Maintenance (PM) is required to keep your cooling/ heating equipment operating properly. This is essential to food safety and extends the life of the equipment.

Attractive appearance: The first thing a potential customer sees is your appearance. Landscaping, signage, branding, and general housekeeping are all important for a great appearance. Routine tasks as well as those requiring a quick response are all managed more efficiently with a CMMS, plus work orders can be automatically routed to techs and/or vendors to speed up the response. Did I mention they can see any open work orders before they leave the store?

Reliable equipment: As stated earlier, a PM system increases the life and reliability of your equipment. When there is an outage, the CMMS can route work more quickly. Should you decide on an integration, the system can create a work order before anyone even notices there is a problem.

A CMMS system is not just work order management. It’s much more. The reporting will help you maintain your facilities and equipment better with less cost. It will help you purchase more reliable equipment and implement better maintenance strategies. In short, it will increase your traffic and decrease costs.

That’s good for everyone!