Articles
Educational Articles
The Below the Line Club Suppliers periodically write educational articles relevant to the petroleum distribution and convenience store industries. Below are some of those articles.
Case Study: Matrix Announces the Successful Sale of Apache Oil Company, Inc.
Case Study: Matrix Announces the Successful Sale of Apache Oil Company, Inc. Situation: Apache Oil Company, (“Apache”or the “Company”), founded in 1992 and headquartered in New London, Connecticut, operated a petroleum marketing and retail fuels distribution...
Pop Quiz – Do You Know These Top 5 Credit/Accounts Receivable Details?
Pop Quiz - Do You Know These 5 Credit/Accounts Receivable Details? A petroleum distributor’s accounts receivable asset class will typically be its #2 or #3 largest dollar balance sheet item. It is not uncommon for more dollars to show up in accounts receivable than in...
Letting Go to Move Forward
Letting Go to Move Forward In our work with family businesses we often hear the next generation lament that the current generation in charge will never “let go.” The next generation is keenly aware that if the current generation cannot “let go,” then they, the next...
Millennial and Gen Z C-Store Customers Spend Big Online
Who is ordering online? The most common demographic of customers on the Vroom platform is women between the ages of 25 and 34. While many younger Gen Z customers cannot yet purchase alcohol products, they are nonetheless already making up 20% of all Vroom orders. We...
“It’s A Waste Of Our Time And Money To Build A Recruiting Process.” (And Other Painful Mistakes Companies Make)
"It's a Waste of Our Time and Money to Build a Recruiting Process" (and Other Painful Mistakes Companies Make) “We don’t have a large workforce, and we don’t have a lot of turnover. I think it’s a waste of our time and money to build a recruiting process.” My...
Connecting Data and Departments
Connecting Data and Departments How empowered are your salespeople? Is “I’ll find out and get back to you” a typical response to a customer asking about his order? Does your sales team need to find answers to customers’ questions by contacting other departments...
Food for Thought… Consider Affordable Food Robotics
Food for Thought... Consider Affordable Food Robotics In retail outlets, robots are increasingly being used in all aspects of the business to track inventory, gauge customer satisfaction, streamline checkouts, deliver products, clean stores, and prep food. In...
Saving Time, Money, and Lives
Saving Time, Money, and Lives Consider this: The US health insurance system is the most complicated consumer industry in the world. The US health insurance system is the highest cost in the world. The US healthcare system fails to deliver good value for the...
Maintenance: Increase Traffic, Increase Profits
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...
Speed Up Your Sales Cycle
A slow credit department can drive a sales person crazy and hinder his ability to close deals. For a credit manager, a slow credit department insures they are correctly evaluating risk; a pushy salesperson can also drive him crazy). What if there was a way to speed up...