Several weeks ago, I was riding home from dinner with a good friend who works outside our industry. My phone rang in the truck, and a discussion with one of my employees ensued. Fortunately, it was not a serious incident, and the time of the call—8:30 on a Friday night—was not unusual. After my friend overheard the detail and length of my conversation, he asked a simple yet profound question: Why do I make retail petroleum my career?
It’s a good question, and one I ask myself more frequently than I’d like to admit.
I am a third-generation fuel marketer, and if you believe in published statistics, I have a 3% chance of success. Family-owned companies just do not seem to survive through the third generation. But I have chosen to bet against the statistics.
Under Grandfather’s Watch
I suspect my grandfather Robie Strickland felt the same when he borrowed $500 and started selling heating oil and tobacco curing oil in 1938. Though he never verbalized his value set, he lived it: faith, family and business (in that order). Seventy-seven years later, those values remain our anchor.
It is awe-inspiring to reflect on what has changed for both the Strickland family and our industry. My grandfather made it through high school, my father through college and I through my master’s degree. In the last five minutes of any given day, we will do more business, dollar-wise, than my grandfather did in his first year of business.
Early on, our whole accounting system was a receipt book and pencil—all of which was housed in a Phillies Blunts box. Today, we have a dedicated team doing nothing but keeping up with the numbers. We have gone from one employee to more than 100 of the most dedicated people I have had the privilege to work with.
So back to the question posed by my friend: What keeps me getting up every day and banging my head on the side of a gas pump? I see peers exiting our industry largely because the competition is tougher, regulations are tighter and, quite honestly, it’s a seller’s market. The simple answer is that I really enjoy being put in multiple situations during a day and engaging in the mental gymnastics of figuring out the right answers. Couple that with feeling a tremendous amount of responsibility to continue to grow and develop a group of talented individuals. And I want to continue the family legacy.
In our front lobby, a portrait of my grandfather stares down at you. I often wonder what he would think about our current operation. And remarkably, the transitional figure between my grandfather and me is my father, who is 77 and possesses 50 years of retail petroleum experience. He can share details, in some cases more than 25 years old, of how a store was built or the layout of the tanks and piping underground was built—all without a blueprint or spreadsheet in front of him.
Back to the Future
While most people’s work days are task-driven, I have the luxury of feeding my curious side. Over the years, I have developed a reputation in the technology arena. How do we take technology, which is designed to cut the time out of a personal transaction, and use it to actually create the time to develop a relationship with our customer? This should be the net result of technology.
Our loyalty program equips our customer service representatives with information to personalize the transaction by calling them by name or knowing their prior purchase history so we can have products on the counter waiting for them. They shouldn’t even have to ask. While this does shorten the amount of individual time we spend with each customer, it allows us to make the brief interaction a bit more personable.
Another example is how we redefine what is essentially a “grudge purchase” of buying gasoline. Faster, better, cheaper—yes. But entertaining and informational? It ought to be. The most valuable item we sell is service, which is provided free of charge to everyone who passes through our doors, whether they’re making a purchase or just asking for general information.
I believe there is a place for companies such as ours, even with that 3% staring me in the face. With large chains getting larger, an opportunity exists for regional operators who still have the time and desire to be involved not only with their business but also in the communities they serve. This is why so many single-store operators thrive. It’s the personal relationship, not the latest marketing program, that has the strength to go the distance.
John Strickland Jr. is president of Wayne Oil Co. Reach him at johnstricklandjr@wayneoil.com.
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