Do You Want to be Known as an Oil Dealer or Comfort Provider?
By Philip J. Baratz We have a number of clients who have chosen to stick with the path that their grandfather trail blazed two generations ago, by selling heating oil to homeowners, along with...
View ArticleElectronic Payments: Tips to Keep in Mind This Winter
With over ten years of experience in payment processing for the fuel industry, the AVATAS team understands that the electronic payment process can seem complex at first. However, it’s extremely...
View ArticleCompany Value: The Long Strange Trip
By Steven ABBATE, President of CETANE ASSOCIATEs It’s spring tour time again. Every year around this time the various industry associations host their annual meetings to discuss the past season and to...
View ArticleWhat Ails Your Sales?
By Stephen Bennett Is your company practicing “sales prevention?” It could be that your company is afflicted with that malady but is blithely unaware of it. So warns Megan Smith-Gill, owner and...
View ArticleSmall Business Owners Feel Optimistic about Their Businesses, Yet Bleak on...
A majority (71%) of small businesses owners feel positive about the current state of their business, yet concerns remain about the economic outlook through the end of the year, according to the U.S....
View ArticleMany Customer-Centric Strategies Fail to Reach Their Potential According to a...
To keep pace with rapidly changing business environments, companies are under the gun to put customers at the center of everything. Many businesses are implementing customer-centricity strategies at...
View ArticleMost Small Business Owners at Risk for a Disaster
A new survey by Nationwide reveals that three in four small business owners do not have a disaster recovery plan, but more than half say it would take at least three months to recover from a disaster....
View ArticleOpinion: The Vision of Jerks
By Misty Sexton I recently read an interesting article that claimed many of the best known, top-level executives and trail blazing CEO’s are jerks. People such as the late Steve Jobs, Howard Schultz,...
View ArticleA Roadmap to Success
By: Philip J. Baratz There is an old adage that you can’t get anywhere if you don’t start with knowing where you are. Scoring yourself and your company can get you moving in the right direction. There...
View ArticleLock It Up
By Collin Sullivan, Avatas National Accounts Manager Security is one of the topics that most often comes up when onboarding new customers and checking in with existing ones. Particularly PCI Compliance...
View ArticleSide by Side Cost Comparison: Paid by check vs. Paid by Credit-Card
If you don’t know the cost of customer checks, it’s good to find out By Collin Sullivan, AVATAS Payment Solutions It is no secret that a good percentage of merchants in our industry still mail out...
View ArticleOHILI, NYOHA, Leave ESEA, Make NYSEC
New York’s downstate and upstate fuel oil associations go their separate ways By Stephen Bennett Two trade associations that represent fuel oil companies in New York City and Long Island, and fuel...
View ArticleSelling Fuel Oil Online
Automated selling as a way to compete on price By Stephen Bennett The will-call business has changed, according to some in the fuel oil industry. For starters, they don’t call it will-call. “On-demand”...
View ArticleUnderstanding Interchange and How It Impacts Your Processing Rates
By Collin Sullivan, National Accounts Manager, AVATAS Payment Solutions As I’ve mentioned in previous articles, credit card processing can be complex, and one of the most confusing aspects of the whole...
View ArticleElvis, Barbie, Chihuahuas, US Marines and Warm Weather
By Steve Abbate One of my favorite card games that I play with my family is Fact or Crap. If you never played, it’s fairly simple. One person picks a card, reads it and the other players state if they...
View ArticleSurvey: Small Businesses, Middle Market Companies Agree Growth is Priority
Small businesses and middle market companies in the U.S. are in growth mode, according to the American Express Business Growth Pulse. The survey found that 92% of middle market firms ($10M -$1B in...
View ArticleBusiness Owners: Staffing is Top Challenge
Small business owners report that hiring and retaining talent is their most significant business challenge, according to a quarterly survey by Vistage Worldwide. Vistage, a global organization that...
View ArticleWells Fargo Survey: Small Business Optimism Inches Upward in Q3
Small business optimism improved slightly in the latest Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index, yet overall it has remained relatively stable throughout 2016. In the quarterly survey, which measures...
View ArticleClose-up: Specing a Propane Crane Truck
By Stephen Bennett “The biggest mistake fuel oil people make when they go into the propane business is they buy too small a truck with too small a crane,” said Roger Smith of Kurtz Truck Equipment,...
View ArticleEric Leskinen to Lead Consulting Division of P3 Propane Safety
Eric Leskinen will be heading up the consulting division of P3 Propane Safety, the company announced. Leskinen has 27 years’ experience in the petroleum and transportation industries, his concentration...
View Article
More Pages to Explore .....