Stephanie Gifford, Operations Manager, and Nancy McDonald, Dispatcher at Phil’s Propane based out of Tiverton, RI, explain how ADD Systems software has helped Phil’s Propane become more efficient. Ideal drops, optimizing routes, and transitioning will-call customers to automatic accounts are just a few aspects they’ve enhanced to be more profitable. They credit Jim Gillis, Energy Consultant at ADD Systems, for much of their success.
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Brian: Welcome to ADDcast. I’m ADD Systems’ Multimedia Specialist, Brian Cohen. Joining me today is Stephanie Gifford, Office Manager, and Nancy McDonald, Dispatcher at Phil’s Propane, based out of Tiverton, Rhode Island, as well as Jim Gillis, Energy Consultant at ADD Systems. Stephanie, Nancy, Jim, thank you all for taking the time to speak with me today.
Nancy, Stephanie, and Jim: Thank you. Good morning.
Brian: Good morning. Now, Stephanie and Nancy, could you start by telling us a little bit about Phil’s Propane and how long you’ve been partnered with ADD Systems?
Stephanie: Phil’s Propane has been in business for over 70 years. It started with Phil’s grandfather and his father, and then Phil was the next successor. And I have been here for 15 years. We started with ADD Systems on June 1, 2011, and Nancy has started with us, June of 2019.
Nancy: Yes. I’ve been here for six years now, and Phil’s has been a staple in Southern Massachusetts and all of Rhode Island, like Steph said, for over 70 years. And I’ve been using ADD Systems since the day I got here, and continue to use it. We service a lot of farm, coastal rural area. It’s a beautiful place to live where we live.
Stephanie: We built a strong relationship with the community after being in business a long time. We have a lot of longtime customers.
Nancy: Everybody knows Phil.
Stephanie: It’s a great company, and Phil’s a great guy. So it’s worth it. We’re like a family here in Rhode Island.
Brian: Excellent. Now, Jim, while we’ve talked about this on your other appearances, for the first-time listeners today, why don’t you tell everyone a little bit about your role at ADD Systems?
Jim: I started in 2006 as an Implementer, and at some point, it transitioned into the Energy Consultant. And with 44 years in the industry now, I get to go out and visit clients like Phil’s Propane and help them be better and be more efficient, have more fun, and make more money.
Brian: So I guess this next question goes to everyone, then. How did the team at Phil’s Propane and you, Jim, come to work together here?
Jim: Nancy, I’ll let you go first.
Nancy: Well, it seems our connection with Jim really took off when he came along with Alex several years ago, and then Alex moved on, and I guess the management team at Phil’s Propane was so impressed with Jim’s knowledge and insight that we brought him on board as our Energy Consultant. And I can’t say enough about how grateful I am for all his help and everything that he’s given to us.
Jim: Yeah, so I’m not really sure. I do recall that Alex Jackson was their initial Implementer, and I tagged along on one visit and pushed, poked, and prodded on a few items in the delivery area, and the next thing I know, the relationship kind of flourished from there.
Nancy: And I just like to add that, like over the last six years, you know, I’ve come such a long way, and I do want to give a shout out to the management team here at Phil’s, especially Stephanie because she’s the real mover and shaker of this company, and she’s taken ADD Systems to a whole new level, and it’s made a huge impact on all of us.
Brian: That’s excellent to hear. Now, it’s been six years, but I’d like to go back to the beginning of that six years for you, Nancy, and Jim as well. So, Jim, what were your first impressions of the team at Phil’s and what were you looking to help them achieve after meeting with them?
Jim: So like with all clients, including Phil’s Propane, all of our clients are very successful. They do very well at what they do, and through my own experiences, I’ve identified opportunities within the software that will allow them to increase their efficiencies, increase their controllable profit, have more fun, and not work nearly as hard. So I identified some of those items early on, and shared those with Stephanie and the team at Phil’s Propane. And you know, the relationship just became bigger and bigger and bigger. And I would agree with Nancy, through Stephanie’s input, we just took on new challenges, and it was a very exciting journey.
Brian: Now, Nancy, prior to us recording today, you had commented on a recent ADD Systems blog about how much Phil’s Propane has saved over the last five years since implementing some of Jim’s best practices. And I have to admit, it was an extremely impressive figure. Can you share a little bit more about that?
Nancy: Yes, Brian, the figure is impressive, and it improves daily every year. And I take that with, you know, I do the account maintenance. It’s a huge part of my job. It’s the most vital part of my job is doing delivery maintenance exception resolution. When I’m doing these resolutions, I can quickly see how usage is fluctuating. I know if something’s changed on the customer’s account. I also use the follow up; that’s one of my saving graces in ADD Systems, the follow-up feature. So you know, I see what’s happening on the account as I’m going through doing the resolutions, I see if somebody’s taking less propane, more propane, do a follow up. I need to touch base with a customer, call them up. You know, it’s the delivery maintenance resolution that really drives this, and it’s making my deliveries much more efficient. And I also depend on several reports. They fine tune my forecasting methods, and I’m doing these on a daily basis so it prevents run outs. It’s optimizing my delivery sizes and improving the profitability overall. So yes, Brian, over this period that I’ve been here, the savings have been tremendous and immeasurable. It’s a substantial amount that we’ve saved.
Brian: Well, I want to dive into something else you wrote in your comment where you talked about your philosophy of, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail, which I think is pretty important. Can you talk about that philosophy?
Nancy: Sure. I’ve always believed in having a clear plan. It’s a roadmap to success pretty much with everything we do, and it helps prevent propane run outs. I make larger deliveries, more efficient deliveries. Without any direction, things get really chaotic here, and it happens really fast if you don’t have a direction. We always have to be ready for the unexpected in this business: truck breakdowns, drivers calling out sick, extreme cold weather, bad weather, you name it. So I’m constantly reviewing and updating my accounts so that we’re able to stay ahead of those challenges and keep things running smoothly. And I’ve got to say, one of the biggest tests we’ve faced since I’ve been here is COVID-19. We got through that by sending out on-demand communications to all our customers. It was a huge success. Honestly, if we didn’t have that letter, I think we would have failed a lot of people. Southern Massachusetts and all of Rhode Island, we’re made up of farm and coastal rural areas that we’re delivering in, and many of our customers live here part-time. So when the pandemic hit, we knew we were going to have our hands full. We sent out a message on demand and our customers responded, and we simply made a huge difference in what could have been an epic fail.
Stephanie: With our on-demand letter, we were able to realize people were home more. They’re
going to use more gas. Kids came home from school, they were staying there, doing work online, so the usage was just going to be more, and it was just easier to communicate with them and figure that out before we had anyone else.
Nancy: And you know, when I sent out that mass email, my email was like a slot machine coming through. The response from our customers was overwhelming, and I’ll tell you, I have made tremendous relationships with these customers through email and on-demand communication, and we use it for a lot. We use it for closings and holidays, and new customer packets.
Stephanie: This is what to expect from Phil’s Propane. The on-demand communication is huge, and getting emails, which Jim and I have gone back and forth with for a little while, but it was definitely worth it.
Nancy: Yeah, and it’s been great. And, you know, it saves all of us so much that the whole team here at Phil’s Propane is the last thing we want to see is somebody going out in the middle of the night during that COVID pandemic, you know, to run out of gas or such and such. We want to keep everybody safe, and the on demand has been very helpful in all aspects of this industry.
Brian: Now, Jim, the if you fail to plan, you plan to fail philosophy does sound strikingly similar to some of the philosophies that you and I have talked about on earlier ADDcast episodes. So how do you feel about that mindset?
Jim: I live by it every day with every client that I work with, and I really push the importance of planning. Like, right now, we’re in the middle of our slow period for most of our clients, and now’s the time where you got to get busy and you’ve got to do the work and prepare for your busy period. And if you don’t, then when you have a cold winter or unexpected issues pop up, it’s going to get you if you’re not prepared.
Brian: Now, Nancy and Stephanie, what do you both feel Jim brings to the team at Phil’s?
Stephanie: Oh, Jim brings a lot. His knowledge has been so tremendous to learn from. He’s a great mentor. He knows ADDs inside and out. He has taught us so much. He has helped our efficiencies. We don’t have as many out-of-gasses as we used to have. We don’t have as many drivers going out to tank full, big tanks at 80% and no delivery needs to be made. It’s not happening anymore. And between Nancy and Jim, Nancy doing the work – we had people here who didn’t do the work before, so we’ve seen it on every end. And Nancy doing the work, and Jim teaching us exactly how this is supposed to run has been a saving grace for our company, literally.
Nancy: Yeah, Jim is remarkable. I wouldn’t be where I am today without a doubt without him. Honestly. What I like about Jim is he’s been in the propane business and seen every aspect of it, so he has such knowledge and valuable insight to the drivers and the service and the computer and ADD Systems. And he tries to make us work smarter, not harder, and that’s what we’re doing. And the best part about Jim is I can call him, and he always calls me back. With the company, we’re making decisions always on a daily basis, and we’re always leaning on Jim for advice, so he’s like everything that we do here at Phil’s Propane.
Stephanie: And not available to retire.
Brian: So, Jim, could you talk about some of the processes and reports you implemented with the team at Phil’s to help them with their delivery efficiency?
Jim: Yeah. The software is remarkable. It really is. And it gives our clients like Phil’s Propane an opportunity to pull these reports on a daily, weekly, monthly basis, such as the report generator or the transaction analysis. And it gives valuable information, being able to identify opportunities to tweak and make your operation just better. And through all these opportunities, Phil’s Propane has jumped on it. I pushed, I poked, I prodded, and they responded. And, you know, they challenged me on a lot of the suggestions, and when they challenged me, I know that they’re listening. I know that they’re paying attention, and it inspires me to push and poke and prod them a little bit harder, to encourage them and when they do the work and they see the fruits of their labor, it’s very rewarding for all of us. And the reports in our software, in E3, there’s just so many opportunities with so many reports to look at the data so many different ways. And Phil’s is one of the clients that has responded, and they’re reading the reports, and they’re doing the maintenance, and they’re doing the work, and they’re asking the questions how to be better. It’s through these reports that we’re able to provide that information so that they can respond and be proactive rather than reactive. We went through a really rough winter, and they made it through the winter very, very well, and they didn’t have issues. You know, I’ve talked to other people who have opportunities that they’re working on, and they’re not as far down the road as Phil’s Propane is, and they struggled a little bit, but they realize now that those opportunities are there.
Stephanie: Just note to other trainers, don’t be afraid to push because I know there’s people out there, like in every aspect of every job, who will just do what the help menu says, you know. And if somebody pushes back, they don’t push. Jim pushes, and it’s good that he pushes. Because he does that is why we know so much. And Jim always says that ADD Systems is a Maserati, and we’re driving it like a Volkswagen. I think we’re up to the Corvette status.
Jim: Amen, amen.
Brian: Okay, so now that you’ve got your pedal to the metal in this Corvette, how do those processes impact your team from a process standpoint?
Nancy: Well, as Jim touched based on these reports and the delivery maintenance, it just makes everything run smoother. And by doing these reports, I can see all the forecasting methods. I’m able to tweak the delivery schedules, cut down on zero-gallon stops, and also is totally improving my average stops per account, average gallons delivered per stop, and our overall percentage filled. So, ultimately, using all these reports helps me understand the customers’ propane usage better. It’s not just about good service. It just cuts down on unnecessary deliveries, wasted mileage, wear and tear on the trucks and the drivers. And, in short, these reports boost service efficiency and profitability, and the entire team benefits from it. That’s the best part.
Brian: Now, you mentioned the drivers. Can you talk about maybe the trickle-down effect that happens from these processes to the drivers themselves?
Nancy: It’s been a game changer because the drivers aren’t making these trips to tanks that don’t really need filling. We’re getting much smarter about timing deliveries at the right season, for instance, making sure our cookers and generators are topped off on the warmer months. We’re doing those twice a year, drops that I gotta do. We’ll do them in the spring and the fall. Nothing like that is happening in the winter. We’re in the middle of the heating season. Like we had this awful, bad winter last year. It was really cold, and we didn’t stop. We actually delivered over a million gallons by January of 2025 which I’m not sure we ever did that before, not since I’ve been here.
Stephanie: I mean, with that being said, most of it happens because we’re not going to those zero gallons. We’re not going to the cookers in the middle of the winter. We’re focusing on our heat and our water. The people that, you know, are turning up their heat, they’re using the gas. And we’re doing more efficient deliveries. We’re not going there when they’re at 60%.
Nancy: And the more I do these delivery maintenance exception resolutions, the more ADD Systems is working for me, the algorithm, it just works. I don’t even have to touch the account that much on the degree-day system. The more and more you do the maintenance, the computer is just going to start to flow. And I have to say that when I started back in 2020, we had 9,385 zero-gallon stops. As of this past year, I’ve only had 1,984. That’s a huge number.
Stephanie: You know, you get, you get the grapes from the drivers. So the drivers are affected by
that because they’re going to stops they don’t need to be at. They’re stopping, pulling the hose up to the tank, and nothing. So it’s wear and tear on the drivers, as well as the trucks, the mileage to go out to these places for no reason, and it’s helped a lot.
Nancy: Yeah, and I’m constantly in touch with the drivers, and I value their feedback, and they value my feedback. And, you know, we bounce it off each other because they know their customers, just like I do. So everything is running really smooth.
Stephanie: And building better relationships with the customers because now we know what we’re talking about on the phone. Now you know: “Listen, last year you didn’t use this gas. We know it’s a bigger winter. What’s happening in your house that’s different?” Or vice versa. They’re not using as much gas. “Oh, sorry. We go to Florida in the winter – that’s why.” Or, “My kids are gone. We don’t use as much heat and water. My parents aren’t here anymore.” There’s so many obstacles that you find, and people just forget to call you. They just forget.
Nancy: And it’s like, even doing the delivery maintenance, I’ve had customers where all of a sudden I see they’re using a lot more propane. I pick up the phone and I’m like, “Hey, what’s going on at your house? Did you like, install a new fireplace we don’t know about?” “No, we had a baby. I’m drying clothes more. I’m washing clothes more. The heat’s up really high. We have a newborn in the house. Thank you for calling me.” So it all just jives.
Stephanie: And the financial aspect is better because we’re not wearing tearing our trucks. We’re not having to maintain them as much because we’re not going out for no reason. The drivers aren’t going for no reason. It’s just all around, everything just worked, and doing the work is what makes it work.
Brian: Well, Jim, hearing all of that, it sounds like there are a lot of ideal drops happening for fills. Can you talk about some of the steps you took with the team there to help them reach this maximum potential in that space?
Jim: Yeah, for sure. Like they mentioned, you know, the over 9000 zero-gallon stops, there’s an expense to when you put a truck in a customer’s driveway and you don’t deliver any product. So we pulled reports, we looked at those reports very often, and then we stepped through the delivery maintenance, and we tweaked those customers, and we tweaked them, and we tweaked them. And after once or twice of doing the delivery maintenance, those customers fall in line. And for the majority of the customers out there that use product, they’re pretty consistent, and it’s really only the minority of customers that change, but they hadn’t tweaked those accounts and got them dialed in. But the ideal drop in the propane world, everybody’s shooting for 60% and I will say that, you know, when I met Phil’s Propane. And again, Phil’s Propane is a very successful organization: lot of customers, lot of deliveries, making a lot of money, but they were leaving money on the table, and so showing the team these reports and guiding them to do the maintenance, they’ve reduced those unnecessary deliveries substantially, measurably, and so showing them the net effect of their performance and what happens just, it adds to the bottom line. People aren’t working nearly as hard. The team is celebrating success. So you know, an ideal drop is something that every client should shoot for. And in Phil’s world, they’re hitting it, they’re moving, they’re moving in the right direction. And it’s very rewarding, and it’s very satisfying.
Brian: Now, Nancy and Stephanie, it sounds like there’s a lot of talk about routes and stuff for the
drivers here. Optimized routes, were they always important it feels for your team, and how did
Jim help your team prioritize those stops in the optimized routes?
Stephanie: Wow. The major thing is the mapping system because when I started here 15 years ago, the
guys were putting it in order by a map, a hand map, and there were tickets printed, and they had to literally put their stops in order before they left. Think about the time saving on the Raven, having it all rooted for them, having it all go to the map, take them stop by stop. It’s huge. There’s so much savings in time and money, really, if you think about it, by being able to optimize it the day before and give them their route the next morning, and they just go into the tablet, log in and go on their merry way.
Nancy: Yeah, the routing is unbelievable. It’s amazing. I’m in touch with the drivers all day long. I’m
constantly tweaking the routes to get them to the next stop. You know, sometimes stuff happens, detours and trying to get them going quick. I like that I can route from anywhere, like in the middle of the winter, when we’re having really bad weather, and because we are delivering to all of Rhode Island and Southern Massachusetts, some of these places are really far out. So I’m going to send those drivers on the edge first, in those cold, cold weathers, get those tanks filled up. Because I know that I’m going to be putting gas in those tanks like a good, ideal drop, like we’re doing, and I know that the driver is going to run out of gas on his truck, so I need to get those far away stops going in the winter first, and then as they work their way in because I know they’re going to have to come back and reload. And in the summer, it’s a little bit different, where I’d route the stops, like clusters at a time to get them out of the way and whatnot. But it’s amazing how the whole routing system works, and you can manipulate it.
Stephanie: It’s more manageable.
Nancy: And I think the guys love it, too. They can kind of do their thing too.
Stephanie: You know, you get those off-route stops where you have to call them in the middle of their
routes, and they have to go off their route to go make a stop. Now she can re-optimize it based on where they are. So now they can actually go to the closest stop to them. So some of those stops end up the next day. Well, they can go hit those that were a little further away the next morning, but still stay on course. So the timing is good.
Brian: Jim, can you talk about the importance of transitioning customers from will call to automatic
delivery, and how you’ve worked with Phil’s on those topics?
Jim: Yeah, so the industry as a whole essentially dismiss will-call accounts and the philosophy is, well, they’re will-call accounts, they’ll call us when they need us, and the will-call accounts really cost all of our clients. They’re harder to manage because as the cold weather happens, those calls come in, and they come in pretty hot and heavy. Where the on-demand utility allows Nancy and other clients to push out email blasts through the on-demand communication, and if they’re performing delivery maintenance on those will-call accounts, then they know when those customers are due and they are able to encourage those customers to request a delivery through this on-demand communication. And I know Nancy’s done a great job. I’ve heard the dialogue. I’ve seen some of the emails from some of the clients, where, month after month, she’s sending out an email blast and saying, “Hey, dear customer, you’re due for a delivery.” And I know she’s got several clients who have said, “Hey, stop sending me letters and just put me on regular route because you always know when I need a delivery.” And that really gives the customers, their customers, peace of mind to know that Phil’s is on board, and they’re watching, and that’s really a concern for – I think some customers go on will call because they, you know, they want to watch their tank, they want to make sure that they’ve got product. But a lot of those clients that used to be will call at Phil’s have the confidence to know that Phil’s is watching them and they’re going to take care of them and not going to let them run out. So, you know, having an automatic customer over a will call is much better. They’re much easier to manage for our clients, and so I’m constantly talking to all of our clients to work towards automating those deliveries, even if it has to be through delivery maintenance and the on-demand communication to let those customers know when they’re due for delivery, so that they don’t run out, so that they’re not having to send a driver out after hours, which is, you know, can be dangerous and it can be costly.
Brian: Nancy and Stephanie, can you kind of dive into what Jim just said there, and talk about how
transitioning customers from will call to automatic has impacted the relationship that Phil’s has
with your customers?
Nancy: Yes. It’s been huge. The customers value the direct online connection. We live in a busy world
where people don’t have time to call, be put on hold, go into a voicemail, wait for me to call them. This way, they’re on their phone. I send the will-call blast. “Yep, come fill me up. You know what I need.” And it’s about delivery maintenance on those will callers. And then I build this relationship with these people, and they gain my trust, and that’s when they’re like, “Hey, yeah, just put me on automatic delivery because you guys know what you’re doing. You’re watching it. You know more about the percent of my tank than I do.” So it generates so many delivery orders. When I send out a will-call blast, I always let the drivers know we’re going to be sending out a will-call blast, and the customers, they love it. They really do. And I love it too. And then, like I said, it saves everyone time, money and stress, and also the conversation is so much easier for me to get them from will call to automatic because if you’re on will call, that goes with extra fees, too. Say if you run out, there’s going to be a cost for a delivery fee if you need it that night or you need it that day. So it’s a win-win for everybody.
Stephanie: It saves the on-call guy from having to go out at night for an out of gas because they weren’t watching their tank. So now they have a bigger fee, because now they gotta deal with the on-call process. There’s so many good, good things about it. It prevents the run outs because now you’re giving them a heads up. Everybody’s busy. They don’t think about checking their propane, right?
Nancy: Especially like the cooking tanks. People are just thinking, “Oh, the you know, I’m cooking. I’m cooking.” They don’t even think about where the fire is coming from on their stove. And they’re like, all of a sudden, “Wow, I’m out of gas.”
Stephanie: It’s true. It’s true. And most cookers are like 50-gallon tanks, so they don’t think about it
because it’s like a once a year delivery. Cooking doesn’t use a lot of gas. A lot of people don’t know that. A lot of people don’t know they have the units. They know it runs on propane, but they don’t know the efficiency of it. They don’t know how it works. So us communicating, especially through this on demand, I gotta say, the on demand has been a saving grace because of the fact that it’s better communication to the customer. You get to them quick, and Nancy’s right, we’re in a fast world. Everybody wants everything now. Everybody wants everything fast. So this gives us an open line of communication and lets them know we’re here. We’ll talk to you. We’ll help you and we’ll explain better so you understand the wellbeing in your home.
Brian: Now, Jim, you and I have talked about in the past smart pricing and budget plans. Can you talk
about the impact that they have on the relationship you’ve had with Phil’s and how you’ve implemented those for them?
Jim: Yeah. I want to say in the beginning when I first started working with Phil’s, they were not participating in the budget program or the level-payment plan. And in the beginning, they weren’t too sure because they had never done it. And so we discussed it, and because I could feel that there was some apprehension in going forward, I suggested, “Why don’t we just do a few accounts?” And we started with a small number of customers that we reached out and we offered the level-payment plan, the budget program, and it was a success. And so every year, we get a little bit more customers and a few more customers, and it’s really growing and I think they recognize the success of being able to start mid-summer, and get those people to pay a level-payment plan because all the customers use about the same amount of product year after year after year. And some of those customers struggle to pay that big bill. If I’m going to pay for that big delivery, it’s a little tough on some folks. And being able to break that payment out over a 10-month period really takes the pressure, and it’s been well received. And I think the reaction from the team at Phil’s is really positive, and they’re really selling it now, so it’s a great program. I think the response from their customers have been positive, and it’s created a cash flow that they weren’t realizing before.
Brian: Nancy and Stephanie, can you talk about what Jim was just discussing from Phil’s perspective?
Nancy: Well, what’s not to love about these budget plans? That’s all I can say. Because the customers are super excited about it. I had one here yesterday giving me his first check with a big smile. You know, the payments are automatically taken out each month on the preferred day that they want to have them taken out. They don’t have to think about being late. They don’t have to worry about it. So we base the monthly budget payment on their past usage, and we do add about 15 to 25% more, just in case we’re having a freezing cold winter. So you know it’s fair and accurate. But in the end, if they overpay, we refund them. If it’s under, they have to pay. So it works out. The also other big benefit of that is it prevents everyone from ever getting on delivery hold for not paying after 30 days. So that means, you know, the propane is going to keep on coming without interruption, and they’re thrilled about that, and it’s great for people on a fixed income. Everything’s so expensive these days.
Stephanie: It helps them break it down into 10 months. So it starts July 1st, and it goes till April 30th. May and June is their settlement period. So if they end up owing us money, they have two months to pay it off before they start their new budget. If most of them that we had from last year ended up with a credit, and they could use the credit toward their new budget starting July 1 if they didn’t want it back. Some people, it was a good, significant amount, and they were very excited to get it back. You know, it’s almost like a savings account that you forgot you had. So it’s been great. And I was one of the people in the beginning who were, “Jim, no. This doesn’t work. It’s not right. It’s not good.” And I was wrong. I was absolutely wrong. It is great now that we know how to use it. And it’s definitely benefited our customers. We have about 130 to 140 people who signed up for this year.
Brian: So Nancy and Stephanie, this past spring, Phil started utilizing Pegasus, which is our mobile solution for service techs. Now I know it’s early on, but have you seen any emerging benefits that you would be willing to share, or maybe some expectations that you have for this coming winter season?
Nancy: Personally, I really haven’t gotten to know anything about Pegasus yet, but looking ahead, my main hope is that it’s going to simplify the way we handle service work and all the service billing and installations and other services that we provide. And I’m hoping it’s going to reduce errors with billing and inventory, and eliminate a lot of paperwork. So, Stephanie, I’m sure, has a lot more to say about Pegasus.
Stephanie: Yeah, it’s still new. We’re a month in, so there’s still a lot of kinks we need to work out on our
own. Inventory is a huge thing for us. We were a company who didn’t really track inventory for the longest time and be able to see where our inventory is going, know what we have in stock, so that ordering more parts is going to be easier. The billing process, I’ll tell you, the WIP, the work in process, is probably one of the best things. We never really had a great final connection, like when a job goes for too long. We never really had a great process to build that out. And now with the WIP, it is a great process because it’s constantly keeping track of all the work you’re doing while you’re out on the field, until you do the final billing, and then it brings it all together, and you got one bill. That process, I think, is going to be amazing. I don’t have a lot to say yet because we’re only a month in, so to be continued.
Brian: We’ll have to revisit this conversation next year, then. Well, as we start to wind things
down, Nancy and Stephanie, I’d like to ask what were some of your biggest takeaways from all the time you’ve spent with Jim over the last six years?
Nancy: Jim has played a huge role in my success here at Phil’s because I stepped into this propane business job knowing nothing. It was like being thrown into a frying pan. And I don’t even think Jim thought I was going to make it, to be honest. He’s just made my transition here as a mentor so much smoother. Things just get easier for me here every year. He’s streamlined all my work processes. And, you know, Jim, he’s constantly pushing me to improve, and that motivates me. I’m always in competition with myself here. And to be honest, I never, ever thought these statistical numbers that he pulls up would ever be so high in such a reality, but, you know, the data doesn’t lie, and you better just put the work in. It’s delivery maintenance exception resolution. It’s getting the training, doing the hot fixes, teamwork, getting the latest versions, hiring, getting the training from your energy consultant. You know, I know it’s expensive, but in the long run, it pays dividends.
Stephanie: Yeah, it does. And Jim, he pushes us because he knows we need it. I don’t want anybody to think it’s anything else. He knows we need the push, and then we’ll move a little forward, and then little more and a little more, and then eventually we’ll get it. I also push back so Jim and I have had many encounters where you don’t think about it, but I needed the push. I needed the push to get it going because I couldn’t see the big picture. And if you can’t see the big picture, sometimes you’re reluctant. He would make me see the big picture, and I’m glad he did because it was very beneficial to us.
Brian: Well, then, to follow up on that to you both, if you had advice for any other ADD users who are listening to this episode, what would that advice be?
Stephanie: If Jimmy is your trainer, you need to listen and you need to follow what he says because he knows the system, and like Nancy said in the beginning, he’s been in every aspect of the propane industry. So not only does he have the software, he’s got the industry. So he understands where we’re coming from when we say, “We can’t do that because of this thing,” Or, “This customer is just a little bit different.” He gets it because he’s been out there and he’s done it. I would say, even if it’s not Jim, any of your Energy Consultants, if they’re telling you something that the system can do, listen. Try it. It doesn’t mean you can’t go back, but you’re not going to want to.
Nancy: Yeah, I follow and I take the steps, everything Jim’s taught me, and it’s a lot of work, and it’s
overwhelming because he loves reports, but these reports are amazing. They come in so handy throughout the year. If Phil needs to buy gas like the tank, I can do a report usage by tank size, you know. And I know where to go after. I know who’s going to need the propane, where I can put the propane to get to where we need to be, and what Phil needs. So just do what your Energy Consultant says, and let the software do the work. It’s transforming. It transformed the forecasting for me, and it just gets better and better. The more you touch it, the more it’s going to evolve into something greater.
Stephanie: And you have to keep up with the refreshes. You have to keep up with the hot fixes. Those are important. Again, costly, yes, everything is nowadays, but if you really want to work the system, you have to upgrade it because it gets better and better every year. They’re always looking to improve. So we need to improve as well. And Jim’s famous saying, “Garbage in, garbage out.” You put in the bad information, you get the bad information, right? So Nancy and I, we say that every day.
Nancy: We’re usually on top of all our workers here, the installers. All the guys, when they’re out on
the field, get the percents on the tanks that you’re working on, bring it back to me, give me the numbers so I put the inventory in so we know where we’re at. So all these guys are always trying to help us. There’s not a lot of people that work here. How many are we?
Stephanie: We have 30.
Nancy: Yeah, we have about 30. So they’re all on board with making everything better, and they
know, and they see the progress that we’ve had.
Stephanie: And Jim’s had conversations with our guys. He doesn’t just stop at the software in the office. He goes out and talks to the guys to see how they’re feeling, what some ideas to make things better. He’s even gotten in a truck. He’s taken us on a field trip to show us how to read a meter. I mean, he’s everywhere. He goes out with us. It’s like he works here.
Nancy: Yeah, we love when Jim comes. It’s like a little vacation for us.
Stephanie: It’s just they know their software, so you have to listen. That’s my biggest advice. I know it’s hard, it’s overwhelming, it’s frustrating. It takes a lot to get there, but give yourself months, give yourself a year, you will get there. We’re proof. When Jim really, really started to dive in with us, we came from a difficult time of a management change and not knowing enough, and he has changed us in a short six, seven years. And I can say short because I’ve been here for 15, so he’s doing a short six or seven years. He’s changed our world. He really has. He’s helped us get more profitable, more efficient, more streamlined. So that’s my biggest advice to everybody else. It’s hard to listen because you’re just so focused on what your company has always been, what you’ve always done, and it’s hard to change. Nancy: Change is good.
Stephanie: Yeah, change is good.
Nancy: And, honestly, when I started with Jim and I met him for the first time and we trained for two weeks straight, I think all we did was delivery maintenance resolutions for two weeks on 1000s and 1000s and 1000s of accounts, and I swear by delivery maintenance resolution, and that’s what I can give advice to anybody here using ADD Systems. You really gotta do it.
Stephanie: Do your exceptions, do your delivery maintenance. I’ve seen it on both ends. I’ve seen it not done, and I’ve seen it now that Nancy does it. It’s a huge difference. Huge. And on demand communication – work your letters, get your email addresses. It works. I promise.
Nancy: And Jim knows everything the capabilities of ADD Systems, so he’s always teaching his new, little tricks. And I have to say, the follow ups are my favorite.
Stephanie: Follow-up feature communication between the office. I’ve shown Jim some stuff too.
Jim: It’s been a great relationship for us all.
Nancy: It has Jim. I really appreciate you.
Jim: Amen. I appreciate you.
Nancy: Thank you.
Brian: Jim, that’s really going to be a tough act to follow up, but if you had advice for any of the ADD
users listening to this episode, what would your advice be?
Jim: Invest in some consulting. Invest in some training. Let somebody come out. You know, we’ve got a lot of people who are subject matter experts in all the different areas. And I’m just one of hundreds of people that work at ADD Systems. There are a lot of things that clients ask me that maybe I don’t know, but I do know a lot of people that are really smart. And so if I don’t know the answer, I can find you a resource. So I would agree, too, that once you get on the software, you’ve got to have follow up because there are so many things, there’s so many industry best practices that are available. You just have to ask somebody. I would say definitely follow up with once a year, do a webinar. Once a year, have somebody onsite, you know, every couple of years do it. There are so many things that our clients have available. Even with all their success, every client that I’ve ever been to, we always find more ways to streamline the processes. We always find more ways to be more profitable. There are opportunities that are available – you just have to go out and ask for it.
Stephanie: And you made the investment. So if you’re gonna make the investment, make it work. You
spent all that money in the beginning. Why aren’t you moving any more forward?
Jim: True.
Brian: Well, Stephanie, Nancy, Jim, I thank you all for taking the time to speak with me today. This has
been a fascinating conversation.
Stephanie: Thank you for having us and thank you for letting me jump in.
Nancy: Thank you.
Jim: Thank you.
Brian: To keep up with the latest happenings at ADD Systems, visit addsys.com/blog, or connect with us on social media by following ADD Systems on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, or X. If you have any questions about ADDcast, feel free to reach out to us at addcast@addsys.com. Thanks for listening, and have a great day.
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