Quantum Newsprint hosted by Bill Sjoblom

Alliance Energy Grows Business With Quantum

We are pleased to announce that Alliance Energy based in Waltham, MA has chosen QS to provide audit service to 24 additional sites starting in March.  Connie in our Hartford division has been providing great service to five sites and we are getting more business mainly because of her efforts!  Thanks, Connie!

Alliance Energy has 120 corporate locations on the East Coast so there is an opportunity to continue to grow our relationship.  Thanks to Deb also who closed the sale!

Mountaineer Mart Picks Quantum

In January we started service to sixteen Mountaineer Mart locations in West Virginia.  The company is based in Buchanon, WV and we will be providing service primarily out of our newest division, Morgantown, WV!  This QS division will also be providing service to Parmar - another new client.

This client stopped by our booth at NACS in Chicago last year and Randy Burke closed the sale!  Congratulations, Randy!

Quantum Grows in Roanoke!

We just completed the sale to a new client in Roanoke, Virginia, Quik-e Food Stores.  They have twelve locations around the Roanoke area.  Congratulations to Deb who completed this sale with the help of our great team in Roanoke!

QS Grows With Par Mar Stores

QS recently added a new account - Par Mar Stores!  This new client has 51 locations in Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky.  They will be serviced by our Columbus, Pittsburgh and Charleston divisions. Here is an interesting story from their web site about how Par Mar actually got into the c-store business:

Par Mar Stores can trace its roots to Par Mar Oil Company which was established in 1967 as a full line petroleum jobber by Joseph G. Grow of Parkersburg, WV and James L. Hollister of Marietta, Ohio. In search of a name, Mr. Grow and Mr. Hollister decided on Par Mar, Par for Parkersburg, WV and Mar for Marietta, OH.

At the onset Par Mar Oil Company began business with 3 full time employees serving commercial, industrial and consumer accounts with oils, greases, gasoline, diesel fuels, heating oils, and various other petroleum products. Par Mar's initial petroleum affiliation was Amoco Oil Co. which led to the dealer sector of the business. This division grew to service 55 independent dealers with the Amoco Brand.

In 1979, Par Mar opened its first convenience store on Ohio State Rt. 7 South, now Par Mar #7. Mr. James L. Hollister (J.L.) then the president of Par Mar had left town for a few days on a business trip. His oldest son, William C. (Bill) had long tried to convince his father to enter the convenience store/gasoline business. J.L. wanted no part of it and steadfastly refused each and every attempt by Bill to proceed. Bill felt with J.L. out of town the opportunity and timing was right. With a loan of $11,500.00 Bill secured from a local bank, Par Mar Stores was actually born overnight, initially doing business as Par Mar Shop N Save. To J.L.'s shock and surprise upon his return it was too late to turn back, thus the convenience store division began.

A special thanks to Nora for her persistence in marketing to this chain! 

Growth With United!

I am pleased to announce that QS is now the exclusive provider of audit services to United Refining - Kwik Fill stores!  Part of this new business was serviced by RGIS and part of it is new service to United's Limited sites which are small kiosk locations.  We added 72 new audits per month. 

This additional business resulted in QS opening a new division in Erie, PA and Jon is the new DM!  Welcome, Jon!

This is a good example of how providing great service to current clients can help us grow QS.  United made this decision based on the outstanding service provided by our folks in Buffalo, Syracuse, Rochester, Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Binghamton. 

A special thanks to each of our United - Kwik Fill service providers!

Guest Blog: Carmen Gutierrez - How to Rebuild Your Division Sales!

With the recent loss of 7-Eleven business, many of our Division Managers are faced with the need to rebuild the business in their division. I thought it would be helpful to hear from our veteran Division Manager in Riverside, Carmen Gutierrez who did just that after we lost the BP business in September of 2009. Thanks, Carmen for sharing your journey!

"Rays of sun as the storm begins to wither” Randy said on Bill’s blog referring to the optimism he’s feeling about the future of QS after the loss of 7/11 business.

September 2009 is a date that I will never forget. It’s the time that we lost the BP business. Several divisions were affected and lost so many good people as well. The Riverside division was one of the most affected ones, Riverside alone lost 180 stores.

I was confused, angry, worried, sad, and very…very… discouraged. I was thinking that there was no future for us without our #1 client, but time proved me wrong.

How do you rebuild your division? How do you bring sales to rebuild your division? How did Riverside go back to being the largest division in QS within a year after the big loss?

Thirty-five percent of Riverside’s businesses is with clients with 1 to 10 stores. These clients were added with lots of perseverance, great client relationships and positive attitude.

Here are a few steps that we took to make it happen:

• Send out thank you letters to your owners and managers for being able to work with them. Let them know that you are still available to do audits for them. Follow up with a call or email to make it clear that you are able to give them audit service and that you can work with them to see if there is other information that they might be interested in.
• Once you pick up some audits send out another letter stating that owners and managers are doing audits on their own and are pleased with the continued service that QS has always given them.
• Referrals…referrals…referrals...one sale will lead to another, make contact with BC, FBC (supervisors and market managers), I even got a couple of realtors that I met in Change Over audits, and they call me when they need an auditing service.
• Keep constant contact with future clients by attending Franchisee’s meetings.
• Be adaptable to your client’s needs even if you have to do small sacrifices, they will appreciate and will keep you in mind for future business.

I read a quote once which read, “When it’s obvious the goals cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.” I truly believe that we are all great achievers with the ability
to bounce back from situations like this.

Be positive, always keep a winning attitude and remember that when you are down the only other direction is up. Your division will grow, all you need to do is taking the first step and get
started now!

NACS Show in Chicago is...Overwhelming?

This past week I flew to Chicago for a day to visit the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) annual convention. It's been a few years since I attended and it's easy to forget how big these convention and trade show is. Here are some interesting facts:

• More than 22,000 people attended from 50 different countries
• The exhibit space covered 375,000 square feet...that is the size of almost 8 football fields!
• There were 1300 companies exhibiting including a record 5 inventory services
• There was a huge continent of convenience store operators from Brazil - had to be several hundred. Most of them were wearing AM/PM shirts
• The exhibits were open 6 hours a day on Sunday and Monday and 4 1/2 hours on Tuesday for a total of 16 1/2 hours.

It's easy to get overwhelmed in such a large convention! QS had a 10x10 booth - 100 square feet! We were able to talk with quite a few clients and prospects but it is a crazy environment! I tried to walk most of the exhibition floor but gave up after three hours or so...I don't think I saw even half of the vendors.

I want to thank Barrett, Randy and Pat who worked the show for QS. It is really grueling work.

New Business with United!

 

I can't tell you how happy I am to share this news with you!  Starting November 1, we will become United's (the stores are branded Kwik Fill) "sole audit service provider."  This means that we will be adding 70 limited sites (these are mostly kiosk locations) and 60 new full size stores.  With United's current frequency model, this will result in 72 new audits per month.

We also plan to open a new division in Erie, PA. 

Special thanks to Lynnette, Karla and all of the service providers for United!  We got this business because of the great service you have provided to United over the years!

Remember my previous blog post that stated our goal of adding 50 audits a month?  Well, this meets that goal for one and a half months!

 

Great Advice From Chad

Chad from Roanoke posted a comment on my blog 50 Audits a Month that I thought was so good I had to re post it in case you missed it.  Chad is referring to my recommendation that QS people just stop in stores that they do not service to ask questions and gather information. 

I've had great success in the past in procuring sales through this exact approach. I might add, however, a high percentage of individuals struggle with this because they lack confidence in approaching a cold target. I can remember countless situations in which a salesperson either didn't follow through with the attempt, or his/her lack of confidence in his presentation cost the deal. I see Quantum full of capable individuals & with a little bit of "sales" confidence bestowed upon them from above, I think Quantum would see a large jump in both attempts & in deals.

One way to immediately break any timidity is to bring a co-worker with you during the initial pitch. Breaking the ice & introducing yourself with someone by your side makes most anyone much more confident.  It is, however, important to remember that if this approach is chosen each person should contribute to the conversation.

Another way sales confidence comes into play, is "practice makes perfect". Confidence is only gained through repetition, and repetition is only gained through training. I remember planning short segments of each meeting to allow salespeople act out situations as they would happen during real sales situations. They learned volumes in how to react & their confidence grew more than if they were just left on their own. Confidence is confidence, whether it's in front of a co-worker, boss or prospective client and this would be a great way to for any DM to spend 15 minutes at every meeting; if not for anything but to just grow some confidence in selling Quantum.

The last way, which would really be most successful after the last suggestion is implemented, is to create a contest of who can bring in the most contacts. This could be done individually on the district level, or at the company-wide level... or even as a district vs. district competition.

A knowledgeable, confident auditor who can double as a salesperson, whose being offered a sweet reward for performing, can only lead me to believe that there would be some great rewards to be reaped for Quantum in all sectors. Of course, this is all just an idea. :)

Wow, Chad!  That is some great advice.  We have had sales incentives and contests before and it seems like a good idea to try it again!  I will ask Barrett to put something together.  In the meantime, what do you think of Chad's suggestions?  Who else has some experience with sales to share?

50 Audits a Month

Did you know that over the past 18 months we have sold an average of a 50 audits a month?  Did you know that more than 87% of those sales have been to chains with 10 to 100 locations? 

So what?

We have decided to apply more resources (work harder) at marketing to chains with less than 100 locations.  That does not mean that we will ignore larger chains, but we have found the smaller chains are more receptive today. 

If we continue to sell 50 new audits a month, it will take us about two years to replace the 7-Eleven business.  All we have to do is keep doing what we have been doing. 

How can you help?  If you drive by a c-store that you know is a smaller chain, stop in!  Introduce yourself and tell them that you work for QS - a company that specializes in auditing for c-stores.  You could even say "I just finished an audit down the street at (insert client here) and I was wondering how you guys get your audits?" Ask who in their company is in charge of audits - get a name and phone number if you can.  Then if they are willing to talk, find out if they are satisfied and any other info you can get.  Email Barrett Crook at bcrook@quantum-services.com or just get the info to your Director of Operations. 

With your help, we will soon be growing again!