Reseller revamp to serve country customers better

Reseller revamp gives country customers what they want, when they want it

It’s a sunny autumn morning in Dubbo. Caltex depot manager Carol Lane, reading emails in her office, hears a knock at her door and looks up. It’s one of her regular customers, a wheat farmer.

"Hi Bill," says Carol. "You’ve had some rain out at your property I hear. Are the kids well?"

Carol, who has worked at the Caltex depot in the central New South Wales town for 14 years and been manager there for the past 12 months, continues the conversation as they stroll to the lubes store, known as the "oil shed". Bill orders a 205-litre drum of Delo 400 diesel engine oil for his utes and tractors.

They chat about the weather, the wheat harvest and their families until Bill finally heads home.

"Our customers are mostly farmers," says Carol, who knows every one’s requirements, their regular purchase patterns, where they live and even what sport their children play. "But we also service business people in town. Caltex fuel and lubes play a vital role in all their lives. We know each other well – I’ve seen their kids grow up."

The transaction that’s just taken place is a typical one enacted hundreds of times a day in the Caltex network across Australia. It’s just one step in a process that helps keep rural and regional customers in business.

Now, to ensure such small to medium enterprise (SME) clients get even better service and attention, the Caltex reseller network has undergone a major restructuring.

It involves consolidating the reseller businesses owned by Caltex from 10 separate businesses to four regional hubs: Caltex Energy NSW, Caltex Energy WA, Caltex South East (Vic/SA) and Caltex Energy QLD. The businesses have been created and management teams are already in place.

Less complexity, sharper focus

Why’s it happening? It’s simply about being more efficient, explains National Manager Reseller Ian Ross. The consolidation will allow for a more integrated approach to managing customer relationships and a more efficient structure. It will also reduce the complexity of the business model.

That’s partly because in the past there’s been some confusion about what the reseller group actually does, particularly as it ended up owning and running about 200 service stations. The result was many reseller people spent more time on the retail side of the business than on servicing small to medium enterprises (SMEs), which is obviously what their prime focus should be, says Ian.

"We’re moving the retail sites out of reseller back to retail so we can concentrate on the SME business core offer – giving our customers a great product, delivering to them when they want it and with a competitive price and credit terms."
Caltex clients will see no downside; in fact, they’ll experience an approach that’s more focused on their needs, says Ian. To that end the sales teams will get fresh training this year as Caltex Petroleum Services "moves towards the culture of the hunter," actively chasing business.

For Caltex Energy QLD, an important focus is to execute better than the competition by having talented local people and a reliable supply and distribution network. This is a challenge, concedes Queensland Regional Manager Scott Nicholls, as is maintaining the foundation that’s been built for safe and compliant operations while Caltex seeks to aggressively grow the business.

Does it mean safety is no longer a priority? Absolutely not, says Scott. Growth will never be at the expense of safe operations. By making the regional distribution network more efficient and reliable, customers will experience improvements in relationship management. "There are many synergies and marketing advantages we can offer our customers by Caltex Energy QLD having a larger and geographically diverse business," says Scott.

Streamlining accounts

In New South Wales, the operations of newly formed Caltex Energy NSW cover a vast chunk of the state, from north to south and as far west as 300 kilometres beyond Cobar and Bourke. Synergies here include streamlining non-customer facing transactions like billing and general accounts enquiries while continuing to have dedicated sales and operating people on the ground.

"When a customer wants to talk to Caltex locally it’s usually to satisfy a need, order fuel, seek advice or get information," explains Regional Manager Wade Death. "That’s what they care about. What they don’t care about is what the return address on the envelope of their statement might be, or where the statement comes from."

Even more importantly, better distribution and delivery networks are being set up. For example, at the peak harvest time in the northwest of the state it’s usually a scramble to get enough trucks and drivers to deliver fuel to agricultural clients. Thanks to more resources and better planning, Caltex Energy NSW can now have resources available for such peak periods – including the holiday season at year-end in the north and the main fishing season at Eden on the south coast.

The number of vehicles available has been increased, says Wade. And two new "split shifter" trucks can tow a pair of tanker barrels from Newcastle terminal to regional depots like Dubbo. The trailers can be pulled apart and other prime movers can take them on to other areas, allowing for a more effective distribution and fuel-storage cost savings before the truck heads back to Newcastle at night.

"From a change management perspective, the restructure will touch every one of the 1,200 people in Caltex Petroleum Services," says Ian. "It’s the biggest change management program since the merger of Caltex and Ampol in the mid ‘nineties."

CPS people have been positive about the changes, adds Scott Nicholls. "They recognise that if we do this right our people will see many more opportunities to grow with the business over the next few years."

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