GSB-37: 7 Tips and Ideas You Can Use to Improve Your Gas Station Business on a Budget

Gas Station Business 101 Podcast - How to Start, Run and Grow a Successful Gas Station Business

Today I want to discuss 7 very useful tips and ideas you should put to use immediately to improve your store's outlook and image.

Most of these ideas will cost you very little, and some will only cost 50% of the total cost as the other 50% is paid by, well not you, so stay tuned, and I will tell you who will pay the rest.

Let's get started.

There are co-op programs available from most branded oil companies like Exxon, Shell, BP, and Chevron where they share some upgrade cost with you; often it is 50% of the total cost but yes there is usually a cap as to how much you can spend. These Co-Op programs are available from your brand managers. They can tell you what and how much your brand is offering for you to do certain upgrades.

4 Upgrades your Brand May Pay up to 50% 1. LED Lights Upgrade

For Example, most all brands offer you up to 50% cost to replace and upgrade your exterior canopy lights to LED lights as long as you follow their requirements. So if replacing your 18 canopy lights cost you $8,200 you may be able to get half of that or $4,100 from your company again as long as you follow their exact guideline and submit all necessary paperwork to them. It is that simple really.

2. Pressure Washing and Painting

This upgrade falls under the Co-Op program. Just ask your brand manager what is available from your brand and how you can get the work done. The common practice is to get the work done first according to their specification then submit the invoice, but remember the work has to be done by a licensed contractor, so they know the work has been done properly.

3. Pump/Dispenser Skirt Replacement

Similarly, again this is another Co-Op program where they can pay you to upgrade the most important part of your dispensers. Skirts are the bottom metal part of your dispensers where the brand stickers are. Due to their location, they get dinged very easily, they get dirt, scratches and everything else and make your dispensers look old and worn out. But they don't cost much to replace them. Ask your brand manager to order them for you and again they may pay 50% of the cost of them, not bad huh?

4. POS Upgrade

I know I mentioned this in a couple of the episodes before that if you own a branded store, you most likely have done your POS or register system upgrade already. If you haven't, you should check into it. 50% refund on your POS upgrade, in this case, can be thousands of dollars. Just to give you an example, we upgraded a few stores, and the average dual system cost was around $, 17,000 so if you get half of it back, why not? Check into it.

The next 3 tips and ideas are very different than the Co-op ideas I just shared

These ideas are for those of you who do not have a branded store.

3 Ideas for your Unbranded Store 1. Create your Own Brand

If you are running an unbranded store, think about something unique that makes your store stands out. If your store has a deli, then try to come up with something from the deli. For example, I recently helped a store brand their BBQ sandwich, and we named it BBQ Pit- "Homemade Real Pit BBQ Sandwich" Here BBW Pit is the name of the Deli we came up with, and the 2nd part is the slogan.

In Episode 30 I shared some passive income ideas, in that episode I shared some great resources and one of them is Fiverr, where you can get anything done for around $5. So for this store, we logged on to Fiverr.com and hired a logo designer to design the BBQ Pit logo, then ordered some T-Shirt with that logo from an online store. I am not mentioning the store's name as there are hundreds of choices out there all you have to do is find the one that fits your budget.

We also hired a graphic designer from Fiverr and had him do a flyer design which the owner gave out to his customers.

So suddenly this unbranded store became a brand well not a fuel brand but something can people can identify easily and when they can relate good food with a name, it always increases business. Provided they sell good quality BBQ, which we had to make sure first before we went with this branding.

For your store, think what your strength is, what is your store known for, come up with something creative and go with it. Make sure to get T-Shirts made so every employee can wear one; it is free advertising trust me on that.

2. Collect Email Addresses and Get Paid for Them

There are companies nowadays that can set up an iPad type device next to your checkout stand where your customers can put their email address along with their name to receive some very valuable coupons based on 3-4 simple questions they answer on the screen. Once you gather enough of them, you can get paid for them. So it can be an ongoing revenue stream, not to mention you can sue the same email address to market your own store to them as well.

I am still learning about this business, so I am not going to recommend any company to you yet. But you can do your own search and see what you come up with.

3. Using LED TV as a Sign or Menu Board

I am sure you have seen McDonalds to gas stations where they all have digital menu boards. They look bright, clean and so easily changeable. If you have a store where you use menu board or any big sign, think about replacing the menu board or sign with an LED TV. A 32-40 inch LED TV cost less them $300, so it is very easily doable.

This is how you do it, either you can take a picture of your menu and hire a graphic designer from Fiverr and ask them to create a hi-res menu or sign for you, then download the image as a picture JPG format file and put it on a flash drive and put it on the TV, and it is done. Just hang it on the ceiling or wall.

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Topics like:

• How to Find the Perfect gas station business for your budget
• How to tell if a business is really making money before you buy
• The 15 step Gas Station buying checklist
• How To Calculate the ROI and
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Thank you once again for staying with me, let me know if there is a topic that you want me to talk about in a future episode; you can email me at [e-mail]

Last but not the least, here is the link to my YouTube video about how to do bookkeeping on Microsoft Excel. YouTube.com/Gasstationbusiness101 Bookkeeping

Sites you can visit to buy high quality images for your digital menu board

http://depositphotos.com

http://istockphoto.com

http://shutterstock.com

Take care and I will talk to you in the next episode.

Cheers!