![]() ![]() Heritage’s leadership was also known for its pushdown management style that left field management responsible for results. So you were reassuring the customer the same level of service and fair pricing. Krimbill, now CEO of NGL Energy Partners, adds, “The uniform was the same, the invoice and truck looked the same. “By that strategy, we were able to hold our losses to a minimum, and by buying in growth counties we were able to grow the business internally as well as by acquisition.” ![]() “That is one of the biggest complaints about making acquisitions, that you lose a certain number of your customers,” he says. Retaining the original company name and many of its employees led to few customer losses during the transition in ownership, he adds. “So if you bought the best company in the area, why would you want to change the name from a company that had been successful in its area to a name that nobody knew?”īertelsmeyer says the company had very few plants under the name of Heritage Propane. and buy the best companies we could find,” he adds. “Our theory then was to buy in growth areas in the U.S. “Rather than steal customers from your competition, all competitors in the area are able to gain new customers because of increased population and the number of households. “Retail propane marketing is an awful lot easier if you have a growing population in the area,” says Bertelsmeyer, 72. Green symbolized population growth over the last 10 years yellow meant growth was flat and red signaled a population decline. It tracked those prospects on a large map, with every U.S. We would meld that culture into a bigger culture, but because Heritage had such a culture similar to operating like an independent, it wasn’t a problem.”įirst, though, Heritage had to find companies that would fit its model it would buy only the best companies in growth areas. Mills adds, “Every independent company in America has its own small culture. “When they acquired companies, they tried to retain the goodwill that people had with their local propane distributor.” “Jim gave the industry the model that you could have a national company with a local brand,” says Rick Roldan, president and CEO of the National Propane Gas Association (NPGA). Those close to Bertelsmeyer say Heritage was known for retaining the acquired company’s name and its employees, and for its pushdown management style. ![]() “He was accepted as the most successful at building a business from scratch through acquisitions,” Pinnacle Propane’s Harold Poland says of Bertelsmeyer, whom he nominated for the LP Gas Hall of Fame. But it was how the Tulsa, Okla., company grew – through an acquisitions strategy unique at the time – that garnered the most attention. Heritage Propane was founded in 1989 and grew to become one of the major retail players in the industry. Mills for operations, and Mike Krimbill for finance. So he partnered with a private equity group and sought some of the best minds in the business: Al Darr for acquisitions and corporate development, R.C. But he certainly couldn’t go at it alone. From nothing, Heritage Propane became the third-largest retailer in the country.Ī key figure in growing past propane retailers Synergy Gas and Buckeye Gas Products, Bertelsmeyer felt the time was right to launch his own company. Bertelsmeyer created a blueprint on his dining room table of how to build his own retail propane company. ![]()
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