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Change Management, Rewritten for an AI World
By Shyam Rao, Founder and CEO Every operator knows the people-process-tech framework. It has ordered change management for decades, and the order is the whole point: start with your people, redesign your process, and only...
The Customer Service Clock Starts Before the First Word
One client recently demonstrated the value of connecting executive direction with frontline behavior. The strategy was deliberately simple: get back to the basics, greet every customer, and thank every customer. During the following two months,...
The Cost of Product Rationalization: Managing SKU Complexity in Lubricant Distribution
The lubricant industry has never offered more product choices than it does today. Between evolving OEM requirements, emissions regulations, synthetic formulations, specialty applications, and private-label offerings, distributors are managing increasingly complex inventories. While expanded product...
Monthly Risk Management Meeting: A Critical Discipline for Petroleum Companies
Petroleum distribution companies rarely suffer from a shortage of meetings. In a business defined by regulatory complexity, fluctuating markets, and daily operational hazards, there is always a reason to gather teams to discuss initiatives, coordinate...
What fuel loyalty programs are missing — even if membership is growing
Upside’s latest report diagnoses the “loyalty plateau,” where programs continue to add members but see declining engagement. Most fuel and convenience retailers would consider a loyalty member “their” customer, no questions. But new data shows...
M&A Case Study: Matrix Advises on the Sale of Leahy-Wolf Co. to ACE Solutions, LLC
Leahy-Wolf Co. is a leading Midwest lubricants distributor providing commercial, industrial, and automotive lubricants, diesel exhaust fluid, antifreeze, coolants, and related products to customers throughout Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Founded in 1946 by James...
The “Low Rate” That Cost One Operator $387,000 a Year
Here’s what every fuel marketer should know before trusting a processor’s headline rate. When you ask a payment processor for their best pricing, you’ll almost always hear the same pitch: “interchange-plus.” It sounds fair. You...
The Discipline Advantage: What 2025’s Top Performers Do Differently
Every year, businesses explain their performance through market conditions. Demand softens. Costs rise. Customers become more cautious. Competition intensifies. And in many ways, those explanations were valid in 2025. Across several Study Groups industries, growth...
AI Isn’t a Threat to Your Software. It’s a Test.
Submitted by Stephan Okano, VP of Engineering We met with a fuel wholesaler at SIGMA and heard a story that has since come up in different versions from several other operators. His college-age nephew, home...
Minnesota Joins Growing Number of States Regulating PFAS
Minnesota has joined the wave of states enacting laws to regulate per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). In 2023, Minnesota passed Amara’s Law, Minnesota Statute Section 116.943, which has two primary functions: banning certain PFAS-containing products...
Why Do Companies Hedge?
The concept of hedging often appears daunting to companies approaching it for the first time. They might think perhaps it’s too complex or it’s only for larger businesses. This isn’t true now and it wasn’t...
Ditching the Tablet Farm: How to Master Online Delivery Without Operational Chaos
Triggered out of necessity during the Covid pandemic, convenience store operators scrambled to capture the exploding demand for online delivery. The industry-wide response was a collective, chaotic sprint to deploy third-party marketplaces. Almost overnight, store...