Lindie Honsberger steered herself into the propane industry on a whim. “I was driving back from a training for another company and just happened to drive past Foster Fuels Inc. headquarters and was impressed by the grounds and the facility. After reading about it online, I knew,” she says. Honsberger knew nothing about propane when she applied for a sales representative position. Within four years, she was vice president of propane service.
Her passion is apparent in her work. As vice president of propane service, Honsberger draws upon her background in marketing to create and implement new techniques and procedures, increasing Foster Fuels’ customer base, as well as employee engagement and retainment.
When Honsberger started with Foster Fuels, all sales leads were emailed to the service manager, who would then forward them to a sales team member. But office staff had no way of knowing which customers were assigned to which sales team members or if they had been contacted.
“At the time we were not looking to spend money on a formal CRM, so I worked with our IT department to create a makeshift CRM system with the software we already had,” says Honsberger. This system enabled streamlined communication throughout the entire team, as well as an improved customer experience.
When a showroom worker confided in Honsberger their frustration about not knowing if their customers’ appliances that were shipped to another location had arrived yet due to a lack of access to an inventory management system, Honsberger set about solving the issue.
“I worked with our IT department, and we created a PowerBI that reports on appliance inventory for open customer work orders. We adjusted the way we received inventory and now can report weekly on which customers’ appliances have arrived and which we are still waiting on,” she says.
Additionally, Honsberger implemented a formal, two-week onboarding training program for office staff. The program includes classroom training, shadowing of employees in different office roles and spending time on-site. “The goal is for our staff to have the opportunity to learn and experience as many sides of the business as possible to gain a better understanding of what we do.”
Honsberger has spent her fair share of time doing the same, and her work continues.
“It’s true I enjoy coming to work every day. I want my team members to feel the same way — like they make a difference every day to our business, have a voice and are cared about.”
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