We go through quite a bit of propane each month during the Fall and Winter months. Our 500 gallon propane tank needs to be filled monthly and sometimes twice monthly if the weather is extraordinarily cold. Yesterday, the  propane tank was filled and I noticed the price was 35% higher than last year’s price for the same time period. I looked at the Massachusetts Propane Price Survey and saw that the year over year average price was only 6% higher this year.

Because the propane company owns our tank and we are contracted with them to fill us at their market rates, there was little I could do. I called the company and someone there offered to lower the price by a few cents a gallon. This was nice, but it wasn’t really satisfactory to me, especially since they could continue to increase our rate with the only option being to reduce our usage (no, thanks).

Instead of taking to Yelp, NextDoor.com, or some other local website where people chat or give reviews to talk about my dissatisfaction, I did something else: I emailed a couple of company executives and the local office manager. I explained the situation and told them why I felt that I was being overcharged. I was polite but firm. I need them to deliver my propane in a timely fashion, and if I ever run out of propane during a storm, I need them to be willing to deliver my propane in an emergency situation. I can’t risk burning a bridge with a company I am going to continue doing business with for the foreseeable future.

This morning, I received a call from the manager who lowered the price considerably for this month’s and last month’s deliveries, and he assured me they would keep an eye on my account. He understood my position and we quickly remedied the situation. The price is a bit higher than I would like it to be, and it is probably a bit lower than they would like it. However, an email to the right people followed by a phone call was all it took to fix this situation.

Too often I see people posting

People regularly email about their domain names. Most people seem to want to sell me their domain names. The polite people ask me if they can send me their domain names to review if any fit my purchasing needs. The not as polite people simply email me a big list of names without a prior introduction or any type of business relationship.

When people ask about sending me a list of their domain names, I typically ask them to send me a few of their best domain names. Sometimes I’ll say send your 10 best and other times it’s a top 3 list. The point is to get them to cull the list instead of thinking that I will do it for them.

Realistically, the “best” domain names in a portfolio would be a small percentage of that portfolio. If someone asked me to share my top 5 names, I would quickly say

I want to share a tip that may help you close sales, get better deals, and potentially improve the products and services offered by industry companies. If you don’t see a product or service offered by a company that you think would help your business, ask them to add it. I have found that many are happy to oblige.

Chances are good that if you think something will help your business, others have the same thought as well. It can be as simple as adding a currency to the checkout option to as complicated as suggesting a deal structure that is atypical. If a company is able to add the product or service in a way that they can monetize profitably, many companies  are willing to consider it.

I have found that some of the largest companies have