Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1939-04-08
Sovereign Service Plan
introduced In Montana
To Become Nationwide

Recent announcement by 1AAe
Oil OF Billings of the coming OF
Sovereign Service has brought "a
/ the Journal several inquiries re-
garding the marketing plan which
is not known in the Rocky Noun
/ tain region. Rowland Laughlin oil
the Independent Refiners Service
1 Corporation. of Wichita. Kansas, has
Furnished the Journal with the fol
I lowing account of, the organization:
Sovereign Service was started
with the founding of the Indepen-
1 dent Refiners Service Corporation
at wichita, Kansas, in February,
I 1885. shortly after the plan was
/ launched in the mid-continent area
/ by six independent refining compan-
/ les. BY June OF that year over
1900 applications for the service
had been received from service
station operators. All of these were
not licensed as strict physical stan
dards are required.
Operation under the Sovereign
Service plan requires compliance
with uniform Identification, uni
form paint scheme for service sta
htions and equipment, complete
equipment for servicing the mo
torist including fabrication Ia
cilities. as we'll as compliance with
certain requirements as to service,
merchandising and advertising
methods
Stations are painted in the Sow
ereign colors, yellow and maroon,
which were chosen for their dis
Effectiveness and high visibility.
Sovereign yellow is a light prim-
rose shade Of clean appearance ana
pleasing to the eye Station men
wear a distinctive Sovereign uni
form of maroon color.
Services of the Independent Re-
finers Service Corporation to its
licensed refining companies IN
cludes advertising and sales pro-
motion programs and sales training
for service station operators. Adj
vertising and sales promotion cam
paigns are released at least three
times year and are thoroughly
merchandised in the field with
sales meetings completely cover
ing the territory.
Sovereign Service advertising
enable the independent marketer 10
do a consistent job OF advertising
his business in his local market /
Campaign includes newspaper and |
direct mail advertising together j
with point-of-sale display and mer-
chandising materials. Campaignsi
are completely local in nature
strongly identifying the local in
Sovereign advertising Is
very direct and produces direct rec
turns for the operators. Outdoor
signs also are used. and. Of course.
are furnished such items |
as road maps.
force of four men constantly con-
tacting the service stations. study
ing their merchandising problems
and offering expert counsel. For
this sales training work, these men
ar furnishd with sound slide films,
motion pictures and regular sales
are held periodically. An
important part of the sales training
program. also. is a complete man
ual on Sovereign Service station
operation furnished to all stations
A Sovereign Service coupon book
also is available, which is ex-
changeable at all Sovereign Ser
vice stations.
OF special interest at this time
IS the expansion of the program.
After over two years experience es-
.ablishing the program in the orr
yinal territory, 1t was felt 1t could /
le extended to Independents in 9TH I
.r areas. Efforts in this line have
'esulted in licensing of the Yale
ill Corporation, Billings, Montana, ,
ind Panhandle Refining Company.
Wichita Falls, Texas. This has adj
led six new states to the territory.
Further. expansion of the program
s expected as the plan can readily
,e adopted by independent refiners
Is means OF giving further ser
rice to their independent custom
RS.
The Sovereign Service plan vir-
uaIly amounts to voluntary
.hain for Independent service sta
ion operators. 1t gives the indie
pendent various tools. mutual aid
distance which he needs under the
conditions in the re-
all field today. With the Sovereign
service plan an operator remains
independent but at the
anne time. he has definite advan-
ages through his voluntary coop !
ration With other operators like
imself. BY maintaining high stan I
ards or service station service and
intenance, widespread accept
nee OF Sovereign Service by motor +
SIS (, Is, being built; and 1t is quite I
ossible that the plan may be ex- a
ended throughout the country
ringing Independents a complete