Improve Business Customer Satisfaction with Strategic Planning

Posted on February 25, 2010

Posted By: Sarah Fiebiger

Creating strategic account plans is considered an account management best practice for businesses in any industry. Yet results from the 2009 E Source Account Management Assessment -- a recently conducted online survey of utility account management departments regarding the structure, communications, systems, processes, and strategic approaches used in managing business customers of all sizes --showed that only slightly more than half (59 percent) of utilities are creating individual strategic account plans for their key accounts. Equally as concerning was the finding that fewer than 20 percent of utilities are creating any type of strategic plan for the rest of their business customers, including the large (non-key), midsize, and small segments.

Strategic account plans are effective tools that benefit both the utility's account management group and its key account customers by helping to align customer and utility expectations. A concrete strategic account plan will establish:

What the customer should expect from the utility;
What the customer's wants and needs are;
A communications plan;
The market potential for utility products and programs;
Strategies for managing and selling to the customer; and
Important details about the customer that would be beneficial for a utility account representative to be aware of.

This kind of alignment of expectations and agreement about what the customer can expect from the utility will boost customer satisfaction as long as the utility is accomplishing the goals set forth in the plan.

E Source considers it best practice for account representatives to create individualized strategic plans for each of their key accounts. Preparing plans for your top 10 customers is one way to get the ball rolling. Another interesting idea is setting up a rotation system, especially when product sales are the focus. Account representatives can select their top 10 key accounts to create customized strategic plans for, but once the market potential for product and program sales has been exhausted for a given customer, that account can be rotated out and a new one brought in to focus on. For the rotation method, you'll want to be working from an overall strategic plan for managing and selling to the entire key account segment.

A very different, more generalized approach to strategic planning will likely be required for small and midsize business (SMB) customers. For most utilities, creating a customized strategic plan for each SMB customer would not be worth the time and effort required. But utilities can create more generalized strategic plans for these customers, looking at them by segment to clarify each segment's expectations from their relationship with the utility, to give these customers a clearer sense of how the utility will address their unique segment needs, and to define a strategy for managing and selling products and programs to the overall segment.

Creating plans that focus on industry sectors such as healthcare, hospitality, restaurants, and manufacturing is one way to add some customization to the utility's general strategic plans. The sector-specific plans can span all segments of customers from key accounts down to small businesses. Because different sectors use energy quite differently, it can be beneficial for a utility account representative to understand the unique wants and needs of each.

According to the results of the E Source 2009 Account Management Assessment, most account management departments review strategic plans with utility management semiannually (31 percent) or annually (25 percent). They update those plans annually (31 percent) or quarterly (25 percent). Customized strategic plans for key accounts should be reviewed in person with the customer at least once a year. During this in-person review, account representatives can discuss with the customer how the utility's performance has been and what the utility can do to better serve the customer in the coming year. This helps the utility address customers' specific concerns and demonstrates the utility's active engagement when it comes to meeting customer expectations. Customers who feel they are being listened and attended to will be happier than customers who feel ignored and abandoned.

E Source will be conducting its Account Management Assessment every two years. If you are interested in participating in our next survey in summer 2011, please contact Mike Hildebrand at 303-345-9176.

Authored By:

Sarah Fiebiger

Sarah Weldon primarily focuses on issues related to utility customer care, business customer account management, the customer-facing side of the intelligent grid and e-business. Sarah researches and responds to Member Inquiries and does research and writing for reports on hot-topic issues in these areas. She has an extensive background in customer service and management and has also worked as a high-definition video editor and videographer. She holds a BFA from

See complete profile

Applicability of E-Commerce: In Utility Customer Self-Service Context By Tripati Subudhi

Smarter Revenue from Smart Grid By Sambit Bisoi

Keeping Customers Loyal and Forging New Relationships Through Communications that Matter to Them By Jay Robinson

Self-Service Strategy for Utilities -- A Step by Step Approach By Tripati Subudhi

Smart Grid - Only Innovation and Competition Will Bring Consumer Engagement By Joao Gomes

See all posts

Comments

February, 26 2010

Bob Amorosi says

Nice article Sarah in that the ideas are generally applicable to many industries who sell products or services to a wide range of customers in the public. For our utility companies one can view electrical energy as the universal product they distribute and "sell" to all its customers.

"For most utilities, creating a customized strategic plan for each SMB customer would not be worth the time and effort required. " I agree with this statement for utility companies under the uniform regulated billing rates that has been the norm just about everywhere in North America, but I suggest this might need to change under Time-Of-Use billing rates and smart grid programs. I am suggesting someday utility companies might be forced to become much more actively involved in engaging individual customers for the possible things enabled by smart grid programs.

Consider your typical cable-TV or telephones company service providers. They provide consumers basic services of distributing and selling information over cable or telephone wires. Most of these companies today have “customized accounts” for each and every client, since each and every customers can pick and choose from a menu of optional services and optional extra equipment to buy from their providers e.g. extra TV channel packages, high-speed internet service, voicemail, call display, etc. These companies typically have well funded consumer help lines and telemarketers, and field technicians to make house calls within hours notice for customer support and installing new equipment in customers’ residences.

I suggest our utility companies may someday have to morph into businesses that do similar customer account activities, because smart grid programs are supposed to enable a wide variety of new consumer technologies such as real-time in-home energy displays, customer energy bill management, Home Automation Networks, smart appliances with demand response capabilities, and plug-in rechargeable electric automobiles with (utility) grid management capabilities. All of these new technologies hinge on communication with the utility company or their smart meters. Most importantly they will have to be commercialized with the involvement of our utility companies – somehow. It may even open up the possibility for our utility companies to make additional money over and above rate base income simply from commercializing them to individual consumers. But this will take radical regulatory reforms from our governments to permit them to do so.

Report This Comment

March, 01 2010

Sarah Fiebiger says

Thanks for the comments Bob. I like your thoughts, and fully agree with them. I think the key word here is "someday." I agree that more proactive management of all customers will be needed as we move into the era of a smarter grid, time-of-use pricing, and automation/control through home area networks. Utilities will likely not only need to get involved with more proactive one-on-one management of customers, but will also need to make those interactions more real-time as social media picks up more speed and real-time, personalized customer service becomes a consumer expectation.

The smart grid certainly provides some interesting opportunities for utilities to not only provide greater and more proactive customer service, but also new products and services as you mentioned. I am definitely excited to see where smart grid technologies take the utility industry in the future.

For now I think segment- or industry sector-specific plans for SMB customers are a great first step for utilities to take as we move towards this new world that you discuss. Actively engaging all customers individually, as you suggest, is an ideal end-game that I could definitely stand behind. The real-time communications advantages of social media may be one venue that helps us get there.

Report This Comment