Are you a fan of the E Source Gap and Priority Benchmark, a survey of utility large business customer satisfaction? Did you eagerly await the results of the 2011 study? Have you ever sat around the office daydreaming of the day when E Source would similarly measure the satisfaction of your midsize business customers? If so, then it’s time to get excited! We’ve granted your wish. We’re about to field the E Source Midsize Business Gap and Priority Benchmark: 2012. I’m finalizing the survey questions and preparing to field the survey next month—and I’m already excited! I can’t wait to dig into the results and see what we can learn from them.

With this new study, E Source can help you and your business customer service team identify the top priorities for delivering outstanding value to your midsize business customers. We use a brief online survey of your midsize business customers—businesses that don’t have an assigned account rep—to assess their most important needs. The survey then examines the performance of your utility and your business customer reps in meeting those needs. This allows you to prioritize specific actions to improve midsize business customer satisfaction.

We’ll ask your customers questions such as:

• Does your utility provide reliable energy?
• Does your utility show trustworthiness?
• Do your business customer reps resolve your issue on first contact?
• Do your business customer reps follow through on their commitments?

We’ll ask your customers to rate overall satisfaction and value for both the utility and business customer reps they’ve interacted with. The survey also includes questions related to communication and energy-efficiency topics such as:

• Decision-making structure
• Contact channel preferences
• Energy-efficiency attitudes and likelihood of participation in programs

This benchmark compares the satisfaction of your midsize business customers to the satisfaction of other utilities’ customers. We do this to provide you with an apples-to-apples comparison. We’ll also survey your small business customers and provide the survey response data to you; however, those responses will not be included in the official benchmark.

Hurry—time is running out to participate in 2012! If you would like more information about the study or want to participate this year, please send an e-mail to Chad Garrett, product manager of E Source Business Market Services, or call him at 303-345-9151 by the end of February. You can also send me an e-mail, call me at 303-345-9126, or follow me on Twitter (@ESourceSarah).