E Source combined the results of two nationwide market research studies we conducted in 2009 (The Gap and Priority Benchmark and the Account Management Assessment), knowledge of industry best practices, and our previous research on account management to envision the “fantasy” account management department—an ideal department that manages businesses of all sizes and engages in best practices in the areas of department structure, account management strategy, and customer communications. We created a checklist of best practices in these three areas that you can use to develop a road map for achieving best practices in your own account management department. Our research suggests that utilities will experience higher overall business customer satisfaction if they actively manage all business customers in some fashion and include customized service and communications as part of their business customer strategy.