2009 E Source Account Management Assessment
Account Management Best Practices
December 7, 2009
The 2009 E Source Account Management Assessment surveyed utilities on account management practices for all sizes of business customers. The results give an actionable set of data to help utilities improve their account management practices and see how they stack up against others in the industry.
Content type: Benchmark Study | Document ID: BAM-BMK-AMA-09 | Author: Sarah Weldon and Matthew Joyce
Security Deposit Policies for Commercial Customers
November 16, 2009
What security deposit policies are utilities using for their commercial customers?
Content type: Ask E Source | Document ID: UCC-AskES-10 | Author: Sarah Weldon
Handheld Devices for Small Business Energy Audits
October 22, 2009
What are the benefits of using handheld devices to conduct energy audits for small businesses? Who are the providers of such devices?
Content type: Ask E Source | Document ID: BCO-AskES-4 | Author: Florence Connally
Business Energy Audits
August 17, 2009
What does a typical on-site business energy audit entail? How are utilities marketing energy audits to their business customers?
Content type: Ask E Source | Document ID: BCO-AskES-2 | Author: Kim Knox
Restaurants
June 22, 2009
Utility account managers often overlook the food service sector despite the energy intensity of food service operations. E Source Sector Snapshots provide account managers and program designers an opportunity to brush up on industry trends from the owner’s and facility manager’s perspective. ...
Content type: Sector Snapshot | Document ID: MAS-S-22 | Author: Yuki Iida
Savings from a Compressed Work Week
June 19, 2009
Can you save energy in a building by switching to a compressed work week, such as a 4-day, 10-hours-per-day schedule?
Content type: Ask E Source | Document ID: TAS-AskES-3 | Author: John Sustar
Improving the Satisfaction of Your SMB Electric and Gas Customers
Results from an E Source Roundtable Discussion
June 1, 2009
What makes your small and midsize business (SMB) customers tick? What ticks them off? We summarize best practices, no-cost and low-cost customer satisfaction (CSAT) improvement steps, and insights gleaned from the 2009 J.D. Power and Associates CSAT studies for SMB electric and gas utility customers. ...
Content type: Focus Report | Document ID: SMB-F-23 | Author: John Egan
Working with National Small Business Associations
June 1, 2009
How can utilities best work with national small business associations to deliver energy-efficiency messages to small business customers?
Content type: Ask E Source | Document ID: SMB-AskES-9 | Author: Kelsie Bell
Marketing AC Cycling Programs to SMB Customers
May 13, 2009
What messages do utility air-conditioning cycling programs use in marketing to small and midsize business (SMB) customers? Do any programs adapt the message for different SMB sectors?
Content type: Ask E Source | Document ID: SMB-AskES-6b | Author: Alexandra Behringer and Chad Garrett
Using Key Account Executives to Reduce Bad Debt
May 13, 2009
With the goal of reducing bad debt, do utilities’ key account executives work with collections departments to collect outstanding delinquent balances from commercial accounts? If so, are they able to do so while meeting the utility’s goals of customer satisfaction and retention?
Content type: Ask E Source | Document ID: SMB-AskES-6a | Author: Alexandra Behringer and Sarah Weldon
Direct Installation Programs for Small Businesses
March 30, 2009
Can you provide information on direct-installation programs utilities are offering for small businesses? We are interested in installed measures, eligibility requirements, and payback periods, if available.
Content type: Ask E Source | Document ID: SMB-AskES-5a | Author: Alexandra Behringer
Small Business Efficiency Program Incentives
March 20, 2009
We are designing an incentive program that will promote energy efficiency to small businesses. What technologies are typically included? Specifically, we would like to include a broad range of low- and no-cost upgrades because small businesses are typically capital-constrained.
Content type: Ask E Source | Document ID: SMB-AskES-5b | Author: Alexandra Behringer and Kim Knox
Assigned Accounts for the SMB Customer Segment
February 15, 2009
How do utilities “manage” small and midsize business customers? How many of these customers can one account manager effectively handle?
Content type: Ask E Source | Document ID: SMB-AskES-8 | Author: Leland Keller
Keep Your Business Customers Close—but Your Trade Allies Closer
February 15, 2009
If you’re not working with trade allies, what are you waiting for? We take a look at various ways that utilities can build or strengthen existing relationships with trade allies.
Content type: Research Brief | Document ID: SMB-RB-2 | Author: Kim Knox
Federal Incentives for Energy Efficiency and Renewable-Energy Systems
February 1, 2009
Are there any tax incentives in the U.S. Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008 (EIEA 2008) that are relevant to small and midsize businesses wanting to make capital investments in energy efficiency or renewable-energy systems?
Content type: Ask E Source | Document ID: SMB-AskES-4a | Author: Yuki Iida
Federal Incentives for Green Transportation
February 1, 2009
Are there any vehicle-related incentives provided by the U.S. Energy Improvement and Efficiency Act of 2008 (EIEA 2008) that are relevant to small and midsize businesses?
Content type: Ask E Source | Document ID: SMB-AskES-4b | Author: Yuki Iida
Big Energy Savings from Small and Midsize Business Customers
Insights from Two Efficiency Program Managers
January 15, 2009
Marketing energy-efficiency programs to small and midsize business owners and managers can be challenging—they have diverse needs, are often capital-constrained, and are extremely busy running their businesses. So what are the best ways to reach out to these customers?
Content type: Focus Report | Document ID: SMB-F-19 | Author: Kim Knox
Viral Marketing
Creatively Promoting Load-Management Programs to Your Business Customers
January 15, 2009
Creative marketing channels can empower people to inform others about your business’s load-management program. By tapping into the existing social networks of business operators, you can give your marketing efforts a life of their own.
Content type: Research Brief | Document ID: SMB-RB-1 | Author: Chad Garrett
Small Commercial Dry Cleaners
December 30, 2008
Dry cleaners work long hours for slim profits. This sector can be highly receptive to energy-efficient strategies that increase the bottom line—but only if the strategies are free, cost very little, or pay back quickly.
Content type: Sector Snapshot | Document ID: SMB-S-10 | Author: Kelsie Bell
Turning Prospects into Participants
Effectively Marketing Load Management to Small and Midsize Businesses
December 15, 2008
Effective marketing is the most successful way of boosting business participation in load-management programs. Targeting messages to different sectors can reinforce that similar businesses are succeeding and allow you to address their unique business needs.
Content type: Focus Report | Document ID: SMB-F-22 | Author: Chad Garrett
SMB Newsletter Delivery Channels
December 1, 2008
How do utilities electronically deliver their newsletters to business customers? Are most newsletters available in PDF format on the utility web site, or are some companies using e-mail to channel the newsletters?
Content type: Ask E Source | Document ID: SMB-AskES-7b | Author: Florence Connally
Leadership in Gas Efficiency Programs
Results from an E Source Roundtable Discussion
December 1, 2008
Rising energy prices and increasing utility bills, coupled with the financial, environmental, and reputational costs of building new utility infrastructure or acquiring new supplies of gas or electricity, are shining a bright light on the significance of energy efficiency and conservation.
Content type: Focus Report | Document ID: SMB-F-18 | Author: Gregg Eisenberg
SMB Communications Performance
December 1, 2008
Which utilities do the best job of communicating with their small and midsize business (SMB) customers and what are their common best practices?
Content type: Ask E Source | Document ID: SMB-AskES-7a | Author: John Egan
Segment-Specific SMB Newsletters
December 1, 2008
To what extent are utilities providing sector-specific information to their small to midsize business (SMB) customers such as retailers or hotels? Or do utilities tend to send the same newsletter to all of their SMB customers?
Content type: Ask E Source | Document ID: SMB-AskES-7c | Author: John Egan
Small and Midsize Retail
September 10, 2008
Small and midsize businesses are important drivers of the U.S. economy. Because savings on energy go directly to their bottom lines, these retailers are receptive to energy-efficiency strategies—but only if the strategies are free, cost very little, or pay back quickly.
Content type: Sector Snapshot | Document ID: SMB-S-8 | Author: Maureen McIntyre
Energy Myth-Busting for Small Businesses
Results from an E Source Roundtable Discussion
September 1, 2008
By dispelling some common energy myths, utilities can help their small and midsize business customers save money and use energy more wisely. This report sets the record straight about 10 of the most prevalent energy myths that we have encountered year after year.
Content type: Focus Report | Document ID: SMB-F-15 | Author: Gregg Eisenberg
Using Target Profiles to Craft Marketing Messages to Small Business Customers
September 1, 2008
We’ve segmented our customers and developed personas to help us focus on specific audiences, but we’re still feeling challenged when it comes to what messages to use. How do we craft a marketing message that resonates with our small business customers?
Content type: Ask E Source | Document ID: SMB-AskES-2a | Author: Matthew Joyce
Customer Expectations for Utility Community Involvement
September 1, 2008
What kind of community-relations activities do small and midsize business customers expect from their utility, and how do those activities add to or detract from their overall opinion of the utility?
Content type: Ask E Source | Document ID: SMB-AskES-2b | Author: John Egan
Small Businesses Go Retro
Achieving Greater Penetration for Lighting Retrofit Programs
September 1, 2008
The marketing effectiveness of lighting retrofit programs for small and midsize businesses can be improved by targeting the right businesses through multiple channels and with messages that appeal to those business segments.
Content type: Service Report | Document ID: SMB-29 | Author: Chad Garrett
Local Government Partnerships and DSM: Extending the Community
Results from an E Source Roundtable Discussion
August 1, 2008
Government agencies have a dual role in utility energy-efficiency programs: as customers, and as utility channel partners. As owners of public buildings, local government organizations are good candidates for inclusion in efficiency programs, and signing them on can lead to significant savings.
Content type: Focus Report | Document ID: SMB-F-14 | Author: Kelsie Bell
Progressive Segmentation of SMB Customers: A Systems Approach
June 1, 2008
Utility marketing, program, and research managers are under ever-increasing pressure to more effectively devise and market programs, products, and services that meet the needs of these customers while also satisfying utility regulators.
Content type: Focus Report | Document ID: SMB-F-13 | Author: Richard Wight, Christy McCulla, and Alexandra Behringer
What's Cooking in Restaurant Efficiency Programs?
Results from an E Source Roundtable Discussion
June 1, 2008
With food and energy prices rising far faster than the ability of restaurants to raise prices, utilities face a choice: Help restaurant customers use energy more efficiently, or watch a rising number of them become former customers as they close their doors and auction off their fixtures.
Content type: Focus Report | Document ID: SMB-F-16 | Author: Gregg Eisenberg
Effective Small Business Lighting Programs
May 1, 2008
We are planning to launch a lighting audit program for small businesses soon. How can we drive the uptake of small business lighting audits and increase the conversion rate once they have received an audit?
Content type: Ask E Source | Document ID: SMB-AskES-3a | Author: Alexandra Behringer
Lighting Programs for Leased Spaces
May 1, 2008
The problem with leased space is that although tenants pay for their electricity use, they do not have a long-term stake in the building; and owners don't pay the electric bills. Are there any creative programs to encourage the installation of energy-efficient lighting in this situation?
Content type: Ask E Source | Document ID: SMB-AskES-3b | Author: Alexandra Behringer
Improving Demand-Response and Energy-Efficiency Program Participation
March 1, 2008
Why do utilities’ small business customers participate in certain demand-response and energy-efficiency programs but not others?
Content type: Ask E Source | Document ID: SMB-AskES-1 | Author: Kelsie Bell
Utility Partnerships with Business Associations
January 1, 2008
In addition to increasing promotional opportunities, such partnerships can benefit utilities by enhancing brand recognition and improving customer relationships. Business associations can achieve improved customer satisfaction and additional income.
Content type: Focus Report | Document ID: SMB-F-12 | Author: Christie Rewey
Imaginary Friends
What Personas Say About Your Business Customers
November 1, 2007
Developing personas to represent small businesses can improve marketing efforts and help the utility serve these hard-to-reach customers. This report outlines the motivations for utilities to develop personas and describes strategies for implementing them.
Content type: Focus Report | Document ID: SMB-F-11 | Author: Chad Garrett and John Egan
Best Utility Web Sites for SMBs
June 1, 2007
In 2004 E Source looked at over 100 utility web sites and found that a mere 20 percent had content devoted to small or small and midsize businesses (SMBs). Since then, the number of SMB utility web sites has grown dramatically. This year we found 89 utility web sites in the U.S. and Canada with ...
Content type: Focus Report | Document ID: SMB-F-10 | Author: Tertia Speiser
The Rapidly Changing Photovoltaic Landscape
What You Need to Know to Effectively Serve Your SMB Customers
April 24, 2007
Headlines about global warming and energy security abound. After decades of a kind of—forgive the pun—overexposure, the political and regulatory climate for solar power in the U.S. is more conducive to market growth than ever before. On-site photovoltaic (PV) projects are now genuinely ...
Content type: Service Report | Document ID: SMB-28 | Author: Barry Friedman, Sue Wallace
ABCs and kWh's
Educating Future Customers Through K-12 Outreach
April 19, 2007
Many energy providers are using innovative methods for reaching the education sector. Within the K–12 segment, there are numerous opportunities to creatively and cost-effectively engage teachers, students, and parents—and through them, the broader community as well. In this report, we ...
Content type: Core Report, Service Report | Document ID: MS-2 | Author: Kelsie Bell, Gwen Farnsworth
Preaching to the Choir: Working with Faith-Based Organizations
March 23, 2007
Utilities have a unique opportunity to help faith-based organizations in their energy conservation mission and to reach customers far beyond the walls of prayer. A growing number of faith-based groups of all denominations is taking environmental concerns, and energy efficiency in particular, to new ...
Content type: Focus Report | Document ID: SMB-F-9 | Author: Tertia Speiser
Improving the Experience of Your Small and Midsize Business Customers
December 1, 2006
Your small and midsize business (SMB) customers have a distinct experience with your utility, whether you realize it or not. That experience includes objective functional components as well as subjective emotional components. The emerging field of customer experience management (CEM) asserts that companies ...
Content type: Focus Report, Research | Document ID: SMB-F-8 | Author: John Egan, Josh Haney
Congregational Buildings
December 1, 2006
Congregational facilities constitute a very diverse building population that presents numerous opportunities for energy-efficiency improvements. Although congregations don't often have funds available for capital-intensive efficiency improvements, these facilities present many low- and no-cost opportunities ...
Content type: Sector Snapshot | Document ID: SMB-S-7 | Author: Dan Greenberg
Soft Skills Training for Difficult Business Calls
November 1, 2006
Utilities are paying greater attention to small and midsize businesses by providing expanded products and programs and more-tailored customer service. Regardless of how they take business customer calls, customer service representatives (CSRs) have to be mindful of the particularities of this group: ...
Content type: Best Practice, Focus Report, Research | Document ID: SMB-F-7 | Author: Tertia Speiser
Serving the Squeakiest Wheels: Managing Communications with Property Management Firms
August 1, 2006
Several energy providers have recognized that property managers as a class have unique customer service needs and that adjusting communication strategies to better meet the needs of property managers can both improve customer satisfaction and reduce the burden that this customer class typically places ...
Content type: Focus Report, Research | Document ID: SMB-F-6 | Author: Gwen Farnsworth
Small Offices/Home Offices (SOHOs)
March 1, 2006
The E Source Market Sector Snapshots library is a collection of tightly focused profiles that provide an overview of the energy uses and key business issues of strategic industrial and commercial sectors. Small firms, including those based in the home, are the most numerous of all businesses. ...
Content type: Sector Snapshot | Document ID: SMB-S-6 | Author: E Source Staff
Understanding Property Managers
January 1, 2006
Acting as both channel and customer, property managers provide access to and communicate on behalf of numerous commercial and residential sites. They contact utilities to register new tenants, to notify when tenants move, and to ensure that tenants are managing their energy accounts correctly. Providing ...
Content type: Service Report | Document ID: SMB-27 | Author: Tia Hensler
Cultivating Satisfaction Among Small and Midsize Businesses
September 1, 2005
Within the last year, the need to increase satisfaction scores in the small and midsize business (SMB) sector has become an increasingly important driver in how energy companies approach this market. Although some existing market research quantifies how satisfied SMB customers are with their utilities, ...
Content type: Research, Service Report | Document ID: SMB-26 | Author: Leland Keller
Recreational Facilities
July 1, 2005
For recreational facilities, energy costs are just one of many concerns, including maintenance, financing, safety, and comfort. Utilities can help by recommending appropriate equipment and incentives, as well as by providing assistance in designing new facilities and renovating existing ones.
Content type: Sector Snapshot | Document ID: SMB-S-5
How Do You Solve a Problem Like Property Managers? Serving a Unique Customer Segment
May 1, 2005
Managers of multifamily properties are an undisputably difficult and resource-intensive segment for utilities to serve. By necessity, they contact their utilities much more frequently than other customer types, and it is nearly impossible to keep track of ongoing property ownership, name, and management ...
Content type: Focus Report, Research | Document ID: SMB-F-5 | Author: Tertia Speiser
