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Using Adversity to Build Consumer SatisfactionHow Co-ops Overcame Recession, Rising Rates,
and Churn to Achieve High ACSI Scores
National Web ConferenceOctober 28, 2010
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Tim SullivanDirector of Commercial and Industrial
Business Development
Touchstone Energy Cooperatives
Today’s Moderator
• Hear from the CEO of Wright Hennepin Electric, the highest scoring ACSI co-op in 2009
• Hear from two senior staff members from CoServ Electric about how they improved their ACSI scores amid tremendously challenging circumstances
• Learn about brand programs and tools to help you raise your game
• Take your questions
Agenda
Mark VogtCEO
Wright Hennepin Cooperative
Electric Association
Speaker
October 28, 2010
Improving the ACSI ScoreA case study from
Wright-Hennepin Cooperative Electric Association
About WHAbout WH
• One of 40 co-ops in Minnesota– One of 4 “metro ring”
co-ops surrounding Twin Cities
• 40,000+ members
• Residential customers = 60%
• A mixture of suburban and rural members intermixed with IOU service territory
What gets What gets measured,measured,gets done!gets done!
ACSI ResultsACSI Results
81818181
8585858586868686
84848484
8888888889898989 89898989
91919191 9191919190909090
2005200520052005 2006200620062006 2007200720072007 2008200820082008 'April'April'April'April
09090909
'June'June'June'June
09090909
'Sept.'Sept.'Sept.'Sept.
09090909
'Dec.'Dec.'Dec.'Dec.
09090909
AprilAprilAprilApril JuneJuneJuneJune
Findings Findings that have that have improved improved our scoreour score
WH Member ExpectationsWH Member Expectations• The consistent message
from ACSI surveys:
COMPETITIVENESSCOMPETITIVENESSCOMPETITIVENESSCOMPETITIVENESSCOMPETITIVENESSCOMPETITIVENESSCOMPETITIVENESSCOMPETITIVENESS
THENTHENTHENTHENTHENTHENTHENTHEN
RELIABILITYRELIABILITYRELIABILITYRELIABILITYRELIABILITYRELIABILITYRELIABILITYRELIABILITY
• Everything else is secondary by alarge margin!
ACSI finding on ACSI finding on ““ Perceived ValuePerceived Value ””
““If prices are perceived If prices are perceived more favorably, then more favorably, then
satisfaction satisfaction will tend to improve;will tend to improve;
Dissatisfaction occurs Dissatisfaction occurs whenwhen
perceived value perceived value perceptions perceptions decline.decline.””
Average Bill vs. “Competitive Rate” Score
7
7.5
8
8.5
9
9.5
10
Q1 2009 Q2 2009 Q3 2009 Q4 2009 Q1 2010 Q2 2010
AverageRate
SatisfactionScore
75
80
85
90
95
100
105
110
115
120
125
AverageMonthlyBill
Average Bill
Rate Score
Average Bill vs. “Competitive Rate” Score
7
7.5
8
8.5
9
9.5
10
Q1 2009 Q2 2009 Q3 2009 Q4 2009 Q1 2010 Q2 2010
AverageRate
SatisfactionScore
75
80
85
90
95
100
105
110
115
120
125
AverageMonthlyBill
Average Bill
Rate Score
When bills go up,
scores go down
Average Bill vs. “Competitive Rate” Score
7
7.5
8
8.5
9
9.5
10
Q1 2009 Q2 2009 Q3 2009 Q4 2009 Q1 2010 Q2 2010
AverageRate
SatisfactionScore
75
80
85
90
95
100
105
110
115
120
125
AverageMonthlyBill
Average Bill
Rate Score
When bills go down, scores go
up
Average price of residential electricity in 2009
Competitive electric rates
September 2010September 2010
Response time YTD (August)
1:21:401:24:35
1:17:11
1:08:47
1:00:46
1:12:18
1:01:30
0:42:06
0:00:00
0:14:24
0:28:48
0:43:12
0:57:36
1:12:00
1:26:24
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
What gets What gets measured,measured,gets done!gets done!
Key measures that drive WH’s ACSI Score
• “WH’s rates shall be within 1% of Xcel Energy”• “Average outage time will be 10% better than the
previous 5 year average”• “Our diversified businesses shall triple margins
to $ 3 million by 2011 to help offset the electric rate.”
• “WH shall be within the top 10% of Touchstone Energy scores”
• “Off Peak sales shall increase by 10% (over previous year’s all time high)”
Specific Actions/AccomplishmentsSpecific Actions/Accomplishmentsresulting from WHresulting from WH ’’s ACSI Focuss ACSI Focus
• Renegotiated power contract• System wide automated meter reading
• Home security, electric contractor and commercial on site generator business
• Bonus program payable up to 5% of total payroll
• Early retirement program• Focus on customer touch points
Designing Programs and Services
Based on What Customers Want
• Some examples:– Electric bill– MyMeter– Outage
communications
Specific Actions/Results Specific Actions/Results from WHfrom WH ’’s ACSI Focuss ACSI Focus
• Renegotiated power contract• System wide automated meter reading• Home security, electric contractor and
commercial on site generator business• Bonus program payable up to 5% of total payroll• Early retirement program• Focus on customer touch points• Frequent communications• Fun along the way
CelebrateCelebrate
ACSI ResultsACSI Results
81818181
8585858586868686
84848484
8888888889898989 89898989
91919191 9191919190909090
2005200520052005 2006200620062006 2007200720072007 2008200820082008 'April'April'April'April
09090909
'June'June'June'June
09090909
'Sept.'Sept.'Sept.'Sept.
09090909
'Dec.'Dec.'Dec.'Dec.
09090909
AprilAprilAprilApril JuneJuneJuneJune
How Wright-Hennepin Rankswith Other Service Industries
90
79
74 7572
66 66
83
73
50
54
58
62
66
70
74
78
82
86
90
94
Wri
ght-
Hen
nepi
n
All
Ele
ctri
cC
oope
rati
ves
All
Ele
ctri
cU
tilit
ies
Fix
ed L
ine
Tel
ecom
Wir
eles
sT
elec
om
Air
lines
Subs
crip
tion
TV
Exp
ress
Del
iver
y
Hos
pita
ls
Speakers
Bruce BoutilierDirector of Customer Operations
CoServ Electric
Kat GloriaManager of Marketing and Communications
CoServ Electric
Using Adversity to Build Consumer Satisfaction
Who is CoServ? • Serves 155,000 meters/130,000+ members • Own a natural gas utility serving 69,000
customers• Majority of our demographic: Age 35-54• Average home value $199,166.66*
• Average income $ 77,374 *
• 95 percent have Internet access• 92 percent Residential• 8 percent C&I
* Average for cities of Denton, Frisco and McKinney Texas
Historic Growth
ACSI Historical Scores
Rising TSE Scores
Importance of Training
• Five weeks in the classroom
• Two weeks of on-the-floor mentoring
• Three weeks on the bridge
Understand Why They Call
• Call Types – Evaluate why they are calling
� What policies might be holding back member satisfaction?
Know Your Call Types – Tracking Volume
Decreasing Hold Time
• Stats and Verbatims - What did we learn?� Didn’t feel one pay location was convenient
� Structured a deal with Fidelity Express
TSE Member Survey
• Members didn’t feel we created value as a co-op. In response, we:
� Contributed more money to agencies
� Mandatory message – energy saving tips/Web site
� Rebate Programs� HVAC
� Energy Audits� Solar Energy
� Waived deposits if signed up for auto bank draft
� Recognized Web site improvement needed
Created Member Value
CSR QA is Critical
• Review errors
• Service observe� To ensure that we are confirming every call, easy to
work with, and do what we said we would
TSE Survey - QA Committee
• Review verbatims to identify areas to improve
• Embrace criticism as opportunity
• Use as training tool with CSRs and other employees
• Contact members when appropriate
TSE Scores – Call Center Driven
TSE Scores – Call Center Driven
Results Count
• Outperformed the last six years
• Meter count continues to grow
Build satisfaction using coserv.com
and TOGETHERWESAVE
October 2009
Previous Visits: 635,500
Previous Visits: 635,500
CoServ.com Visits
An increase of 111,993
2009-2010 Online Account Growth
0
4,000
8,000
12,000
16,000
20,000
24,000
28,000
32,000
36,000
40,000
44,000
48,000
52,000
56,000
60,000
64,000
68,000
1 st Q tr 2 nd Q tr 3 rd Q tr 4 th Q tr 1 st Q tr -1 0 2 nd Q tr -1 0
E -Bill only E -B ill and paper bill O nline Use r Subsc r iptions
TOGETHERWESAVE
Energy Audits
Energy Audit Comparison
Energy Management Brochure
Energy Management Event Signage
Think Green Rebate Program
Think Green Rebate Stats
Residential Rebate Dust Cover
CFL Program
HVAC Tune-up Rebate
Temperature Chart Stats
Weather SmartStats
Weather SmartStats Metrics
Apogee Phase Out Dec/Jan
TOGETHERWESAVE
Co-op Connections Card Rollout
Co-op Connections Card
Connections Card QA
Visits to Connections Card
Co-op Connections Card
Frisco RoughRiders
Texas Co-op Power
Brand Tools to Help You Improve Your ACSI Score
Brand Resources
• The only uniform measure of customer satisfaction for the U.S. economy
• Established in 1994 at the University of Michigan• Measures 225 companies in 45 industries across 10 sectors
– companies measured account for about two-thirds of the U.S. GDP
• A quarterly measure of the national economy’s health.• Touchstone Energy has been a partner since 2002 • Results from surveys published in various media and on the
ACSI website at www.theacsi.org• Built on the premise: “The health of an organization is
best reflected by the satisfaction of its customers.”
ACSI Background
• “The American Customer Satisfaction Index, the definitive benchmark of how buyers feel about what business is selling them . . . . .”
• - New York Times, August 8, 2004
ACSI in the Media
“The American Customer Satisfaction Index, the definitive benchmark of how buyers feel about what business is selling them . . . . .”
- New York Times, August 8, 2004
• Touchstone Energy national score has been a 79 for three straight quarters
• In Q2, Sempra was number one in the industry with an 81• Good news: TSE Cooperatives still score third in the utility
sector and still have a “Cooperative Advantage”• Not so good news: our “Advantage” has shrunk to four
points, half of what it was a year ago• Overall, we’re seeing a compression of scores among
utilities. Gas and gas and electric utilities have moved up• Key reason for our 79: lower scores for “Quality” and
“Value”
Touchstone Energy and the ACSI
70
75
80
85
2008
Q1
2008
Q2
2008
Q3
2008
Q4
2009
Q1
2009
Q2
2009
Q3
2009
Q4
2010
Q1
2010
Q2
Industry Average Touchstone Energy
AC
SI
Energy Utilities Industry Average and Touchstone Energy CooperativesTouchstone Energy vs. IOU Average
Perceived Value Lags
Num
ber
of C
oope
rativ
es
Touchstone Energy Cooperatives -Distribution of ACSI Scores, Q3 2010
YTD
Descriptives :
N = 354High = 94Low = 66Mean = 82.44St. Dev. = 4.31
• Common questions: – How do I move an ACSI score from 75 to 81, or from 81
to an 89?– How do I improve reliability in a way that pays off in
member satisfaction? • Key brand resources:
– ACSI resources– Best Practices Knowledgebase– Brand Performance newsletter– Cooperative Difference Research– Balanced Performance Scorecard
How do we improve?
Sample ACSI ads
– Library of best-in-class approaches employed by cooperatives
– Arranged by topic area– Features 48 case studies (5-7 pages),
links, and resources– All objectively measured; statistically
reliable results– Don’t guess: Learn from peers who have
achieved success
Best Practices Knowledgebase
85
• Quarterly newsletter about the ACSI, Best Practices, and performance improvement
• Mailed to cooperative CEOs and brand leaders• Content: strategic performance issues. Offers tools,
ideas, links and resources for improvement• Mailing dates: September, December, March, June• Specific features: ACSI updates, best practice case
studies, Cooperative Difference research findings, columns from brand leaders
Brand Performance Newsletter
TSE ServicesYour Touchstone Energy® Partner
TSE ServicesYour Touchstone Energy® Partner
Cooperative Difference Research
4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0 8.0
EE displays in local co-op office
An energy audit of your home
Energy efficiency workshop
Hearing about EE at annual meeting
Expo with energy efficiency experts
Co-op hosting a booth at local
hardware
On-line access to historical energy use
Monthly report of energy use versus
similar homes in your area
How intested are you in your cooperative offering…?
• Tool to measure strategic performance in a co-op’s big four, mission-critical areas: member satisfaction, safety, reliability, cost
• Available on the Touchstone Energy Interest Area of Cooperative.com
• 14,000 web hits in the first eight months. Single biggest user is CEOs
• Key value for you: benchmarks ACSI scores over three years, also by region, size and density
• Puts member satisfaction into a strategic context for CEOs, senior staff, Boards.
Balanced Performance Scorecard
Benchmark Data
• Building Your Performance Scorecard
• Phase II Development now underway• Being reviewed and vetted by a CEO panel• Will expand website functionality to:
– Provide systems with on-line access to their own scores
– Allow selection and reporting by customized peer groups
– Allow reporting by trend and performance targets with graphics
– Provide additional performance criteria for customized scorecards
Balanced Performance Scorecard
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Links Box
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