WordSouth

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Who Are You?

Have you ever looked at yourself in a mirror and asked, “Who are you?” Well, that might be a sign of a midlife crisis — unless you were talking about your utility. “Who are we as an electric distributor or telecommunications provider?” is quite a healthy question to ask yourself as a leader of the company. And you will get the most benefit from this self-reflection exercise if you remember that it doesn’t matter who you think you are, but rather who your customers think you are. Consider these points:

You Are Your Office 
You spend a huge chunk of your life at the office. You’ve seen the place so much that you could probably walk in blindfolded and find your way to your desk with ease. But a greater challenge is looking at your office with fresh eyes — the eyes of your customers. What do they see when they drive into the parking lot? Are they met with a clean, well-maintained building that says “We are a professional company here to serve you,” with signage that makes it easy to understand where they should go to conduct business with you?

What about the inside? Is your branding prominent in the customer service area? Is your lobby comfortable and inviting? Is it obvious to visitors what they should do in order to have their needs met? Does your office look fresh and modern, or more like the set from a 1970’s TV show? Your office plays a big role in the impression your customers have of you.

You Are Your CSRs
From colors and scents to furnishings and décor, there are many ways your office can support a positive customer experience. But the best space in the world will fall short if the employees inhabiting that space are cold and unfriendly.

Just like updating a physical space, your customer service reps need to be refreshed occasionally through training. It’s easy enough to keep them up-to-date on the services you offer. Beyond that, they need to have a general understanding of what is taking place in the company so they can intelligently discuss such issues if a customer has questions.

These are the basics, however. There is something else that’s even more important than job skills: people skills. The way your CSRs treat customers has a huge impact on how people feel about your company. Are they warm? Friendly? Courteous? Do they make customers feel welcome? Do they look for opportunities to help customers with their accounts? These are often the only personalities your customers deal with from your company. Think about the implications of that reality.

You Are Your Linemen/Servicemen
Everything above regarding CSRs can be applied to linemen and other outside workers. These employees may not have as much interaction with customers, but when they do it needs to be positive. They need to have a basic knowledge of what is happening in the company, and be able to answer simple questions about customer service in general. Most of all, they need the same training in people skills as your CSRs. After all, they are the face of your company, too.

Note: This is especially important for the installer/repairman at the telecommunications company who goes inside the homes and businesses of your customers.

You Are Your Trucks
Yes, it may seem like a small thing, but your service trucks and other equipment have an impact on your customers’ perception of you. Do they all have the same logos (the most current one) on their sides? Are they kept relatively clean? Are they in good repair? An old bucket truck rolling down the road covered in dried mud with a faded logo from 20 years ago sends a strong message — and the wrong message — to your customers.

You Are Your Monthly Bill
Regardless of how often a customer reaches out to your company, you reach out to them every single month. The monthly bill is your opportunity to create a positive experience for them. Yes, you are sending them a bill that they have to pay, but it doesn’t have to be a negative interaction. Is your bill accurate? Is it easy to read? Does it anticipate and answer any questions they might ask? Do you take the opportunity to pass along additional information about your utility, to keep them informed of the good things you are doing for the area? Put in the extra effort to make your bill benefit your customers.

You Are Your Service Outage Updates
You pride yourself on system reliability, and rightfully so. But that incredibly high up time makes little difference to the customer who is sitting in the dark or waiting for their internet connection to start working again. They want to know two things: “What is wrong?” and “When will you fix it?” And because we live in a day of instant communication, they expect that information now.

Fortunately, social media provides a powerful tool for delivering excellent customer service during outages. It takes little effort to post occasional updates on Facebook. Was it storm-related? What areas are impacted? Follow up with occasional posts of “We’re down to 300 meters out on the west side of town” or “internet service has been restored to this or that neighborhood,” and you’ll have some happy customers who otherwise would be left in the dark.

You Are Your Communications Program
Do your customers understand the benefits of all the programs you offer? Do they know how to increase the energy efficiency of their homes, or to choose the right internet speed? Do they know about the many ways you support the community beyond providing service? Are they aware of payment options and other programs that would make it easier for them to do business with you?

They don’t know if you aren’t telling them.

Communications is not something you do once a year and check off your list. The flow of information between you and your customers has a tremendous impact on their opinion and perception of you. Are you investing in a strategic program (time, personnel and money) to build and maintain connections with your customers? It will pay huge dividends long-term.

So Who Are You?
Use this list to conduct a “Who am I?” audit. Commission a customer satisfaction survey. Create some benchmarks. And start making those changes that will help your company look in the mirror and say “Who am I? I am the best provider our customers could ever ask for.”

SEO Helps You Fight Scammers By Pushing Your Website To The Top Of Search Results

Someone is always looking to scam your customers. Scammers have attacked hundreds of utility customers across the U.S. in recent years. Some even make your company’s name and number show up on caller ID. They say they’re representatives of your electric utility or telecommunications company, that bills are late, your service is about to be disconnected and more.

Utilities, and their customers, have wised up to this plan of attack. Communications, the local media and word of mouth have helped people protect their money. However, that isn’t the only scam we hear about.

Lately, I’ve been getting phone calls about utility customers going online to pay their bill and being victim of websites that offer a “paying service.” These websites often look just like your site and are obviously worded in a way that can confuse people to thinking they’re making a payment on your site.

What complicates things further is that these sites do actually send a payment to your utility — after taking out their cut. They cost your customers money, they take days to process (which can result in late fees), and they take customers off your site.

So what can your utility do?

These predatory websites get traffic because they’re the first link on Google search when people type in your company name and something like “pay my bill.” You have the ability to outrank these websites by improving your website’s own rank through something called search engine optimization (SEO).

Here are three quick ways you can help your site rise to the top of the search rankings:

1. Publish Relevant Content
We’re passionate about content, and so are search engines like Google. There is no substitute for consistent, quality content that is relevant to your customers. Yes, that means your website needs new posts — and often. You’re goal is to increase your relevance and authority. That increases traffic, which improves your ranking.

2. Metadata
Metadata is a part of each page on your website that helps the browser know what is being displayed. It also helps search engines like Google know what your pages are about. There’s title, description and keyword metadata — and they’re all important. Describing them in detail is beyond the scope of this article, but talk with your web developer to make sure you are utilizing these important features of your site.

3. Responsiveness
How does your site look on a tablet or smartphone? After April of 2015, investing in a responsive website has another benefit beyond an improved user experience. To better serve the millions who use its search engine, Google has started penalizing websites that are not mobile responsive. If your website does not offer a mobile experience, Google will now place other websites above yours in search results. With predatory third-party payment sites becoming more popular, this could be harmful for your customers.

Want to know if your site passes Google’s test? Head to www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly and test your site. If your website fails the test, speak with your web developer.

Your website is a 24/7 branch office and your most valuable employee. It never calls in sick, never takes a vacation and is always ready to serve your customers. Be sure you’re investing the time and effort to get the most out of this valuable asset for your utility.

Tell Stories About People To Promote Your Products And Services

People love reading stories about other people. With the right understanding and approach, you can use this fact to help promote the services offered by your company.

Every day, your electric utility or telecommunications company is making a powerful impact on the communities you serve. One of the best ways to communicate that fact is by telling the stories of real people who benefit from the services you provide.

Whether it be in your newsletter, on your website or through your social media channels, the power of storytelling can help you relate important messages about your company and increase the power of your brand.

Where do you begin? Perhaps you can think of plenty of individuals and businesses who use your services to improve their lives, but you aren’t sure how to capture an interview with them. The following list will help you present those stories in a way that engages your readers and relates the important truth that your company is changing lives for the better.

 

Listen
First and foremost, train yourself to be a good listener. Never go into an interview thinking you know the whole story (even when you probably do). Be prepared with good questions, but always be open to letting the interviewee take you somewhere you didn’t expect to go.
Tip: Use a digital recorder to capture the interview so you can concentrate on the conversation and not extensive note-taking.

 

Be Interested
Train yourself to be genuinely interested in people. When you find people and what they do fascinating, your subjects will sense it and open up to you. It will make your writing flow easier. And your readers will become more immersed in what you present to them. Remember, you’re not just passing along facts; you’re educating, informing and engaging your customers and prospects.
Tip: Do some research on your subject prior to the interview. Learning something about who they are and what they do will help you relate to one another.

 

Tell The Story
And finally, be a storyteller. The storyteller is not the story. The storyteller is not the audience. The storyteller is the conduit through which a well-told story flows. While you don’t have to follow the ubiquitous writing advice of “write drunk and edit sober,” you should adopt the spirit of that quote — write with great passion, but come back to your work with a critical eye and rewrite where necessary to make it better. If you see a paragraph where it’s all about you, kill it. Too many writers create pieces that scream, “Look at me, I am a writer, look what I’ve written!” Good writers get out of the way and let the story be the star.
Tip: Ask a co-worker or a friend to read your story before you publish it. Beyond looking for typos or grammatical errors, ask them to review the piece as a whole. Did the story flow well? Did it make sense? Was it well-structured? Was it focused on the subject and not the writer?

 

When you write about people, your customers and prospects will be drawn into the stories — and through those stories they will become better acquainted with your company and how your services can enrich their lives.

Say Hello To South Alabama Electric Cooperative

WordSouth is pleased to welcome South Alabama Electric Cooperative (SAEC) to the WordSouth family. SAEC is a distribution cooperative headquartered in Troy, Alabama.

The cooperative purchases wholesale power from PowerSouth Energy Cooperative, powering some 16,200 homes and business in portions of Bullock, Butler, Coffee, Crenshaw, Dale, Pike and Montgomery counties.

Beyond electricity, SAEC offers its members a number of services, including Energy Resource and Conservation (ERC) Loans, a prepay option, levelized billing, bank draft payment plan and more.

“South Alabama Electric is a progressive cooperative serving a growing area,” says WordSouth CEO Stephen V. Smith. “We’re excited about helping them tell their story through the pages of Alabama Living and beyond.”

Please help us welcome SAEC to the WordSouth family:
Local Editor: Andy Kimbro, andyk@southaec.com

PBS Cites Rural Broadband Void

In the days when the three networks were all we had to watch on our 19-inch TV, there was a fourth space on the knob that opened up new worlds for me (and no doubt for millions of other kids). Public television did more than reinforce what I was learning in school; it used engaging methods to teach language, math, history and civics. This approach not only exposed, it taught.

Raise your hand if you’re like me and cannot recite the Preamble of the U.S. Constitution without singing this song.

I recently ran across the video below that promotes the value of PBS. I found it interesting that they reference the lack of broadband access in rural America, and position PBS as standing in the gap, to a degree, by providing educational programming. While television is no substitute for the nearly unlimited resources accessible over the internet, I have no doubt PBS continues to play an important role in educating America’s children — just like it did for me a few decades ago.

BEK Communications And Acira Join The Regional Telco Magazine

WordSouth is pleased to welcome two new participants to its Regional Telco Magazine. BEK Communications in North Dakota and Acira in Minnesota committed to join the magazine project earlier this year, and WordSouth was proud to deliver their first issue in July.

This also marked the collaborative magazine’s entry into the North Central Region, as identified by NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association.

Both Acira, which includes Farmers Mutual and Federated Telephone cooperatives, and BEK are known as innovative leaders in the rural telecommunications industry.

“BEK and Acira are ideal partners for us to begin the northern version of the Regional Telco Magazine,” says WordSouth CEO Stephen V. Smith. “We’re excited to work with telcos who recognize the importance of communications, and we look forward to helping them tell their story.”

Please help us welcome BEK and Acira to the WordSouth family:
BEK
Local editor: Darwin Fettig,  darwinf@bektel.coop
CEO: Derrick Bulawa, derrickb@bektel.coop

Acira
Local editor: Shelley Evink, Shelley.Evink@aciracoop.net
CEO: Kevin Beyer, Kevin.Beyer@aciracoop.net

Communications: It’s what your customers expect

No one enjoys being left in the dark — literally or figuratively. Service outages may be inconvenient, for example, but a lack of communication about that outage can frustrate more customers than the darkness itself. And the same holds true for everything from new billing options and construction policy updates to news about your company and the industry as a whole. Your customers expect you to communicate with them.

In order to accomplish this, an electric utility or telecommunications company must approach communications the same way it does building out plant. It must commit resources — staff and money — to developing a strategic work plan and being proactive in carrying out those plans.

This can be a challenge for some service providers. To begin with, there has traditionally been little perceived value — and therefore little budget — assigned to communicating. Getting beyond this mentality and finding internal buy-in can be the largest and most challenging hurdle.

Once a utility commits to ramping up its communications efforts, more questions are raised. “What do my customers want to know?” “What do I need them to know?” “With so many ways of communicating with people today, how do I reach them with these messages?”

Here are three principles to consider when looking to launch or expand a communications program:

  1. Start where you are. Building an efficient communications program takes time. Assess where you are, set some reasonable goals and be patient as you work toward those goals. Some utilities have entire communications departments with multiple employees, while others rely on a customer service representative or other staff member to juggle communications along with their many other responsibilities. It doesn’t matter where you start, as long as you do.
  2. Engage with your audience where they are. We live in the age of fractured media. No longer can you rely on two or three sources to spread your message completely, because your customers are no longer tied strictly to those sources. Traditional media such as newspaper, radio and television are still relevant, of course, but your customers are also staying connected through a variety of social media channels, mobile technology and sharing apps. You need a plan to be there, too.
  3. Tell your story. Once there, what will you communicate? In short, everything. Your communications program should encompass elements such as the programs/services you offer, how to do business with you (signing up for new service, making payments, reporting an outage, etc.), regulatory issues impacting rates and reliability, system upgrades and more.

With so much activity taking place in the electric and telecommunications industries, the need to communicate may never have been greater. This is especially true in our information-based society where your customers expect you to keep them out of the dark.

Celebrate Good Times … And Get Your Customers Involved With Your Story

The beginning of the year is a great time to flip through the calendar looking for reasons to celebrate. Once you identify a few opportunities, make plans to welcome your customers to the party.

There are many accomplishments you can highlight as part of your communications program. Perhaps you’ve reached a safety milestone or set a new reliability standard. Maybe you’re rolling out a new service, or deploying electric or telecommunications service to a new business or residential development.

Years of service is a particularly strong milestone to celebrate — especially if your utility has been serving your area for a round number of years, such as 65 or 70. You can build a multi-faceted communications program around this celebration.

Here are some some ideas on how you can succeed in focusing on special occasions:

  1. Tell your real story. Why are you celebrating? Longevity is not enough. Years of service is just a fact, a number, a statistic. When you tell the story about your milestone of service, talk about what you have accomplished during those years — how you’ve powered people’s lives, supported small businesses, recruited jobs, electrified classrooms, connected people with internet and phone, and been a vital part of helping the community thrive over the decades.
  2. Focus on your customers. You have built a reliable distribution system or telecommunications network. You’ve played a leading role in economic development. Maybe you’ve ventured into other services or partnerships. When you talk about these accomplishments in the context of “look what we’ve done,” the eyes of your audience glaze over quickly. Center your communications program around the impact these accomplishments have had on your customers, and readers will engage with your content.
  3. Have fun. Everyone is looking for a party, right? (I know, you have a few customers who wouldn’t be happy if you gave them free service for life — but aside from them, people generally enjoy having fun.) Look for ways to take your milestone celebration beyond the expected. Your customers are more likely to engage with your message if you have some fun with it.
  4. Go the distance. It’s easy to run a “celebrating 70 years” ad in the local newspaper, or place a message on the bottom of your bill. But with a little effort and planning, you can make the celebration last all year long. You don’t have to hold a major event every month to keep the momentum going. In fact, you can incorporate the celebration into activities that are already on your calendar, such as customer appreciation events, Earth Day activities and school demonstrations. Make sure all your advertising mentions the milestone. Ask the city to issue a proclamation. Hold contests through your bill and across your social media channels.

Get the most out of your celebration opportunities by applying these principles to your communications plan. Your customers will enjoy it, and the positive energy you’ll generate will be too valuable to measure. Now go plan your party!