Continuing on the theme “Moments that Matter”…
In previous posts I highlighted how focusing on retention, you’ll realize a lift in sales in the long-term; i.e. scalable & sustainable growth.
I’d like to highlight how you can create a Moment that Matters during the sales process; which will in-turn strengthen your retention.
I will use a specific example to help illustrate…
Every person who has a utility service (energy, water, cable, phone, internet, etc…) goes through a credit check prior to service being turned on. If a person’s score is below that company’s bar, the customer owes a deposit before service is provided.
Millions of people fall below this threshold, about 30% in the US. This is a painful experience and they have no choice depending on the service (prepaid is not available in all sectors/markets).
The misconception is that this particular segment doesn’t want to pay their bills or will leave a company with bad debt. It is a small percentage that don’t want to pay their bills and try to game the system. Everyone else wants to pay and pay on time, they just can’t.
These people are struggling to make ends meet and they make strategic decisions on which bills to pay on time and which ones to hold off. Yes, I said strategic because they are managing their cash flow on a daily basis.
Creating a Moment that Matters in Sales…
The nature of a utility is that everyone has to have it out of necessity. Depending on the utility type and market, people may have choices or may not; regardless, every utility should create a Moment that Matters.
What if utilities had a way to help alleviate this painful experience at the point of signup? I’m not talking about having the deposit broken down into smaller payments (everyone is doing that).
The deposit provides ZERO value to the customer. It is an insurance premium for the utility to cover any risk with the customer. Why not have this dollar amount go towards something beneficial to the customer?
Not to go deep into possible solutions, but what if they offered an alternative to paying the full deposit or even better yet, a way for those customers to contribute to the building of their credit score?
You now have a new offering to people that has a tremendous value to them. They feel good about signing up with you and feel that they are being taken care.
The end result, is that those customers will have a stronger affinity towards your brand because of this unique experience.
Most importantly, every utility states they want to make a difference in their customers’ lives…taking a creative approach for the customers that are struggling financially lives up to that promise!
