Businesses in today’s marketplace want to create a top-notch customer experience, streamline their operations, and provide broader value through environmental stewardship. Utilities, as businesses’ most trusted resource for energy-efficiency advice, are poised to help these customers meet their goals through a variety of energy-related products and services. We analyzed data from the 2017 Business Customer Insights Center, an interactive online dashboard that provides information about the energy management needs and attitudes of specific business sectors.

What are best practices for marketing products and services to SMB customers?

Our survey asked about interest in utility-provided products and services (figure 1). Overall, SMB respondents expressed the most interest in:

• Rooftop solar
• Energy management consulting
• Power monitoring
• HVAC systems
• Energy management control systems

Figure 1: Small and midsize business customer interest in utility-provided products and services

Of the products and services we asked about, SMB customers reported the highest level of interest in rooftop solar. Historically, SMBs have had relatively low adoption rates for rooftop solar compared to their large commercial counterparts, but that doesn’t mean you should stop promoting this offering to SMB customers. Be sure to emphasize the potential energy savings in ways that are relevant to their businesses. For instance, when talking to property managers, talk about savings in terms of reduced maintenance requests.

We asked SMB respondents who indicated interest in rooftop solar about their energy-related goals (figure 2). The top three were:

• Energy-savings goals
• Renewable energy goals
• Environmental sustainability goals

Figure 2: Energy-related goals of small and midsize business customers who are interested in rooftop solar

What are best practices for marketing products and services to large business customers?

We also asked large business customers about their interest in utility-provided products and services (figure 3). These respondents expressed the most interest in:

• Power monitoring
• Energy management consulting
• Energy management control systems
• Preventive maintenance diagnostics
• Fault detection and diagnostics

Figure 3: Large business customer interest in utility-provided products and services

Power monitoring is the top product large business customers expressed interest in. This offering is especially important for large businesses because it helps them reduce their costs and become more energy efficient. Power monitoring also offers a fast return on investment—an imperative for large business customers.

Which business sector is the best bet for revenue-generating products and services?

We identified industrial and manufacturing as the SMB and large business sector most interested in utility-provided products and services. This sector relies heavily on facility management and engineering departments when making energy-related decisions. As such, we recommend targeting employees in these departments—in addition to business owners and company executives—to successfully launch a new product or service.

The best way to contact these stakeholders is via email. However, we also recommend posting product and service information on your website. Industrial and manufacturing customers are willing to self-serve, and so it’s important to tailor your information to them and deliver it in an easily accessible way.

What’s the bottom line?

Businesses want better control over their energy expenses and you want to boost profits, so take advantage of the trusted relationship you have with your business customers and move beyond traditional utility offerings. Use data from our Business Customer Insights Center to build a winning business case and get buy-in for a new revenue-generating product or service at your utility.