CATEGORY 18: B2B marketer of the year
SPONSORED BY
WINNER: John Williams, corporate
marketing manager, British Gas Business
ohn Williams’determination to
J
strengthen and differentiate the
British Gas Business brand has had a
significant impact in the last 12 months.“His
desire to innovate,both in terms of building a
superior customer experience and in finding
new ways to communicate these
improvements has been instrumental to our
success in the corporate energy marketplace,”
says Simon Stenning,head of marketing at
British Gas Business.
Williams has done some remarkable things
for British Gas Business.The consumer British
Gas brand is literally a household name.John
had to work with an unavoidable preconception
in the minds of prospects and customers,while
building a true business brand equipped to face
the challenges of selling energy to businesses.
He and his team embarked on a programme
of innovative direct marketing,hard-hitting
advertising and online communications.He also
worked towards improving customer experience.
customer to choose which they used.The efficiency such as information booklets and
Name and gain named account managers were also on hand if posters,which could be located around the
Research showed that a major annoyance they needed advice. office to remind staff of the benefit of turning
among customers was the lack of a single point off lights when not needed.
Launching smart metering
of contact.All too often,energy companies
Smart metering was not just a new kind of meter Customer retention
communicate with the customer through
which could be read remotely,it also represented Williams’focus on creating personalised
shifting bands of account teams where new
a crucial competitive edge.Estimated bills had customer service is best demonstrated by a
faces crop up every week,or faceless call
previously been a source of concern to the target small campaign conducted at Christmas.A
centres.Williams and his team were determined
audience because they made it difficult to plan total of 270 corporate customers were
to make customer communications and account
procurement,identify trends or spot unusual identified either for their value or because they
management a strength of British Gas
usage patterns.Invoices were frequently disputed might defect to a competitor.They were then
Business and a reason for customers staying.
and cash flow affected. sent a CD containing Christmas music,each
The principle was straightforward:each
Remote meter reading meant that estimates track of which was chosen by one of the British
customer was allocated a single,named account
were no longer necessary.To make the point Gas Business team.
manager who would be responsible for knowing
that with smart metering,customers had no “Volatile energy markets made 2006 a
about their business and could offer advice and
need to guess,Williams recreated the old challenging year for energy providers,but John
support on their particular situation.To stress
favourite ‘guess the number of beans in the jar.’ saw it as an opportunity,”says Lucy Darch,
the benefits to the customer product brochures,
It got a 55 per cent response rate.And the head of corporate sales & retention for British
tender folders and customer information packs
sweeties were appreciated too. Gas Business.“While others focused on price,
were redesigned and redrafted.They were then
Corporate customers are also under his team has been behind a number of
sent out with a business card showing the
increasing pressure to reduce carbon developments to underline the service
smiling face of the individual responsible.
emissions and energy usage.As an energy difference of the British Gas Business.”
The paper chase provider,British Gas Business can help them That British Gas Business has achieved
Customers also found it difficult to achieve their environmental objectives. record profits of £87 million is not a
communicate customer service information ‘Save the office worker’turned the usual coincidence,nor can its financial performance
and were often confused as to what information eco-messages on their heads,positioning be put down purely to higher energy prices.
they needed to provide.William’s team worked employees as the threatened breed,and the Driven by the efforts of Williams and his team,
to simplify the process.Unnecessary forms working environment as the endangered British Gas Business has differentiated its
were discarded,others consolidated.Those that habitat.It strengthened the relationship brand and given customers the incentive they
remained were first redesigned to make them between British Gas Business and its need to stay loyal.Customer retention is
clearer,then made available online,on CD- customers,while providing materials that excellent at British Gas Business and a lot of
ROM and in paper format,allowing the helped them raise the profile of energy the credit should go to John Williams.
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For more information on the winners, go to www.b2bm.biz/awards
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