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StoryConnect features interviews with marketers, communicators, CEOs and other leaders at cooperative and independent broadband companies, electric cooperatives and municipal power providers. The goal of the podcast is to help listeners discover ideas to shape their stories and connect with their customers. It is produced by Pioneer Utility Resources.
Intro:
A production of Pioneer Utility Resources.
StoryConnect, helping communicators discover ideas to shape their
stories and connect with their customers.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
All right. Today, we're going to talk about the eternal question,
right?
How do you know what people think about you?
That's what we're going to talk about on this episode of The
StoryConnect Podcast.
Hi, I'm your host, Megan McKoy-Noe, one of the storytellers at
Pioneer Utility Resources.
And I am joined by Kelly Burns, the marketing manager at
Consolidated Telephone Company in Minnesota.
Kelly, thank you so much for joining us today.
Kelly Burns:
Yes, thanks for having me.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
No, it's exciting. We are recording live at Calix ConneXions
Conference.
It's in Las Vegas with just a few thousand of our closest
broadband service provider friends.
Any background noise that you might hear, it's here to set the
mood, I think, for storytelling, right?
Kelly Burns:
For sure. Yep.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Yes, yes.
So we're excited that you're here because you are part of the
conference, right?
You are one of the speakers, and you spoke this morning on the
Net Promoter Score, and the reason why the voice of the
customer is so important.
Could you share a little bit about what you shared in your
session today?
Kelly Burns:
Yeah, absolutely.
So we really talked about, you know, what is a Net Promoter
Score, and how do you administer a Net Promoter Score?
And basically what it is, it's a survey that you send out to your
membership.
It can be, you know, just 1 or 2 questions.
How would you rate our service?
Would you recommend us to somebody else?
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Okay.
Kelly Burns:
And basically it's a scale from 1 to 10.
And with Calix's help, they take that data, and then they
transpose it into a number for us.
And for CTC, that number is a 72.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Oh, so if we were getting graded, what is the general grade for
the industry, just for folks to know?
Kelly Burns:
So in telecommunications, traditionally I would say it's
oftentimes a negative number.
It can go all the way to -100, and then on the positive side it
can go up to 100.
So typically we see either you know that negative number all the
way up to about 1 to 10.
So it's –.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Okay.
Kelly Burns:
Yeah, so well above the industry average.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
I should say 1 to 10 out of 100.
Kelly Burns:
Yes.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
So y'all are rating pretty well.
Customers think fairly highly of you.
And it sounds like this isn't a huge questionnaire that folks
fill out.
It's simple. It's how many total questions?
Kelly Burns:
It's two questions.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Two.
Kelly Burns:
Typically two.
You can also do, you know, up to five.
We say no more than five questions because it gets to be too
much, and people don't want to fill it out.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Yeah. You don't want to put any onus on them to do something to
help you out.
Right?
Kelly Burns:
Exactly.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
When do you reach out to folks with this?
Is it after every interaction that you have with them, or do you
do just a sampling across the board?
Kelly Burns:
So a traditional Net Promoter Score is a relational survey.
So it should primarily be sent out maybe once or twice a year
just to gauge your membership and really get an overall feel for
your brand. And this isn't just for telecommunications.
I mean, it's for any industry can actually administer an NPS.
But yeah, so we started this year just doing it once, and then
we wanted to get a benchmark.
So we just ran another survey which is about six months later.
And now, I think we'll continue to do it once a year and build
some company goals upon this.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
I like that. So you're benchmarking how you are, and then how you
all grow as you move forward.
So what were some of the things that you were sharing in this
session?
Because we've covered kind of and given everyone a good
foundation of what NPS is, right?
But why does it matter, and how can you use that information to
fuel your marketing tactics and your overall story?
Kelly Burns:
Yeah. So for us, the conversation started because we were doing
just some transactional surveys.
So after every install or after every service trouble that went
out, we would have a survey just to get a feel for how did we
do you know? Is your service better?
Did you like your service?
Those kind of things.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Sure.
Kelly Burns:
So we really wanted to take a deeper dive into what our
customers are feeling about us.
And the unique thing for us is when we first administered the
survey, it was on the heels of a rate increase.
So we were really apprehensive about what our customers were
going to say when they just had their rates on their internet
service go up.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
So basically, hi, we're going to raise your rates.
How do you feel about us?
Kelly Burns:
Exactly.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Oh, do you love us so much?
How did they feel?
Kelly Burns:
You know, I think for the most part, they were really
understanding.
And, you know, they said, "Well, we've been your customer for a
long time.
We love your service. We really love your staff and the people
who help us.
And so while it's a bummer that we have a rate increase, we're
not going anywhere.
And we love CTC." So –.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Oh, that's nice.
Kelly Burns:
So it was very favorable.
And yeah, it was pretty eye opening actually.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Is there a way for folks to – is it like an open-ended question
as part of the survey where you get some of those
feel good vibes?
Kelly Burns:
Yes. So the first question is just a rating scale from 1 to 10.
And then we add a second question.
"Would you recommend us?
Why or why not?
And is there anything else we can do to improve?"
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Okay.
Kelly Burns:
So that's where a lot of those comments came from.
And we actually took it a step further.
So anyone who rated us a 9 or 10, we took those people, and we
reached out to them
again. And then we actually said, "Hey, thanks so much for the
good vibes.
Would you be willing to leave us a Google review?"
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Oh, I like this approach, Kelly.
This is very smart.
Kelly Burns:
Yeah. So our board of directors were concerned because our Google
rating was a 3.4.
And after we –
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Out of 5, not 100.
Kelly Burns:
Out of five. Yes.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Just to be clear for everyone tuning in.
Kelly Burns:
Exactly. And after resoliciting those promoters within five days,
we had 58 new
responses, and our rating jumped from a 3.4 to a 4.5, which is
amazing.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
I feel like that deserves a round of applause right there.
We'll ask our podcast engineer to add that in.
Well, that's huge, and I love that because you're not just
surveying and finding out what folks think about you, which is
good. But then you're saying, you know what?
These folks really love us.
How else can they help us?
Exactly. So yeah, and it's a simple ask.
And they don't have to.
Kelly Burns:
It was so easy.
And yeah, I mean, that was just huge engagement and just a short
amount of time.
It didn't require them to do a lot of effort.
So it was really powerful for us.
Another thing that we're doing is, so we took all the responses,
and we were able to map them out.
So where were those customers on our service map?
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Right.
Kelly Burns:
We noticed that there was a trend with anyone who had had our
services for three, five or many more years in that,
they think we're in this honeymoon phase of, you know, we're
used to each other.
We've had your services for a long time.
We're just complacent. And so, not that they gave us a bad
rating, but they weren't as favorable as maybe the new customers
or the new build areas that we have.
So one thing that we did to help to try to get that sentiment up
is we strategically
held some taste of technology events in those service areas.
And so –.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Taste of Technology event?
Yes, that sounds delicious.
Kelly Burns:
It was great. Yes, we would have a big meal for everybody.
And then they could come and ask questions, and they were able
to, you know, get a learning component.
So we would teach them how to use the Calix apps and things like
that.
And they loved it.
I mean, each one that we had, they were increasing in attendance
and yeah, people were engaged.
And so I'm curious to see now that we just ran the second round,
you know, if those engagement scores or those sentiment scores in
those areas that were a little bit lower are up.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Yeah. And it also could be that those folks that have been with
you a while just haven't had a lot of touch points lately.
Kelly Burns:
Right.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
So I love the idea of targeting the areas where you need to
invest a little more time, a little more love, to get those good
vibes going again.
So yeah, let us know how that goes.
I'm going to keep my fingers crossed.
Kelly Burns:
Yeah, and it's a good reminder that we have to keep reaching out
to them just because they're customers or long term customers.
We still have to, you know, engage with them on a regular basis.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Yeah. Well, as we say here, you have to keep telling your story.
Kelly Burns:
Yep.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
You know, again and again, it's not enough that they're just a
subscriber, but you need to make them feel like part of the
family. So how many people did you have come to your Taste of
Technology events?
Kelly Burns:
We did four of them over the summer, and I think each one had
minimum 100 people.
I think the last one was about 140.
And we also –.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
That's a lot.
Kelly Burns:
So we also added the incentive to that one where they could win
meat packages.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
I'm sorry. I'm going to need you to say that again.
Kelly Burns:
It's a total Minnesota thing.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
No, no actually Missouri as well.
I've heard of meat packaging before for members, but I love
that.
So for folks who are not aware of this phenomenon in the co-op
world, could you explain meat packages for me?
Kelly Burns:
Yeah. So basically we just had, you know, we went to the local
meat shop, and we said, "Okay, here's our budget.
Can you put some packs of meat together?" And so basically we
were giving out rib eyes and hamburger and whatever else.
They just had to show up and enter into the drawing to win.
And yeah, they loved it.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
I will tell you, if you're looking for future ideas for a
meat-focused story opportunity, if you have Future Farmers of
America in your community, I know that some co-ops will buy the
prize winning cows.
Kelly Burns:
Oh, nice.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Right? And so they're supporting the kids.
The board members go out and will buy those cows from the kids,
and then they package them up.
There's a co-op in Missouri that does this.
Kelly Burns:
That's amazing.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
They package the meat. They freeze it, and then they give it away
at their annual meeting.
Kelly Burns:
Oh that's cool. And you mentioned the annual meeting, and part of
our annual meeting.
So after Covid, everything went digital, and we found that while
our annual meeting is great being virtual, why
not have these smaller events in each of these communities as a
way to bring people together, since we're not doing the annual
meetings.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Right. Okay, I like that. Are there any other smaller events like
this that you all do at CTC?
Kelly Burns:
We do.
You know, when we're constructing a fiber network, oftentimes we
will do some meet and greets in the community or just do some
pop-up events.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
With meat?
Kelly Burns:
Those ones don't usually have the meat.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Oh, but imagine if we had meat and greets.
I see a future Kelly.
I'm very excited about the possibilities here.
Kelly Burns:
Meat and Greet. Totally.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
All right, so you have moments where you're making those
one-on-one connections in the community.
And so with your NPS score, knowing how folks feel about you,
now having some targeted places for
engagement to help improve your scores, is there anything else
that y'all are doing with that data to help strengthen your story
in the community?
Kelly Burns:
Yes. So with the NPS data, we're basing our company goals off of
this data.
So not only do we have those comments and the feedback, but now
we also have a basis for our marketing
campaigns. So in the future, you know we can look at, well we
found that subscribers who have a
higher service tier are generally happier.
So taking that data and those people who have, you know, those
lower speed tiers, maybe we can reach out to them to say,
hey, you know, you're having a bad experience.
What can we do to help you?
So that's just one thing. But then, you know, setting this
baseline of, you know, how do we keep our customers happy year
after year? And so it's really going to be a driving force for
the whole cooperative.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Well, and I know it's so good to have those open-ended questions
in a survey and to have all those stories
from your subscribers.
Kelly Burns:
Yes.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
How do you keep track of those specifically because it's so
hard.
It's not a number that you can just show on a screen.
So how do you go through all of those text comments that you
receive?
Kelly Burns:
Oh, there's so many. So a lot of them we're going to cycle
through our website.
We've picked out a few of them that, whether they relate to
business or residential specifically, we'll insert those into a
campaign to say –
Megan McKoy-Noe:
All right, so you're using them in your campaign?
Kelly Burns:
Yes. Yep.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
That's nice. Do you attribute them to the person, or are they
anonymous?
Kelly Burns:
They're anonymous typically, unless we get their permission.
But yeah, typically they are anonymous.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Do you have a favorite?
Kelly Burns:
Oh gosh. There's so many good ones.
I think all of the ones that point out just how we enrich their
lives and have made technology
better, those are what makes me happy.
Actually, you know, it's funny you mentioned that.
We had one come in today.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Oh, this is exciting.
Kelly Burns:
Randomly. Yes. It just came in like an hour ago.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Hot off the presses folks.
Kelly Burns:
And he just got installed with fiber, and his comment was very
favorable.
Yeah. So he said our technician put a smile on his face, and he
watched the construction throughout the summer.
And so he was so excited when it was finally his turn to get
installed.
And he just he ranted and raved and just could not could not
thank our team enough for their support and for bringing the
technology to him. It's those comments that really just make
everything that we're doing just feel like you know the
right thing.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
It makes it worthwhile.
Kelly Burns:
Absolutely.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
It's a lot of work what y'all are doing.
So I love that you're getting that.
Are you sharing those kinds of comments with your staff as well?
Kelly Burns:
Yes. That one I will for sure.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Yeah. Be selective with which ones you share.
Kelly Burns:
Well, we try to put it out there.
I mean everyone can look at them whenever.
But yeah, specifically when we have our board meetings or our
company meetings, we like to pull a few of those up there just
because I don't think people get told enough how what they're
doing makes an impact.
And that they're doing a great job.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Well, and especially in a purpose driven industry like ours, it
makes a big impact to know how people feel about you
and that, you know, they kind of love you.
Kelly Burns:
Yeah, exactly.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
I love that. Well, Kelly, thank you so much for sharing your
story with utility pioneers.
She's Kelly Burns, marketing manager at Consolidated Telephone
Company, and I'm your host, Megan McKoy-Noe at Pioneer Utility
Resources. And until we talk again, keep telling your story.
Outro:
StoryConnect is produced by Pioneer Utility Resources, a
communications cooperative that is built to share your story.
StoryConnect is engineered by Lucas Smith of Lucky Sound Studio.