Clark County REMC turns to donuts for Key Accounts

Almost a year and a half ago, Hoosier Energy member cooperative staff began taking Certified Key Account Executive (CKAE) courses.

 

As the number of cooperative staff certified began to grow – now numbering 21 across 13 of Hoosier Energy’s 18 members – the most daunting question for many was how to get started.

 

For Clark County REMC’s Jessica Kaufer and Derek Coombs, the answer turned out to be a very simple one – donuts.

 

“We submitted an engagement plan and a business plan which passed, so we became certified,” Kaufer recalled. “Then I remember this one distinct day last January where Derek and I were like, ‘We need to do something,’ but we didn’t know where to start.”

 

So they set a goal for the next month – take donuts to at least three places and have at least one sit down lunch with key accounts.

 

There was a little more to it – they created an information packet that included their business cards, cell phone numbers and details on lighting rebates. All of those were designed to help get the conversation rolling, but nothing worked better than donuts.

 

These were no ordinary donuts, mind you. These were gourmet donuts from a variety of local businesses.

 

With Clark County REMC stickers on the box, the lucky key accounts have been raving about their breakfast treats.

 

“The donuts have been a huge hit,” Kaufer said. “They’re like, ‘How many pounds of sugar do they put in these?’”

 

For one company that was recently purchased, donuts opened up the door for the next visit to feature the discussion of capital credits and more.

 

“Food helps calm people down and gives them an opportunity to meet you,” Kaufer said. “We have found donuts are an easy way in, and that’s how we’ve been able to build our relationships.”

 

Relationships are the lifeblood of any business, and cooperatives are no exception.

 

“The focus is on the relationship side, not the technical side,” said Hoosier Energy Manager of Member Solutions Blake Kleaving. “Once you get your foot in the door, the key accounts will tell you what they need.”

 

That was certainly the case for Clark County REMC.

 

“They’re calling us now that we’ve started building those relationships,” Kaufer said. “There definitely is a need for us, but they needed to know who we were.”

 

Those calls can generally be boiled down to a few recurring items.

 

“I’d say most of them are about lighting rebates,” Coombs said. “Some of them are service upgrades or new service additions, then we also talk about energy audits and load modifying resources (LMR). Those are the four main categories.”

 

The work is anything but done for Kaufer and Coombs. They each have a list of 30 key accounts and have reached almost 50% of those so far.

 

An Excel spreadsheet helps them keep track of those contacts with notes on specific items or needs to talk about on future visits. But the relationships are still the glue that holds it all together.

 

“At one company, the guy has two kids and one plays soccer, so we remember that for follow-up conversations,” Kaufer said. “Another guy, his son has played baseball his whole life, so when we have Louisville Bats tickets in the summer, we know to offer them to him. Or when a maintenance guy for one company comes to town, he doesn’t have much to do but likes baseball so we told him to let us know when he’s here and we’ll get him Bats tickets.”

 

The Clark County duo also finds each company they have met with on LinkedIn and begins to follow them. That has allowed them to find out things they might not otherwise know about, such as the sale of a business to new owners or facility expansion.

 

They also post on LinkedIn themselves, highlighting the opportunity to take a rebate check to a school or business.

 

It has been a natural extension of the Business Retention and Expansion aspect of key account management emphasized in their training in conjunction with economic development.

 

“Doing social media posting shows they are active with commercial and industrial (C&I) accounts,” Kleaving said. “A lot of times we think about a cooperative dealing with residential member consumers, but businesses are also served.”

 

As a matter of fact, nationwide it is estimated that just over 40% of electric cooperative revenue comes from C&I accounts, which might range from schools to churches to hospitals to manufacturing plants, retail chains and farms.

 

For key account managers, the challenge is to make a connection with all those places and help them make the most of being part of the cooperative community.

 

In the case of Clark County REMC, the answer came in a box.

 

“Donuts were a simple thing to get us rolling,” Coombs said.

 

Hoosier Energy Certified Cooperative Key Account Executives

John Gates, JCREMC

Evan Marshall, Orange County REMC

Jordy Smith, South Central Indiana REMC

Hayley Berg, Henry County REMC

Chelsi Jackson, Henry County REMC

Britt Miller, UDWI

Johnathan Sutton, UDWI

Andrew Sommer, Southern Indiana Power

Derek Coombs, Clark County REMC

Jessica Kaufer, Clark County REMC

Nick Geswein, Harrison REMC

Janet Labrie, RushShelby Energy

David Toll, RushShelby Energy

Melody Lynch, Whitewater Valley REMC

Derrick Mullins, Whitewater Valley REMC

Erica Worland, Daviess-Martin County REMC

Colton Carden, Bartholomew County REMC

Mike Murphy, Bartholomew County REMC

Ian Kindler, Southeastern Indiana REMC

B.J. Myers, Southeastern Indiana REMC

Bryan Miller, Southeastern Indiana REMC