Excellent Customer Service Starts With Listening, Marketers Say

When a customer calls with a complaint or posts one online, the first things to do are accept that the complaint is legitimate, understand it from the customer’s viewpoint, and address it immediately. That’s one of the customer service practices shared with BPN by three propane marketers who in recent years have been selected as finalists for awards presented by their local Better Business Bureau (BBB). Each of these marketers is also a BBB-accredited business and has an A+ BBB rating.

We asked representatives of these three propane marketers what their companies do to provide exceptional customer service. We asked what it is about their customer service that has earned them these ratings and honors, how they make sure the company and all employees remain service-oriented, and how they monitor the results on a continuing basis to ensure that customers remain satisfied.

“To a customer, their complaints are legitimate, so we treat them as such,” said Amanda Bacon, director of sales and marketing at Palmer Gas & Oil (PGO; Atkinson, N.H.). PGO was one of three finalists in the large business category for the 2016 and 2017 Torch Award for Marketplace Ethics presented by the BBB of New Hampshire. “Whenever a customer has a concern, regardless of the review site, whether it be the BBB, Google, Yelp, or Facebook, etc., the best approach is timeliness and transparency.”

Fuel Services Inc. (South Hadley, Mass.) responds to complaints that way, too. Fuel Services was a finalist in the 2016 Western Massachusetts Awards for Marketplace Excellence presented by the Better Business Bureau of Central New England.

“I have always made it a point that if a customer calls, any complaint is legitimate,” said Stephan Chase, president and CEO of Fuel Services. “The first thing our customer service representative must do is understand what the customer is upset about. Did something change? Did we make a mistake? How can we resolve the complaint?”

Collett Propane (Xenia, Ohio), too, works to understand the customer’s complaint and reach a resolution. The company was a finalist for the Eclipse Integrity Awards presented by the BBB of Dayton and Miami Valley in 2015 and 2016.

“I have always felt that you have to have the attitude that, to the customer, their complaint is legitimate, and we have to treat it that way,” said Tyler McCormick, branch manager/safety coordinator at Collett Propane. “We respect what they have to say, we try to fully understand what their issue is, and we take the time to come up with a resolution. Sometimes they have a different idea of what the resolution should be, but in my mind if we have reached out to them, understood their complaint, and tried to come up with a resolution, at least we have tried. It’s all about taking that time to speak with the customer.”

Collett Propane’s continual communication with customers, its willingness to give employees time to volunteer in the community, and its A+ BBB rating were among the qualities that earned it a spot as a finalist for its local BBB’s awards. Collett Propane delivers propane throughout Southwestern Ohio.

“One contributor to our being named a finalist for the BBB award was the different ways we communicate with our customers,” said McCormick of Collett Propane. “We send out a newsletter to keep in touch with our customers and we do email blasts to tell them about specials and safety tips. We always encourage customers to contact us if there is anything we can do better.”

“Another contributor was, a lot of our employees invest time in service projects outside the business,” he added. “We encourage them to do things like coaching and church activities and we work with them as best we can to allow them time to do those things. If what they do has a good effect on the area we service, that’s good for us too.”

Fuel Services sets itself apart from competitors with transparent pricing and policies, a full-service offering, and a family feel. Fuel Services offers propane services, fueloil delivery, kerosene delivery, and HVAC and plumbing services to more than 30 towns in the Greater Springfield, Mass. area.

“One thing that makes us different from other fuel service companies is we have one posted price for all customers,” said Chase of Fuel Services. “We do have a large users discount. We take pride in treating customers the way they want to be treated. We try to explain our policies clearly and educate the customer. We don’t lock customers in. There are companies that lock customers into a five-year contract; we don’t do that. We also offer full installations; we are a full-service company.”

“This is a family business,” Chase added. “We have 48 employees and many of them are family members. I have two golden retrievers that go into work with me every day. There are customers who bring in treats for them. When my golden retriever Cookie passed last year, I received condolence cards from customers. Our customers feel like family.”

Palmer Gas & Oil, like the other two companies interviewed for this article, is family-owned and -operated. It provides propane and fueloil service and delivery in Southern New Hampshire and Northern Massachusetts.

“One of the things that we do differently within the propane industry is look at what truly makes us different,” said Bacon of Palmer Gas & Oil. “Most propane companies, like us, offer 24/7 service and delivery, HVAC service and installation, and online amenities. We made a conscious decision to look beyond that, so we can provide our customers with an experience they would not have with another propane company.”

“As a local family-owned and -operated business for more than 85 years, we have a responsibility to the community,” she added. “Our community starts with our employees, then moves out to the towns where we provide service and delivery.”

One way to build and maintain a service-oriented operation that provides this level of customer care is to provide positive reinforcement, Bacon said. Palmer Gas & Oil hosts quarterly company meetings with all employees and weekly or bimonthly meetings with all departments. They collect feedback from customers and praise employees for jobs well done.

“In order for our employees to provide exceptional customer service, we need to treat our employees exceptionally,” Bacon said. “This means creating a work environment that is transparent and fun. I think people underestimate the value of how beneficial a fun working environment can be, on so many levels. Maintaining a culture of positivity is always an ongoing process that needs to start from the top and be demonstrated by our leadership team.”

“We do training with our teams on a regular basis, including role playing—so our employees continuously have a sense of the expectation of our exceptional customer service,” she added.

Chase of Fuel Services, too, emphasized the importance of training: “We include everyone in our training programs — customer service representatives, drivers, techs, and even vice presidents and managers.”

McCormick of Collett Propane said one key to making sure things are done right is to lead by example. His mother owns the company, he and two of his brothers work there, and a fourth brother will be joining the company soon. They and the company’s most experienced employees make it a point to share their knowledge with employees who are newer to the industry.

“We have weekly staff meetings,” McCormick said. “Each brother is in a different location. We encourage employees to bring stuff to us. If a new situation comes up on a phone call, we want them to ask us how they should handle it. We try to hash it out.”

To make sure their customer service remains at the level they want it to be at, the three propane marketers monitor social media and review websites, checking them daily or weekly. They respond to both praise and criticism and they do it quickly. Among the review sites and social media mentioned by these propane marketers are Angie’s List, BBB, Facebook, Google, Instagram, Twitter, Yellow Pages, and Yelp. The marketers also survey customers. Two also mentioned that they record phone calls to make sure the tone is always friendly and helpful.

Fuel Services contacts customers directly to see if they are satisfied. After service calls and deliveries, they call the customer and ask if they have done what the customer wanted and if the tech or driver was clean and courteous. The company also sends surveys to customers.

“I am sometimes surprised at responses we get,” said Chase of Fuel Services. “We used to do a pre-buy program. I thought that would be best. But I heard from our customers that a price cap is better, because they don’t want to pay upfront. That’s an example of something we’ve learned from these surveys. Over the years, our customers have driven what we do.”

Collett Propane also seeks out feedback through customer surveys. To increase the amount of feedback it was getting, the company offered customers a $15 credit for responding to its most recent survey. The response rate leaped to 80%. Among the responses, 99% were positive.

“It was great to see that,” McCormick said. “Great customer service has become expected, so you don’t always hear from customers who are satisfied. This survey allowed us to hear it. We were then able to share it with our employees at our Christmas party, when they were there with their families. We were pleased to share that with them. That’s the motivating stuff that makes it easier to trek out in the snow to deliver propane in the wintertime.”

“I encourage any company to survey its customers,” he added. “It allows you to see how they think you’re doing and not just how you think you’re doing. Any negative feedback you get is something you can learn from too.”

Palmer Gas & Oil has a process for responding to online feedback. Bacon explained that when a negative review is posted, employees research the complaint. If they can contact the customer, they address them privately; if they can’t, they express an apology online and ask the customer to contact a manager directly. When the issue is resolved, they post a public message about the review and response on the site hosting the review.

“We look to respond to every review that comes to us,” Bacon said. “If it’s a great review, we thank our customer for their loyalty and kind words; if it’s a less-than-stellar review, we work with that customer to make it right.”

When asked about the most common complaints heard from customers, by their own company or by others in the industry, the three propane marketers named different ones. All added that here, too, the way to deal with a complaint is to acknowledge it and deal with it right away.

McCormick of Collett Propane said the most common complaint he hears has to do with price. He said he understands and respects that everyone wants to live cost-effectively, and it is the job of him and others in the industry to explain why prices are what they are.

“We have to educate the customer about what we do above and beyond to deliver the product safely,” he said. “I often say that we are not running water into people’s homes; we are delivering a fuel that can be dangerous if it is not handled correctly. We take the time to train our employees on delivering it correctly and handling any problems that may arise. We take pride in the fact that we adhere to all the laws and rules we need to.

“We explain this to people who complain about price and they usually understand,” McCormick added. “I can’t say we retain all of them, but at least they don’t go away thinking we have done something bad to them. They understand why we do what we do and they know that if they come back, we will still be handling the product safely. We will continue to offer A+ service.”

The nature of complaints can vary depending on the time of year and the state of the weather, said Bacon of Palmer Gas & Oil.

“A recent example that many marketers can relate to was this past winter, with the cold snaps (bomb cyclones!),” she said. “It was the perfect storm of a shortage of product, super cold weather, a rise in prices, and panicked customers that thought they would run out of fuel.

“The best thing we could do was communicate constantly with our customers,” she added. “We used our website, social media sites, and email lists to share with our customers what was going on and what we were doing to ensure they didn’t run out of fuel.”

Chase of Fuel Services said the complaints the company hears most often, about other fuel service providers, have to do with charges for picking up tanks and not being reimbursed for what was left in the tank.

“We make mistakes like everybody else,” Chase added. “The big difference is we address our mistakes. Our employees know that I do not get upset when they make a mistake; I only get upset if they try to hide it. We want to address the mistakes and make sure they do not happen again.” —Steve Relyea