Internal operational efficiency can reduce a company’s overhead, requiring fewer staff hours and lowering expenses, just as new HVAC equipment cuts costs and fuel requirements for your customers.
Liquid fuel companies talk a lot about efficiency. Systems that run at higher efficiencies may have a higher upfront cost, but provide greater savings in the long run. They fulfill the home’s comfort needs more quickly and utilize fewer resources to achieve the same end result, which lowers operating costs.
These same benefits can be accrued to a company that takes steps to increase its internal operating efficiencies. Any upfront investment comes with long-term savings. Work is completed more quickly utilizing fewer staff-hours, which lowers the company’s overhead.
There are many ways for a company to increase its operating efficiency that do not include stocking the office refrigerator with caffeine-laced energy drinks. Not surprisingly, many of these options are web based.
Customer Self Service Portals
Our June article, “Keeping Up with the Joneses Online,” delved into the web- or cloud-based services customers of all ages demand. Online ordering and payment, vaulted payment accounts, delivery requests, and account and transaction histories: these are the baseline expectations of a customer or potential customer who visits your website or downloads your app. It has been well documented: 90 percent of customers expect to be able to manage their accounts online.
Left out of those statistics are the benefits to the company that provides the customer self-service portal. A comparison of two PriMedia web services client companies, of similar sizes and in demographically similar regions, proves the point. The business without a portal fielded 3,133 contact-us web page requests, each one requiring a customer service representative to review the request and respond by phone or email. The company with a portal received only 1,842 contact-us requests, a 41 percent difference. If we were to allocate just 5 minutes for each response, the company with the portal saved more than 107 work hours by fielding 1,291 fewer contact-us requests.
During the same time period, the company’s portal pages were visited more than 33,500 times, as its customers made payments, requested service, reviewed their last payment amount or invoice, and more.
Digital Bill Presentment
Is your company still printing out monthly statements and manually folding, inserting, and collating mailings?
A third-party bill presentment system does not simply cut down on paper cuts. These systems actively promote customers transitioning to paperless invoicing. They also process daily and monthly invoices and statements, mail printed documents as needed, and can include customer-specific marketing messages. Once the delivery or service has been logged into the company’s enterprise software, the invoices are ready for review in less than 24 hours, and distributed almost immediately after approval. This is a turn-around that very few companies can match with manual processing.
Past Due Payment Reminders
The more quickly an invoice is delivered, the more quickly the company will receive payment, if for no other reason than that the 30-day payment clock and prompt-pay discount window start earlier.
Digital processing can also assist in nudging along those customers who do not make payments within the allotted time frame, in several ways.
- Portal messages can be automatically updated to alert the user that their payment is past due.
- Emails and text messages can be sent when the arrears period reaches a certain date.
- Delivery request forms can be made inactive.
- Portal access can be restricted.
Each of these automated actions can be overridden by company management once the customer has made payment arrangements or in consideration of special circumstances. While the accounts receivable manager may still need to contact customers in arrears, that process is streamlined as well, with simple reporting applications that quickly provide all the information necessary.
Customer Service Dashboards
There will always be customers who do not want to use the online portal. Many customers may prefer to “do things the old fashioned way” and speak to someone over the phone. When your customer service representatives (CSRs) answer these calls, an integrated dashboard will make it easier for them to quickly help the customer.
The admin dashboard provides your CSR (or manager) access to the customer’s information. When Mrs. Washington cannot find something on her portal, the “Account View” feature enables your CSR – let’s call her Jessica – to view Mrs. Washington’s page, as she sees it. Jessica can tell Mrs. Washington where to find her open invoices, which buttons to click to update her mailing address, and walk her through accessing her loyalty program and redeeming points, to name just a few.
The dashboard also streamlines the workload for upper management. They can set up and send texts and emails, update fuel prices, manage price protection and budget agreements, and pull sales reports, all with a few clicks of their mouse or from any mobile device. New employees can be added and permissions set in minutes. With an inclusive dashboard, virtually all internal digital processes can be managed from the same home page.
Digital Contracts
Value-added contracts for services such as price protection, budget plans, and service plans, are among the most valuable assets a full-service heating company owns. These agreements are proven tactics to reduce customer turnover. However, volatile pricing situations, such as the industry has experienced since March 2026, can create additional risk when there are delays in the customer response. Sending a price cap or pre-buy contract out at one rate, only to see your costs spike in the 10 days it takes for the customer to sign and return it by mail, can wreak havoc on the company’s bottom line.
Digital contract management can reduce that risk. Price protection plans can be displayed online immediately, and emailed for additional review, with a much shorter window of eligibility utilizing expiration dates that protect your hedge position. Base prices for budget plans can be updated as often as needed, so that any client enrolling through the portal has a monthly estimate based on the company’s actual market price as well as any futures contracts in place. The software does all the heavy lifting with respect to mathematical calculations for market price budgets, and fixed-price, pre-buy, and capped-price contracts, and any additional fees or discounts to be incorporated.
Many enterprise software systems now allow write-back of these contracts, so the client account can be automatically updated, without requiring CSRs to manually do so. Digital contracts also reduce company overhead and print and mail costs. The company will receive regular reporting of all distributed and closed contracts, and any signed agreements can require company approval for further protection.
Lead Tracking/Sales Management
A centralized lead tracking system is the epitome of office efficiency. Sticky note reminders – or worse, lunch napkin notes! – are tossed in the trash where they belong. All the lead information is entered into the system, much as one would add a new contact into their phone. And, since an efficient tracking system needs to be accessible, sales reps should be able to access the app from their phones, while sitting with prospects.
Efficiency also comes in the form of sales reports and rep-specific reporting that management can access with a few taps. Leads no longer get dropped, because the sales rep – as well as admin and management – receives regular reminders to follow up, make a phone call, or send an email to keep the company’s offer top of mind. Many letters and contracts can be preloaded into the system and sent out as needed based on the prospect’s location in the sales funnel.
New Customer Enrollment
What could be more efficient than having the customer do their own onboarding paperwork through the company’s integrated “Become a Customer” portal?
The customer has already researched fuel retailers or service providers. They have checked out your online reviews, social media presence, and your website. They are ready to sign … but it is 9:00 p.m. and no one is in the office. Between their own careers and juggling childcare, they do not have time to call your office between 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. and spend half an hour with one of your CSRs. That is where the big “Become a Customer” button on your home page comes to the rescue.
In short, easy to complete sections, the customer can enter their home, billing, and credit information; place their first fuel order; request enrollment in budget and price protection programs and service agreements (subject to equipment inspection); and more. The entire system is automated and available 24/7. The account is literally created while your staff sleeps and uploaded to your enterprise software. The next morning, when the company opens, dispatch and delivery, bookkeeping, service, and management heads all receive “new account” alerts and next step reminders.
A tune-up here. An upgrade there. A system replacement here. Whether you are looking at heating systems or office operations, investing in efficiency pays dividends, month after month, year after year.
Richard Rutigliano is President of PriMedia, Inc., an integrated marketing and communications firm specializing in the home energy sector and offering a wide array of SaaS products (like the ones above) nationwide. He can be reached at 516-222-2041 or rrutigliano@primediany.com.
