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Population growth makes adding customers easier, but adding profitable customers at the right time takes savvy, attention to detail and expertise. NW Natural has developed a proprietary software program called Prospector to track prospects based on demographics, home size, and location. A NW Natural representative can immediately tell a potential conversion customer whether natural gas is readily available or will be available soon, helping the prospect decide if he or she is a good candidate to convert to gas. The two key considerations are the propensity of a customer to convert and the customer's potential profitability. Having this data helps NW Natural create effective incentives to attract new customers.
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| Consumer Research Analyst Jorge Moncayo crunches the numbers using the Prospector program, which helps guide the location of new mains. Jorge's work is especially valuable in analyzing the potential for conversion customers. |
One of the innovations to come out of this work is our Good Neighbor Services, a program that allows the company to add a new residential service from an existing gas line running to a home next door. Not only does the program save installation time and cost for NW Natural, but it also allows prospective customers to gain gas service for less expense. In its first partial year of operation in 2006, Good Neighbor Services connected 613 customers, saving the company more than $300,000.
More focused industry partnerships, strategic new gas main development and Good Neighbor Services
all fit into the realignment of NW Natural's sales and construction processes. By placing construction and sales together, this portion of the gas company becomes very similar in structure to the development firms with which we work. Uniting management of construction and marketing makes the process of bringing gas to new and existing homes workmore smoothly.
"It will allow for a noticeable increase in services to the builder community and a renewed commitment to strengthen our relationships with those who make our product available to their customers," said Phil Damiano, Customer Acquisition Engineer.
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