Communications Corner: Open Your Doors to Your Customers

When is the last time that you invited the public into your facilities to get a glimpse of what being in the utility business is really like? Have you ever? Holding an open house and/or facility tour is a way for you to connect with your customers and help them to have a better appreciation for all that goes into making sure they have clean water to drink, electricity to charge their numerous devices, natural gas to heat their homes, and/or cable and high-speed internet to connect to the world.
 
When planning an open house or tour, here are some things to keep in mind:
 

• Setting a date: Find a date and time that will work best for most people or piggyback off an already planned community event. People tend to have more free time in the evenings or on weekends. And if something else is already going on in the community, people will be out and about, and may swing by when they check out the other activities going on for the community event.
• Getting the word out: Plan to invite your customers using various outlets. Create a Facebook event on your utility/city page and encourage employees, family, and neighbors to share the event on their personal pages. Make a simple flyer that you can post around town, including your own office, city buildings, parks, places of worship, businesses, and other locations where people gather. Be sure to let the local media know, too. Send out a simple media release to the newspaper and radio stations.
• Planning the events/activities: With an open-house style event, people come and go. Some may be there for a few minutes; others may stay for the entire event. Have activities for both types of people. Have multiple tours that start every few minutes or when you hit a certain number of people who want a tour. Staff the event with various individuals from different areas with whom customers can chat to learn more about a particular area of the utility if they want. Have refreshments. They can be as simple as cookies and water/coffee/tea or more elaborate like a meal. Nothing fancy, think hamburgers, hot dogs, and chips.