Neither Rain Nor Snow Nor Heat Nor Gloom of Night...

When you’re in the energy business, you spend a lot of time watching the weather. In the middle of winter the weather channel is as much an obsession as ESPN is to a die-hard football fan. Give me a tropical storm forming off the coast of Africa and my heart races like a high school student before the senior prom. Balmy weather in the middle of January? Spring-like days in July? Bah, humbug! I’ll sit inside and mope, thank you very much.

But weather is supposed to provide entertainment, not inconvenience. When the power to our building in Stamford was cut off a couple years ago because hot temperatures melted the underground pipes carrying the power lines, I was annoyed. And when I heard that our Maryland Customer Call Center lost power today because of severe thunderstorms, I thought: “This is going entirely too far.”

Our call center representatives take as many as 70 calls a day each and they pride themselves on two statistics: First, the number of calls picked up within two minutes (86% last month) , and second, the number of customer issues resolved on the first call (92%). They are the unsung heroes of MXenergy, working tirelessly every day to explain our price protection plans, to answer questions about monthly bills, to resolve occasional complaints (yes, we have a few).

Our call center ambassadors are the face of MXenergy, our spokesmen, our good will ambassadors. Not only must they be computer literate and able to access customer information and input data quickly and accurately. They must also be familiar with the enrollment details of 36 different utilities throughout the country. After all, we serve customers in more states and utility territories than any other retail energy marketer in the world. Often they are called upon to make lightening quick judgments. The next phone call could come from Vancouver, British Columbia or from Athens, Georgia. A customer could be calling from a small town in the Texas panhandle or from an apartment on Third Avenue in New York City.

Not all of the calls are pleasant chit-chats. Fortunately, most customers are calling to enroll or to understand their woefully complicated energy bills. But then there are other calls: Energy prices are high and I’m having trouble paying my bills. (We’ll try to work out a payment plan.) Why are my gas bills higher if I’ve lowered my thermostat and have a fixed rate? (Probably because it’s colder outside and you’re consuming more energy.) Why is my renewal rate for electricity supply higher? (Because wholesale electricity costs have risen over 70% since last year.) Customers rarely call to tell us what a great job we’re doing in keeping energy prices low.

But through it all our reps always smile! That’s right, they smile – through the phone! Try calling them some time and you’ll be amazed. You can see them smile because they’re so doggone friendly, even when you call to complain. It’s positively disarming!

So when I learned that the thunderstorm had closed down our call center I was concerned. Not because we might lose some calls. I knew that our customers would not know the difference, because phone calls to our call center would be automatically diverted to another center in Florida. No, I was concerned about our customer reps. What would they do? How would they spend the rest of the day? How would they cope with the deafening silence? Would they suffer withdrawal symptoms like a smoker that goes cold turkey? Would they sit in the stormy darkness, watching the lightening bolts and counting the seconds to the thunderclap?

I imagined them at their stations, ear phones on, fingers poised over the keyboard, eyes fixed on their blank screens, ready to spring into action as soon as the phone lines opened up. The clocks would have stopped and everything would be in a state of suspended animation.

Or maybe they all pushed back from their desks and took a simultaneous break for the first time ever. After all, they can never all be away from their desks at the same time, since somebody is always calling. Now they could stand up, meet each other in the middle of the office (smiling of course), break out a bottle of champagne. Somebody tunes into 98Rock in Baltimore and they start to dance.

Then a couple hours later the skies brighten, the rain stops, and suddenly the hum of the computers and the purr of the telephones returns. Slowly, the life of the call center returns to normal. The calm, steady, smiling voices return. “Thank you for picking me up so quickly. My utility bills are getting out of control. Do you think you could help me budget my energy costs?” “No problem…”

Herodotus, the Athenian historian, wrote something that was translated and inscribed in the pediment of the New York Post Office: “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night can stay these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”

I hope the ancient Greeks will forgive me if I add a little coda: “And neither shall thunderstorms or tempests prevent our customers from getting through to their customer reps when they need them!”

What, Me Worry?

As a kid I was a fan of Mad Magazine. I enjoyed the antics of its smiling, freckly, gap-toothed cover boy, Alfred E. Newman. Alfred E. Newman had the perpetual look of a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar -- or should I say with his hand stuck in the cookie jar, as if he was simultaneously afraid of being caught and humored by his predicament. It was a look of bewildered puzzlement. “What, Me Worry?” was his constant refrain. “Sure my hand is stuck and I’m in pain,” he seemed to say. “But this is so absurd I have to laugh.”

As an adult I tried unsuccessfully to turn my kids onto Mad. Alfred E. Newman was still there – he hadn’t aged a week in thirty years. But cookie jars were out of fashion and if it isn’t on a screen it doesn’t count. Alfred would be shocked to find himself lost to the ages in the company of goody two-shoes like Little Lord Fauntleroy.

I was reminded of Alfred E. Newman as I stood in line filling up my gas tank recently. I had to take a picture of the result: 18 gallons cost $77.38 at $4.299/gallon.


Why, not too long ago you could have flown from New York to Fort Lauderdale on Jet Blue for $75! I looked across the island at a young man who was filling up a Honda, probably his first car. He had freckles and was smiling; there was a gap in his front teeth and … could it be? He had this look, as if to say: “What, Me Worry?” In other words: “These prices are so absurd, I’m not sure whether to laugh or to cry, so I might as well laugh.”

Practically every night these days there is a news story that the AAA reports the average price of gasoline hit a new high. Of course, if the average nationwide is $3.60 we can be sure the price in Connecticut will be $4.40; our taxes are among the highest in the country. Now, look closely at the news reporters and you will see that same expression of puzzlement. “Hey, we aren’t making this stuff up. Really: Just go out and look for yourself. It’s unbelievable…”

Let’s face it. We really are faced with a new world. For over a century since the first oil find in Titusville, PA, energy costs were relatively low in the United States compared to other parts of the world. We were blessed with local production and with competitive markets that held down the price of refined products. But over the past few decades declining domestic production, environmental restrictions on new refinery capacity, and increased demand from abroad have shifted the supply and demand balance. As more of the world enjoys the benefits of economic prosperity, we find ourselves in line with everybody else for the globe’s limited energy supplies.

As prices rise to previously inconceivable levels, we feel bewildered and puzzled. Other countries have faced these pressures for years, and have reacted with smaller cars and lower consumption. We know what needs to be done – e.g., conservation, fuel efficiency, alternative energy supplies, new nuclear power plants – but we also know that these are long term solutions. We have been lulled to sleep in a fool’s paradise of low energy prices and suddenly we are waking up to a new economic reality. The situation is so absurd that we don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Absurd or not, we do need to get serious about energy policy. Alfred E. Newman may not have grown up but the rest of us have no excuse. The adults in our nation’s capital need to wake up to the new economic reality. One would hope in a presidential election year there would be serious debate about energy policy. Instead, most of the talk is political posturing about gasoline prices. It is not Exxon’s fault that gasoline prices are high. That company is simply selling its product at the market. If they gave it away their shareholders – people like you and me – would be outraged. We can’t deny the hard working people of the developing world the opportunity to improve their lives.

But we can help introduce competition through alternative energy supplies. We can lower demand by improving the efficiency of our energy guzzling economy. We can expedite inexpensive – and safe – nuclear power plants.

“What, Me Worry?” You betchya. No more cookies for you, Alfred. Time to grow up and get to work!

A Tale of Two Neighbors

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the age of new technology, it was the age of high energy bills, it was the epoch of enlightenment, it was the epoch of political posturing, it was the spring of environmental consciousness, it was the winter of global warming.

So might begin a modern day version of Charles Dickens’ Tale of Two Cities. But today I had a delightful conversation with one of our customers in Georgia and I may need to write a different book: A Tale of Two Neighbors.

My novel – I would say “true story” but Oprah Winfrey would get upset that I am changing some of the details – begins on a pleasant suburban street where two neighbors, both customers of MXenergy, are having a conversation over the border of bright red peonies that have blossomed between their two yards.

The first customer --- Mrs. Adams, I’ll call her – shares with her neighbor – Mr. Morgan – the good news that she has just received an offer from MXenergy to “blend and extend” her fixed price contract for another year. The new rate is slightly higher than Mrs. Adams old rate but it is substantially lower than the current rates that MXenergy is offering new customers. What MXenergy has done, Mrs. Adams explains, is “blend” her old rate into the new rates and “extend” the term of the contract for another year.

Mr. Morgan is delighted at Mrs. Adams’good fortune. But at the same time he is puzzled. Mr. Morgan, you see, has also been a loyal customer of MXenergy. But he did not get this offer. In fact, when he returns home and pulls out his latest bill he finds that his price is substantially higher than Mrs. Adams’ new rate.

Mr. Morgan calls MXenergy and inquires why. Unfortunately, a new customer service representative loses his call. Understandably annoyed, but still amazingly patient, he complains to his elected officials and sends a note to MXenergy expressing his disappointment.

One day, as I am passing the water cooler – literally – I hear about Mr. Morgan and his tale of frustration. I think to myself: If the politicians in Washington can’t understand energy prices, how can I expect Mr. Morgan to figure them out? So I decided to call Mr. Morgan and talk to him.

Mrs. Morgan answered the phone and soon I am having the most pleasant conversation with both Mr. and Mrs. Morgan. First, I express gratitude for their loyalty all these years. I explained to them that MXenergy as well as Shell Energy Services, a company that merged into MXenergy in 2006, had set out in 1999 to help customers like the Morgans protect themselves from higher energy prices. We did this by offering customers a fixed rate for 1-3 years, similar to a fixed rate mortgage.

But then I had to deliver the bad news: We cannot offer them the rates we offered Mrs. Adams. You see, it appeared that when the Adams’ and the Morgans’ first enrolled with MXenergy, both families opted for fixed price protection. Their timing was excellent, as prices started to rise in 2000 and with the exception of a dip in late 2001 and early 2002 they haven’t looked back since. Both had the benefit of fixed price protection for the first couple years.

But then in 2004, when the Adams family renewed its fixed price protection plan, the Morgans decided to switch to a variable price plan. This may have worked out for the Morgans in 2006 and 2007, when energy prices dropped temporarily. But by late 2007, prices started to go up again. By late spring of 2008, natural gas prices were 89% higher than a year earlier. When we at MXenergy saw the higher prices, we decided to offer our fixed price customers – including the Adams – a chance to switch onto a longer term price that would “blend” their old rates with the current higher rates. By doing this we could offer a lower price than the market.

Unfortunately, for variable price customers like the Morgans, we had nothing to blend. We could only offer current prices which of course are much higher.

The Morgans took the news with grace and good humor. Mr. Morgan had retired some time ago but he was clearly a sophisticated businessman. He and his wife immediately grasped the risk that they had taken – and for a time had benefited from – when they opted for variable prices.

“Can we sign up for your fixed price now?” Mrs. Morgan asked.

“Of course,” I said. Fortunately we had a senior rate that I could offer which was substantially below our current rate for other new customers. I promised the Morgans a customer service representative would call them soon to confirm their decision.

I don’t think Mr. and Mrs. Morgan would necessarily quote Sidney Carton at the end of Tale of Two Cities: “It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done.” But I hope they are happy with their fixed rate plan: long term fixed price protection.

Of course, we don’t guarantee that prices will go up or that fixed prices will be necessary. But fixed prices are like insurance: better to be safe than sorry.

The End.

What the H*** is Going On with Energy Prices?

I have been doing the rubber chicken circuit recently - visiting Rotary clubs throughout Connecticut to talk about skyrocketing energy prices.

Connecticut, one of 14 states and 2 provinces where MXenergy does business, gets a double whammy. First, it’s a state where natural gas fired electric generation has seen utility prices increase by over 50% in the past year (24% since March alone.) Second, gasoline taxes are reputed to be the highest in the country, so when you hear on TV that the price per gallon is around $3.60, pity the poor souls in Connecticut where the average price is nearing $4.40.

A brief apology and to be fair, it’s not all chicken and it’s certainly not all rubber. I’ve had some great meals and I’ve eaten almost as many scrambled eggs as chicken at the breakfast clubs for insomniacs like myself.

When I speak to a Rotary club I begin with the question “Why are energy prices so high?” The answers are sophisticated. People really do have a sense of what’s going on. Here’s a recap of what I hear:
* High energy demand from the developing world (read: China and India)
* Declining production of oil and/or gas fields in Russia, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, not to mention the US and Europe
* Increasing electricity demand from all the gizmos we love (air conditioners; microwaves; computers and printers; answering machines; cell phone chargers; etc.)
* Speculative trading interest
* Greed

All of these play some role in the higher prices, although I do not believe the last two are major concerns. Prices have gone up recently despite speculators, not because of them. The “smart money” has been betting that prices will go down, which pushes prices down temporarily. Unfortunately, when many of these speculators lost money, they needed to stop their losses and their buying may have had a short term bullish impact on prices. As for greed, ask yourself whether a company like Exxon, owned by shareholders like you and me, should set the price of its commodity below prevailing market levels? If you are pricing a chair for sale at a tag sale, do you price it at where people will buy it or do you give it away?

Sometimes I need to distinguish between different forms of energy: crude oil, natural gas and electricity. Crude oil is the source of refined products like gasoline, diesel and heating oil that fuel transportation, home heating, and much industrial production. Natural gas is used for heating and more and more for electricity generation. Electricity is a manufactured product from several fuels, most notably coal, natural gas, nuclear, wind, solar and to a limited extent fuel oil.

All of these forms of energy are plagued by a delicate balance between supply and demand. If the world were awash in energy, like it is of air, it would be cheap. But shortages create upward price pressure and not only for the original form of energy like crude oil and natural gas but also for the byproducts like gasoline and electricity.

What can we do about it? Here, too, the answers are astute. Lower consumption is the most popular, but here I must caution my listeners. How many of them are prepared to toss their microwaves and computers into the landfill or dispense with their need for air conditioning and instant cell phone communication. True, we can all cut back by utilizing demand side management like setting the thermostat, more efficient hot water heaters, cars with better mileage, shorter showers, etc. But for all our efforts at efficiency, our cumulative lust for energy grows unabated.

Opening up new sources of supply is another potential approach. But aside from northern Alaska or the newly discovered fields off of Brazil, there have been no new and unexploited oil fields found for many years. And don’t hold your breath for the first rigs to pop up off of Miami Beach or Malibu. Nuclear? Youbetchya, until you consider that the first plants in 30 years have been licensed only recently and they may take 20 years to build.

Alternative energy? The best idea, perhaps, but also the longest lead time. It will be years before solar is cost-effective or wind is reliable. Recently, wind generation in Texas, the largest wind producer in the country today, was held responsible for peaks in electricity prices to $2,300 per megawatt hour, up from a normal $80 or so, because when the wind dies the grid needs to replenish supply quickly from costly peakers.

Is there anything else?

Yes, but the answer may not be what people want to hear. It may be that we have an energy crisis because prices are too cheap, not because it is too expensive. In Europe, prices are substantially higher than here in America. Costs for energy sources like gasoline and electricity are 50-100% higher than we pay. As a result, Europeans drive smaller cars and keep their electricity usage down. Their overall bills may be the same as ours, but their consumption is less.

I am not advocating higher prices. At MXenergy, we lock in prevailing market prices and offer the benefits of price protection to our customers. But I am advocating leadership. We need leadership from Washington and a serious assessment of long term energy policy, not to win votes in the next election but to address the need in our country for safe, reliable energy supply at reasonable cost.

Energy Customer Bill of Rights

OK. I know I’m developing a reputation as a curmudgeon, a crank, a whiner, a crab, a bellyacher, a griper. In short, a sourpuss. And that’s without consulting the Thesaurus. I could add grumbler, bear, malcontent, moaner, kvetch. You get the idea.

And why have I earned these pleasant monikers? Because I seem to take pleasure in recounting a never-ending parade of consumer nightmares – my own. Nothing makes one more sensitive to consumer rights than being in a consumer service business. Knowing how hard we work to help customers get good service at fair prices – and receive accurate bills to boot – it boggles my mind how oblivious most companies are to the most basic principles.

In this blog I have recounted my unsuccessful effort to snag an extra bag of peanuts on Delta. Of getting documents copied at FedEx/Kinko’s. I’ve even told of one of our Georgia customer’s sad experience of having their gas turned out because they claimed that their MXenergy bill – yes, we drop the ball too sometimes! -- looked like junk mail.

Recently I have added another one to my litany of woe: Showing up at the City Transit terminal in Chicago’s O’Hare Airport.

Here’s my tale. If you’re a cheapskate like I am, and don’t want to take the train from O’Hare to downtown, it will cost you $2 on the train…that is, if you have exact change. You see, the automatic ticket machines at City Transit only take exact change. If you have a $10 bill you must spend it all…or you can walk. Arriving at the turnstile – with my train idling on the platform below -- I asked an attendant at the ticket booth – who does not sell tickets, of course – how to get change. “Walk down the hallway,” he pointed, “and you can get change.”

I sighed. I mumbled. While my train departed on the platform below, I proceeded to drag my luggage in the direction he indicated. About 50 yards away I came to a stop in front of a large picture window with this sign: “Checks cashed here” and then below another sign: “We charge for making change.”

“What?!” I exclaimed. “You charge for changing a $10 bill?“

Being true to form, I could not bring myself to pay a dollar to make change. So I asked where I could buy some breath mints. “In the Hilton Gift Shop,” came the helpful reply. I continued along the hallway – another 200 years with my heavy suitcases – and finally arrived in the gift shop.

Ten minutes later – still dragging my luggage --- I returned to the train platform in time to see the next train leave the station without me.

“Excuse me,” I asked the station attendant. “Why don’t you have a change machine?”

“Oh,” he replied, “They took that out of here seven years ago.”

“And why don’t ‘they' replace it?” I asked.

He shrugged his shoulders.

“I hope you have complained to your manager about this,” I said, “because I am your customer and I am sure I am not the first person to ask you for change over the past seven years!”

At MXenergy we talk incessantly about the “customer golden rule: do unto our customers what we would have them do unto us.” But the rule is about as common as finding $1000 bills lying face up in the gutter. Recently, our marketing team had an inspiration: Why don’t we adopt an Energy Customer Bill of Rights, just like the rights that airline passengers are trying to achieve.

So here it is: MXenergy’s equivalent of the Declaration of Independence, a clear statement of what our customers can expect when they do business with us… or else!

MXenergy Customer Bill of Rights
ΠYou have the right to be treated as if you are our most valued customer. Because,
frankly, you are.
 You have the right to speak with a real person, quickly.
Ž You have the right to fully understand your bill. If you don’t, we’ll work with you to make sure that you do.
 You have the right to privacy – we will not share your personal information with anyone outside the company.
 You have the right to switch your service at any time, and we’ll ensure the process goes smoothly.
‘ You have the right to have us listen and work with you to resolve any problem.
’ You have the right to uninterrupted service. And if your service is interrupted, we’d better have a good reason for it.
“ You have the right to not be surprised. The rates we quote are the rates we charge.
” You have the right to have us help you find the best rate plan – for you, not us.
• You have the right to deal with a company that prides itself on ethics, customer service and environmental stewardship.

Making Lemonade out of Lemons

I don’t want to disappoint fans of my curmudgeonly take on customer service. It has, after all, provided me with loads of entertainment to regale friends and colleagues.

But even I must concede that praise must be given where praise is due. Herewith are what I hope (but fear will not) be a frequent list of Good customer service experiences that deserve hosannas:

The staff of the Transportation Security Administration at LaGuardia’s Delta terminal.

Believe it or not, the x-ray machine ate my scarf a few weeks ago. I had placed my winter coat in a plastic tub at the airport security and had thrown my scarf on top of it. Then I watched it go through the x-ray machine. On the other side, out came the coat, but no scarf. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize the scarf was missing until I emerged from the plane in Chicago. “Oops!” I said to myself, “I must have left my scarf in New York!”

Three days later I was returning from my trip through the same airport. It was midnight. I walked dejectedly over to the TSA guards, sleepily waiting for the last plane of the night to leave. “Any chance you have a Lost and Found for articles lost here? I left a green alpaca scarf here early Monday morning.”

“Of course,” one of the guards said, helpfully. He walked quickly – quickly, mind you – to the TSA office at the end of the platform. There he picked up a clipboard with a log of items that had been left at security. He scanned it and, voila! At 6 am Monday there was an entry: “Long green scarf.”

I was given a phone number and a copy of the log. The next morning I called. The next day I had a Fedex package arrive at my office. I was reunited with my green scarf.

Bravo to the TSA!

The parking valet at Sonny’s Realpit Barbecue in Atlanta.

Even Atlanta can be cold in the winter. And this was a particularly cold day in January. A colleague and I had lunch with one of our large customers. When we emerged the temperature had dropped 10 degrees – it was probably 30 or so, with a blustery wind – and we needed to walk around the back of the restaurant to pick up our car.

We both dreaded the anticipated routine: Give your claim check to the attendant, wait 5 minutes while the attendant finds your key and then saunters at glacial speed to find the car. Then stand another 5 minutes while your car sits behind a long line of other cars waiting to be picked up.

We got to the valet attendant and handed over our ticket. He handed us our keys. The car was sitting at the curb. “Whaaaa?” we each began, confused.

“I saw you leaving the restaurant,” he said, “and I didn’t think you’d want to wait around. So I ran to get your car. It’s cold this time of year!”

Wow! Hats off to you, young man! (On second thought, keep your hat on, it’s cold. Thumbs up!)

My Audi dealer in Fairfield, CT.

So my wife and I leased a lemon. It happens. Of course, we didn’t realize it was a lemon until 13 months after the lease date, just a few weeks after the Connecticut lemon law deadline for asking for another car. Thereafter, the car lived in the dealer’s garage more months than in our driveway.

But we’re not complaining! Why? Because our misery turned out to be an extremely pleasant experience. You see, we would drop the car off in the morning and Carlos, the attendant, would say, “Mr. Mayer, we’ll call you at 3 o’clock and let you know what’s going on.”

And at 3 pm, give or take a couple minutes, the phone would ring. It was Carlos, with a report. “Sorry, Mr. Mayer, we need to order a part. It should be in by Thursday. Would you like a loaner?” The loaner would be dropped off for me at my home.

Of course, on Thursday, the part would not come in. But that was OK. Because, like clockwork, I would get a call! “Sorry, Mr. Mayer, the part has been delayed. But we’ll let you know where it stands tomorrow around 2 pm.” And sure enough, at 2 pm on Friday it was Carlos: “Mr. Mayer, just wanted to let you know the status.”

Go ahead! Surprise me with better service than that. If you’re going to lease a lemon, better to do it with people that serve lemonade!

Kudos, Carlos!

Have a story about great customer service? Let me hear about it. One can’t go through life whining!

Sales Empathy

Moving energy is a business of details: Not only do we have to keep track of the energy itself – the molecules and electrons that make up natural gas and electricity – we also need to track customer consumption which changes daily (or hourly as in the case of electricity) based on weather and such things as whether Junior has decided to take a shower today (thank goodness!) or Dad has a football game he can’t miss.

And that doesn’t include all the details related to meter reads at odd times of the month, data exchange with the utilities, managing sales and marketing, and then keeping all of our data systems running smoothly. On top of the sheer volume of data is the fact that it all interrelates. A change in consumption affects the supply and the billing. A change in the weather forecast can have huge consequences.

This is why we have a philosophy at MX: Everybody should be a jack of all trades and a master of one. We all have skill sets that are important, but only if we know how they fit into the whole can we truly make a valuable contribution. I am always glad to hear when our people express interest in making a move within the company. This helps spread knowledge to other departments and everybody learns more about how we operate.

Recently, I realized there was another benefit when our people move around, particularly when they want to move into sales. Why? To be good at sales requires that you in touch with a customer’s needs. It isn’t enough to get up in the morning and say, “Today, I’m going to sell electricity.” There are lots of competitors that want to do the same and why should somebody deal with us?

There has to be something more: An interest in and understanding of our customers’ energy needs, i.e., empathy. Our business, like most businesses, is about service first and energy second. Harry Bullis, once the chairman of General Mills, said to his sales people: “Forget about the sales you hope to make and concentrate on the service you want to render.” Our customers want to know that their energy needs will be satisfied, they will be billed accurately, and they will have a fair price. The sale is not what serves their needs; it is the service that meets their needs. When our first objective is to serve our customers, our customers will respond with appreciation.

I find that when our people move into sales from other departments, they are better equipped to understand a customer’s business. After all, they have been in the customer’s shoes within our very own business. If they have accounting experience, they understand our customer is watching his billing and the bottom line. If they have IT experience, they understand our customer wants his information in an easily digestible, reportable format. If they are simply breathing, they understand that good service requires integrity, rapid response and thorough attention.

Our products – fixed rate price protection, carbon dioxide offsets – have always been challenging to explain to commercial customers. It gets a whole lot easier when the MX team members making the sale care about and understand the customers’ needs.