Category: Customer Satisfaction

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Customers & Investors – The Ties That Bind

Ties that Bind

The evidence that customer satisfaction is an important metric for understanding, managing and anticipating the performance of today’s global oilfield suppliers continues to mount.

Recently completed analysis indicates the strongest tie yet (statistical significance levels are now well over 95%) between publicly traded oilfield suppliers’ customer satisfaction levels—as measured in EnergyPoint Research’s independent surveys—and the subsequent stock-price performance. Continue reading “Customers & Investors – The Ties That Bind”

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Ditch the Price-centric Mindset

Price Tag

Bottom-line pricing may matter to some customers, but misconceptions abound in terms of the specific relationship between pricing and customer satisfaction in the oilfield. Most organizations overestimate the impact pricing has on customer satisfaction.

A company’s customer satisfaction relative to peers — what customers and suppliers should both be focused on — is a function of completed acts. That is, how did the supplier and its offerings perform compared to expectations? Continue reading “Ditch the Price-centric Mindset”

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Thanks, But It Misses the Point – Part 1

Missing the Point

I like iced tea.  In fact, I like it a lot.  Over the course of a hot Houston summer, I bet I drink a thousand glasses of iced tea, each with just the right amount of self-administered artificial sweetener.  Because I eat out a lot, and tend to frequent the same places on a regular basis, most of the eateries in my neighborhood are familiar with my voracious thirst for the stuff as a customer.

Over this most recent summer, I took note of a practice related to how some restaurants handle the refilling of my iced tea.  Their approach is illustrative of how companies’ policies and practices, many meant to better serve customers in one way or another, can actually cause more problems than they solve. Continue reading “Thanks, But It Misses the Point – Part 1”

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It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Oilfield

Mad Mad Oilfield

North American shale continues to rewrite the books, and its potential seems destined to spread globally. Simultaneously, new horizons are being forged offshore — from the ultra-deepwater of the world’s great oceans, to the lower-tertiary depths of the Gulf of Mexico, to the vast unknown of the Arctic. And operators are always looking to squeeze more from existing assets everywhere. All the while, the industry’s ingenuity and resolve is being both tested and showcased.

Given the clamorous state of the industry, maybe it’s not surprising EnergyPoint’s customer satisfaction ratings of oilfield service suppliers are, as they say, “all over the board”. After all, no one contends the demands of this brave new world are easily met. They are not. Everything from the far-flung and nomadic nature of today’s operations to the “big-crew change” lurking in the background suggests plenty of challenges. Continue reading “It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Oilfield”

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Deciphering the Needs of Customers

Deciphering Customer Needs

A family friend tells a funny story about when his recently engaged son asked what it was like to be married. In paraphrase, here’s what he told the young man:

Years ago, your mother gave me two neckties for Fathers Day. As I got ready to go to brunch later that morning, I put on one of the ties to show my appreciation for her thoughtfulness. When I walked over to show her how nice the tie looked, she burst into tears and ran out of the room. Concerned, I followed her to find out why she was crying. After gathering herself, she replied, “You don’t like the other tie, do you?.”

EnergyPoint Research Man & Wife Illustration

Here’s the takeaway: no matter how hard we try, we can never be fully certain how others will respond to efforts to satisfy them.

While serving the oil and gas industry can certainly be rewarding for those suppliers that crack the customer-satisfaction code, it can be frustrating and financially taxing for those that never develop an understanding of customers’ needs and drivers.

One way suppliers can help their cause is to better understand the motivations and concerns of the individuals they deal with at customer companies.

For example, think a drilling or completions manager is only interested in the price at which a supplier can offer services? Think again. They are equally interested in how the supplier’s performance will reflect upon them. There’s nothing worse than being taken to task for a supplier’s non-performance. “You should have known” is usually the refrain.

By nature, oilfield customers typically try to avoid risks in who they deal with, what they purchase and how they interact with suppliers. Even for suppliers that pass the “safe operator” test, it can take years to make “approved” lists. The smallest insights into what drives customer satisfaction can mean the difference between success and failure.

To learn more about what might be rattling around in the heads of oilfield customers, and how suppliers might be better able to meet their needs, contact us regarding our Ratings & Analysis Reports. Both you and your customers will be glad you did.

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The Emotive Power of Rankings

Emotive Power

In the 1970s, J.D. Power began publishing his ratings and rankings of initial quality as reported by new car buyers. The publishing of these results, which were based on comprehensive independent surveys designed and conducted by his firm, were notable for two reasons.

First, he published the entire set of rankings (i.e., top to bottom, first to last). This was not a common practice in those days, and is still relatively rare today. Second, the rankings consistently showed that U.S. auto manufacturers (General Motors, Ford, Chrysler and American Motors) were putting out products that were markedly inferior in terms of quality and customer satisfaction to those of their foreign counterparts, particularly the Japanese. Continue reading “The Emotive Power of Rankings”

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The Rig Equipment Blues

Dark image of a drilling rig
Today’s wells cost tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars a day to drill. Thus, few things rankle operators like slowed activity.
 

To limit downtime, the equipment on rigs receives close attention. However, EnergyPoint Research surveys show many equipment providers are missing the mark. There’s room to improve in post-sale support, availability and delivery, and pricing. Without improvements, the status quo will only entice new entrants.

Continue reading “The Rig Equipment Blues”

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Knowing the Hole

Since the oil and gas industry’s early days, providers of formation and well evaluation  (FWE) services have helped answer two questions: Are there hydrocarbons down there? And, if so, in what amounts, forms and environments? Gaining the answers with greater certainty and at lower cost is an ongoing pursuit.

Of course, the needs of today go beyond those of past eras. Today’s E&Ps seek and extract deposits held in more complex and unconventional formations. Thus, ever more rigorous, precise and available data—and the equipment and personnel to gather and interpret such data—remains the focus.

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Are Today’s Drill Bits Better Mousetraps?

Chart showing drill bit scores by supplier
When oilfield suppliers make outsized claims regarding a new technology or design, we, like many in the industry, can be skeptical.
 
Looking good on paper doesn’t always produce repeatable results for customers. Over-promoted offerings spawn the kinds of high expectations that lead to low customer ratings.

Continue reading “Are Today’s Drill Bits Better Mousetraps?”

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Tight Conditions Weigh on Ratings

Image of a thumbs up and thumbs down sign
Global oilfield activity remains buoyed by high long-term commodity prices. But a first look at customer satisfaction in 2008 suggests industry suppliers still struggle to serve ravenous customers.
 

Ratings in the natural gas-driven U.S. & Canadian markets, though low, are stable for the time being. Weaker natural gas prices in the second half of 2007 have helped.

It’s oil-driven international markets that are eroding. Ratings in this segment are down significantly, according to EnergyPoint Research’s 2Q 2008 survey.

Continue reading “Tight Conditions Weigh on Ratings”