The marketing tribe that invented Open Energy

«Companies are intelligent living ecosystems that face the challenge of competitiveness every day. They don’t just need a price, they need transparency and energy without asterisks, provided by a partner who is close, competent, and reliable. We’re useful to them when we learn to see the world through their eyes». This is how Luca Rainero explains Enel Energia’s evolution in its approach to corporate clients, inspired by Enel’s Open Power model, which the business marketing team translated into «Open Business». Rainero is the «tribe leader» of the Enel team dedicated to marketing for the business world. «I like the idea of a tribe, it captures the sense of many people working in the same direction. Enel put us in the position to experiment with new ways of operating». The mission of his twenty-person team is «marketing as software», a way of thinking about sales and marketing that has transformed Enel Energia’s approach to the market.

Marketing, Rainero explains, is like invisible software, an operating system that runs inside the company and enables functions, behaviors, and values, with the responsibility to make things happen. «Software is useful when it’s invisible, when it works it becomes truly usable in its invisibility». Marketing is no longer just a sales technique, but a set of values that shape the dialogue with customers, structure the relationship, and make it last over time. «We work in an integrated way with the entire sales system, with the people who put their face on it, like key account managers, the retail network, agents, the people who answer the phone and chat». It’s an approach that gives shape, role, method and tools to all points of contact with the market. «The solution for communicating with customers is to truly talk with them. We like to be influenced, to let ourselves be influenced by them. Every time we meet someone, we start again from the values of our positioning and translate them into the marketing mix». Achieving this is a matter of attention, listening, and practicality. «In my compass, the first step is to ask in order to listen. By listening, you make the person you meet the protagonist, you give them a role. And then, touch emotions, generate a vibration. And finally, the most important step: "make things happen"».

This is how the success of Open Energy was born, the new subscription-based offer with the energy component priced at wholesale cost, launched on the market in February 2020 and chosen by 100,000 companies in Italy. «We prefer to bring few products to market and adopt them almost as if they were our children». Through this focused work of care and attention, the tribe of «marketing as software» helps all sales channels understand the product, promote it, and tell its story. «Open Energy is an initiative that started from the bottom, from the need for energy that was truly without asterisks, paying for it the same way Enel does, in exchange for a monthly subscription that gives access to dedicated services». This radical change of mindset has paid off. There’s not only the extraordinary adoption figures, but also — perhaps even more significantly — the very low churn rate. «It’s the lowest in the entire Enel Energia portfolio. Retaining a customer is harder than acquiring one». Achieving that, then, is the real success.

For Enel Energia, the business sector was a challenge: «It’s a lively and competitive market. We entered it knowing we weren’t the first. We were well-positioned in micro-business, very strong in high-consumption sectors, the heart of the challenge was the intermediate level». The key to success was putting the customer at the center, understanding their real needs, and building marketing around them, learning to see reality and the market through the eyes of the customer. «The point of view of a hotel owner is different from that of a food business. We have to be able to respond to that diversity». The segment of companies consuming from 5 MWh to 1 GWh is the world of small and medium enterprises. «Understanding their needs has made us partners of many flagships of the Made in Italy brand». Among the strengths of the partnership are a methodology based on data and figures, and digital solutions. «Today, time is a competitive factor. Companies demand innovation so they can fully focus on their own sector. Energy without asterisks serves this purpose: allowing them to concentrate their efforts where it matters, without wasting time elsewhere». Together with colleagues from Enel X, we want to tackle the challenge of electrifying the production processes of large industrial clients, to contribute to decarbonization goals: it’s our way of feeling part of the world and letting the world breathe. Another innovation brought by the tribe’s approach was extending this language to public administration as well: «The idea was to transform the institution into a client: it was greatly appreciated».

Rainero joined Enel in 2000. He says that in the first phase of his life he was a great planner, but then he stopped dreaming of the right winds and started sailing with the winds and waves that were there. From there came growth, through an MBA at the Politecnico di Milano and the teachings of his mentor, Giorgio Nardone. A sense of reality and openness to the future: that’s how Rainero chose to build his team: «I look for people, not resumes. I want to know what they believe in, what values they hold, who they are». The second building block is skills: «It’s important to balance the team, I look for what I’m missing, for people who give us the thrill of learning something we didn’t know». The philosophical foundation of a team so devoted to innovation is that everyone should be able to express themselves without fear of daring or thinking of something new. That’s how ideas like Open Energy are born. The horizon remains the business customer: «The essence of entrepreneurship is to take risks and lead change, to be one step ahead in terms of future vision. Our task is to be ready and to have solutions so the customer will choose us».