Many businesses don’t have real signature points in their customer experience, which are the most important drivers of Net Promoter Scores. People aren’t going to refer your business to anyone if there is not a unique and memorable element to talk about.
Recently I was speaking at the national Association of Strategic Planning conference on the topic of customer experience and brand integrity. One question came up about how customer experience relates to the Net Promoter Score (NPS). It was a great question and for those who subscribe to NPS as a key performance metric, here is a post that describes how to improve that score and the business results it implies through Customer Experience and specifically Signature Points.
The beauty of tracking your Net Promoter Score is that it is entirely customer focused and it is simple. That’s powerful. NPS measures just one question, “how likely is it that you would recommend our company to a friend or colleague?” This is a simple question for customers to answer. The tougher question that managers then face about NPS is, “how can I improve my NPS score?” That is not a simple question. You can’t directly manage each customer’s answers to the NPS question, but you can manage the ‘customer experience’ you deliver every day. If you are working hard to improve your NPS score, here are some tips on how to simplify delivering breakthroughs in your customer experience that can give you significant jumps in your NPS score.
Three Steps to Improve NPS (more…)
In almost every recent transformation I’ve been involved in, we’ve been discussing the same things. How can we get more done, faster? And there is often a caveat…that we won’t be able to increase spending.Sound familiar? I spend lots of time thinking about how to frame up the situation about focus, selecting a small number of high-impact initiatives, and doubling-down resources on those initiatives. And with so many teams, it seems that a fundamental principle that is undermining high-impact execution is the seemingly logical concept of doing “more with less.” I try to explain the flaw in this thinking, and then Scott Adams, through Dilbert, just nails it! At least in terms of taking a jab at the flawed logic and way that it is received by employees. Here are some practical steps executing a better alternative, doing “More ON Less.” (more…)
In the past five years or so, our transformation work is experiencing a major shift in how to generate the engagement and alignment of all employees in an organization. It is now more common that teams at all levels may not be co-located in a single office, people collaborate across global time zones, and we have learned how to develop social clusters of expertise that extend both through and beyond traditional organizational boundaries and connections. In this post are the beginnings of a list of solutions that are worth exploring. (more…)
http://www.savagechickens.com/
What’s get measured gets done. That statement can be true, but how many of us see countless reports coming out monthly, weekly or even daily, that take hours to produce, and nobody even looks at them? Metrics can be one of the most powerful tools for generating tight focus on execution if used correctly. Or, metrics can be a complete waste of time and distraction to the real running the business and delivering value to customers. What seem like slight differences make the difference in driving high-impact and valuable work.
One challenge that seems to have come up repeatedly in our work through the second half of 2010 was the issue of setting success metrics. So, it is probably worth sharing one key insight here that can help to focus and improve the use of metrics in driving success. (more…)
There has been much discussion recently about the generational shift in the workforce. The central concept is that millenials have to be managed completely differently than others and want different things. There are definite differences. However, a recent study by Aon Hewitt on employee engagement showed some interesting outcomes that shows more similarities than differences. Before you launch your next special project for 2011 to engage millenials, consider the following. (more…)
While everyone is talking about the need for innovation to serve as the growth catalyst for U.S. businesses, job growth and the economy overall, a group of leaders in the Tri-Valley region is taking action.Last week, the Innovation Tri-Valley initiative (ITV) was launched at a gathering of over 300 regional business, educational, civic and political leaders (news story and press release).
Marty Beard, the key executive leading the Innovation Tri-Valley effort and President of Sybase 365, a subsidiary of Sybase, In., recently explained that, “What we are doing in the Tri-Valley may very well be defining a new model for regions around the U.S. to get moving again as leaders in innovation. It is not only an opportunity to leverage the tremendous assets we have, but also a need and an obligation as leaders to do this for our companies and for our country.” Marty’s enthusiasm, determination and drive have helped rally a highly diverse group of leaders into what has become a collaborative effort across the region. (more…)
In doing analysis for web company that provides online solutions for managing commercial and residential contractor bids and work processes, we were looking for examples of great technology integration stories. We immediately raised up the seamless integration between the iPod and iTunes as a great customer experience. It is so easy that there is no user manual needed, but this is a rare exception.
In looking for other ideas, I was thinking about integration between Google Maps and GPS devices and searched Google for examples. (more…)
Most of us would rather not go to a hospital. When we do go, it often seems that most of the staff aren’t too happy to see us there either. Individual medical professionals and staff can sometimes be friendly one-on-one, but nobody greets you, nobody welcomes you, and you spned most of the time sitting around in uncomfortable chairs, reading dull magazines, and trying to not breathe the air in the cramped waiting rooms.
I don’t write this post as an endorsement of Kaiser, but I recently went to a Kaiser facility and was extremely surprised by the great service. It provides a great view into transforming of customer experiences. In the case of Kaiser, admittedly I was expecting the worst. The ‘Thrive’ branding seems so perfect, but how could a large company in such a tough industry transform such a typically negative experience into a positive one? Kaiser proved, at least in my case, that it could be done. Anyone who provides service to the general public could learn from the detailed and simple steps Kaiser has taken to make the customer experience far exceed the expectations. (more…)
It is interesting to see how the complex system of consumer spending, retail and the general economy are playing against each other this holiday season. Helen Bulwik, our retail expert at Bedrock Dissero, was recently interviewed for an ABC-TV report on retail trends in 2009. In this she pointed out that in 2008, there were 70+ percent discounts on products prior to Christmas. This was necessary to get shoppers into stores and behind the scenes, there was a great amount of excess inventory that retailers knew needed to be reduced quickly in the face of weak consumer demand.
As the economy continues to remain in tough shape, companies have held to the mantra that “cash is king.” This is certainly true as companies use cash reserves to maintain operations, while revenues falter. However, there is a second “king” that is emerging in importance as well. That is the customer.
During the booming economy, many companies were able to take consumer demand for granted at a macro level. The more products offered, the more stores opened, the greater the revenues. It was simple. This translated into less attention to truly delivering great customer experiences in terms of meeting true needs or offering excellent customer service. There is a building awareness of the need to re-focus companies from solely driving on internal operations efficiencies and financial structures and into delivering great customer experiences.
Some companies, such as Apple and Southwest Airlines were already focused on customer experience well before the economic meltdown and are faring the downturn much better.
ABOUT
Michael Kanazawa shares recent insights and tips about the no-nonsense, results-driven approach to driving business breakthroughs found in his new book Big Ideas to Big Results.