NPS — If You Don’t Ask, You Won’t Know

This topic seems timely given the arrival of Valentine’s Day. The Net Promoter Score methodology has some of the same scariness of Valentine’s Day and the first time you asked your significant other “Do you Love Me?”

NPS is similar. It asks if your customers (your lifeblood) would be willing to recommend you to somebody they know. . . talk about a “Do You Love Me?” question!

Many companies stop short of a full implementation of NPS largely driven by fear. What do I do if I don’t get the answers I want to hear? What does it mean to my business is I don’t have promoters? I thought I would share a couple of thoughts to encourage companies to take the NPS leap.

1. An NPS score is not the end, it’s the beginning. — If your scores are great, it is a validation of the hard work and value you deliver to your customers. It represents and opportunity to reinforce the great systems, processes and cultures that are yielding success.

If you scores are deficient, it is an opportunity to begin a process to restore that confidence within your customer base. It is an opportunity to engage in meaningful dialog and implement programs to positively impact your customer’s perceptions of your business.

2. You can’t act on what you don’t know — Ignorance is not bliss if revenue is walking out your door in customer attrition. If your customer loves you enough to give candid and honest feedback, they are doing you a remarkable favor. You can address needs specifically and create a plan to improve. Outside that knowledge, you are at the mercy of the customer’s decision to stay or leave.

3. Creating a “Safe environment” for dialog with your customers is healthy — Everybody values their own opinion. To stop and listen to your customers is a huge validation of their importance to you. Even better, earnestly listening to their thoughts and taking action in itself drives satisfaction to your customers.

NPS might not be for every company. But, companies with a high NPS tend to outperform their competitive set by almost 100%. That itself should motivate you to put fear aside and embrace NPS.