The NP360 is a self-assessment that any company can do to see where they stand in terms of their NPS-maturity.

Interesting fact is that most people want to do more fancy things about their NPS-Program and when looking at the assessment then you notice that they have not gotten the basics right.

By simply following the best practice recommendations you can have your company excel and set your company apart from your competition.

This NP360 study was done together with Bain, more than 300 practioner replied end of 2012 / Beginning of 2013 and this will be an ongoing exercise with the next one being scheduled for Mid 2013.

The assessment is covering the following four elements:

1) Customer Centricity

2) Trustworthy Data

3) Root Cause Analysis

4) Action and Accountability

For the first one a simple test is to ask if your company has NPS as one of the Top 5 metrics in that organization.

Most organizations struggle with trustworthy data. One example was shown for a company where the biggest client who was contributing almost 10% to the overall revenue the NPS results were calculated only out of nine responses. With the "Trustworthy Data" assessment you just would like to ensure that you are asking the right questions to the right audience at the right tim.

With the Root Cause Analysis you want to make sure that you drive the right actions. And you want to make sure that you not only close the operational loop with the individual customer but also close the strategic loop for improvement initiatives.

And of course the accountability is always key to actually deliver on the improvement plans.

Companies usually see some quick wins after implementing an NPS-program (and some increases in NPS-scores). After the quick wins however it takes some time until strategic changes come into effect.

Finally an analysis was done to see if companies do integrate Social Media in their loyalty program. Not surprisingly most companies have not yet integrated. Most important feedback channels for B2B was considered to be LinkedIn and for B2C it was considered to be Facebook (surprise, surprise).

Neil Hamdani’s job title is great – Chief Inciter, tasked to incite positive change in their business. Neil went on to explain that most job titles in G Adventures aren’t what they seem. You see, G Adventures have over 500 CEOs – Chief Experience Officers - whose purpose is to provide customers with a perfect guided tour experience.

Some background – G Adventures are a tour operator who organise over 100,000 travellers per year. Having started their Net Promoter journey last year, Neil firstly explained how their old survey asked 'how likely customers would be to travel with us again?', and used a 1-5 scale. They were running at a 99% satisfaction score which, Neil explained, was not surprising considering anything above a 3 was classified as a promoter. Soon after this, G Adventures moved to the standard recommend/0-10 scale and, while their scores did drop, they didn't drop off completely!

Neil then spoke around 4 success pillars

1. 1. Strategic Alignment – Originally, G Adventures were viewed as a budget company, and made a strategic decision to move away from this view. To do this, they realised the key was to spend more on operating costs, nicer hotels etc. BUT, the referrals gained through this were invaluable. They discovered that the travel industry is a great generator for positive WOM.

1. 2. Organisational Support – Neil went to a few key stakeholders to gain support for this initiative. Firstly, the CFO who, as you’d imagine, asked for proof of ‘how it will make money!’ (sound familiar?). He also approached Operations teams where he had to battle through pride and stubbornness when letting them know that ‘they could be doing better’. The final stop to gain organisational support was with the frontline staff. They needed to be on board and engaged in creating promoters.

1. 3. Tools To Succeed – G Adventures made sure that all staff members were able to communicate and share internally their customer feedback success immediately. They did this using the ‘Chatter’ function in Salesforce where every employee could not only see colleagues posts, but also post success stories themselves.

1. 4. Resources – A challenge most companies will face when it comes to implementing a Net Promoter program. G Adventures read through over 40,000 responses every year, and close the loop on all detractors (amounts to around 2,000 per year). They also take the time to approach 25,000 promoters every year. All of this equates to 10,000 hours spent on their Net Promoter program across all employees.

Having only kicked off their feedback system last year, it’s fair to say that Neil and G Adventures have made flying progress in their Net Promoter success. Who knows, perhaps next year they’ll lend a hand teaching the Satmetrix Certification!

Let me shortly define: culture, business culture and NPS.

Culture is a set of attitudes, beliefs, behaviours and customs.

Business culture can be defined as a model or style of business operations within a company. The business culture determines how different levels of staff communicate with one another as well as how employees deal with clients and customers.

While NPS is a methodology that includes the basics of healthy business culture. It namely listens to customers, responds to their feedback and treats them accordingly. Besides, appreciates and is aware of the importance of front-line employees. Moreover, the NPS is rooted in the Golden Rule. The simplicity and complexity at the same time gives a tool for the proper way to make a change or improvement in business culture.

This seems trivial. How may look like a process of improvement or complete transformation of business culture with the NPS?

I am more down-to-earth when it comes to business activities and I realize that this whole process is not as trivial as a brief definition of business culture. Must be assumed that the process is complex and relatively long and it requires:
- Creation of an appropriate plan,
- Organization of the planned activities,
- Decision-making process,
- Motivating and controlling,
- Appropriate human resources and know-how.

I am mostly curious about issues related to the last two above-mentioned elements of the puzzle. That is a human factor and knowledge necessary to carry out such changes in the business culture.

I believe that on this issue in a reasonable manner may comment on two of the Life Financial Group (Probusinessbank) and that is Andrey Litvinov and Irina Chichmeli and Chris Roberts, CEO of Engaged Marketing.

Combining these two presentations at 2013 EMEA Net Promoter Customer Experience Conference in London we will get, as far as I am concerned, the two most important factors affecting the business culture, namely the client and the front-line employee, their relationships and interactions over which the focus is to improve the business culture.

I hope the trio, Andrey, Irina and Chris, will jointly paint a nice picture of business culture improvement using NPS as a brush to do so. And all participants will be able to get a solid step by step recipe to use for their own enrichment project.

I'm counting on it!

Only one week left! The 13-14 June 2013 EMEA Net Promoter Customer Experience Conference starts June 13. Won’t you join us to hear and learn best practices from a diverse range of Net Promoter and Customer Experience innovators, industry experts and thought-leaders?

Presenters include Martha Rogers, Fred Reichheld, Richard Owen and representatives from Royal Bank of Scotland, ABB, Zipcar, eBay, Corporate Executive Board, British Council, Belron, NHS, Orange Business Services, Virgin Media, Power Train, Experian, Satmetrix, Sodexo, Vattenfall, Life Financial, Janssen Pharmaceutical, Netsurvey, Engaged Marketing, G Adventures, Vorwerk and City Bin.

Because I want you to attend, I can offer the first 25 people a limited-time discount of 30% off the current price of £1345. Register and enter FinalWeek in the discount box. Your registration fee will be £874.25*. This code has a 25 person limit.

Bringing a group? Have a question? Send me an email

See you in London!

Bill Karpowicz

Conference Director

P.S. Don’t forget to download the conference mobile app for daily updates. For access, visit the Apple App Store or Google Play and download the "EventPilot Conference App". When you open the app, you will be prompted to enter an event code. The event code for the EMEA conference is NPS.

*Discounts cannot be combined with other offers. Prices do not include 20% VAT, lodging or travel. Offer only good for first 25 response

And what exactly is success?

Success is a combination of happiness and satisfaction which comes after or during a journey in achieving a goal. I think it also is a pleasure of mind. It is the ability to be happy and make others happy. Success is the ability to live in peaceful harmony with those around you, with your own rules.

As far as I am concerned, every single company which looks to the future should strive to achieve the success of its customers. I believe that is the way that is the right way.

What about the client's success as a condition for the success of the company.

In my opinion, the Net Promoter System in a very pleasant and simple way allows both customers and businesses achieve success and gather the information needed to set improvements action plan so that both sides goals are feasible.

I am sure that London EMEA Conference is a place where the issues raised above will be accurately analyzed. Moreover, I hope that all the people who are coming to London, there will be around 400 guests, will present the details of their experience and the success of its clients as milestones on the way to the achievements of the company's success. I very much hope that I would get at least some answers and case studies, in which the client's success goes hand in hand with success of the company. I have a feeling that quite a lot will tell us about it Michael Brandt, Group Vice President, Customer Loyalty, ABB, because already in the preview of his presentation he nicely stated that, if you are like ABB you want to help your customers improve their performance. Would it provide a significant foundation of the finding that customer success is also the success of the company?

I believe that Michael Brandt will rise to the occasion and in an appropriate fashion present his opinion from the perspective of ABB's activities. By the way, we could also touch the topic the company's success as the resulting customer success on other examples, and whether such an approach can be justified.

I reckon it will be worth considering!

As rightly pointed out by Sam Walton - "There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else. "

The history shows that he was right. Walton, appreciating the value of a customer and knowing that it is in fact the driving force behind each company was able to achieve success.

Would you care more knowing that? On the other, more positive, side how much can a satisfied customer bring to your business? How much will you do to make your customers satisfied and shape promoters from your customers?

I believe that everyone who follows the Net Promoter philosophy has the appropriate tool in order to achieve success. I just wonder how long does it take to finally reach a state which shows that the chosen path is delivering results and is a tune of your daily work? How should you adjust the NPS to match the company’s industry so that it harmonizes with the philosophy of the organization.

Browsing the agenda of the conference in London, which to be honest I cannot wait to, I noticed a catchy presentation by Jonas Stenbeck. "Net Promoter Sowing Seeds for Long-Term Growth". Very interesting is the issue related to the following question - "What can we do to improve?" Well, actually replaced with a bold question – “Will you stay or will you go?” I wonder how the customers respond and how do replies relate to actual actions, not only detractors and passives but also promoters. I wonder how customers react to such a question because it is a quite astonishing question. Sometimes customers are surprised after the – “How likely is it that you would recommend [XYZ] to a friend or colleague?”- question and here, Vattenfall has chosen such a direct way to get a voice of customers.

Is it not too risky? Well, those who do not risk do not drink champagne!

As always customers will decide whether that is the right way.

I am looking forward to the Jonas’s presentation and I keep fingers crossed for him, believing that he will soon be the one who with smile on his face opens a bottle of fine champagne at Vattenfall.

Why NPS? Because the methodology developed by Fred Reichheld is maintained in the idea of KISS:

K – Keep

I - It

S – Short

S - Simple

Looking at the reality around me, I see a certain relationship. Namely everything which is simple in its essence is warmly welcomed and indeed desirable. This is for me because things or processes that possess a feature of simplicity are very close to perfection.

Everyone is trying to improve and refine, in smaller or more broader way, the processes around us or things. Everyone knows that this is not an easy process. Therefore I am immensely interested in customer loyalty management matter and bringing it, by Fred and his colleagues, to one question that is almost magical: “How likely is it that you would recommend [XYZ company] to a friend or colleague?".

I understand that Fred and his friends spent many hours on this to come to this conclusion, analyzed data from a large number of companies and held numerous discussions with representatives of companies from various industries. In my view it is a masterpiece to gather all this together and come out with one magical question.

Looking at the number of people interested in the NPS and a long list of companies that representatives attend London Conference to exchange experiences with NPS can be easily seen that the simplicity of the NPS borders on perfection. An absolute highlight is that just such meetings allow making one or maybe even a couple of next steps forward on the way to improve the NPS in every company’s unique environment. Exchange of information and experience in various fields can still broader perspective so that we could notice things that previously thought to be different.

Annual meetings where you can listen to NPS mentors and talk about the NPS experiences to each other can gently depart from the concept of KISS and will hopefully be extended while maintaining the NPS simplicity.