One of the strengths of Net Promoter is its simplicity. It's incredibly easy to ask the ultimate question and to use the answers as a helpful business benchmark. But this simplicity is also its weakness if organisations don't use it as originally designed by Fred Reichheld and Satmetrix; to be an enabler for business improvement. A lot of people I spoke to yesterday are using NPS to identify detractors and to remove the sources of detraction. This makes a lot of sense because research shows that detractors can be more influential than promoters. Indeed work at the London School of Economics shows that one negative recommendation takes up to four positive ones to counter it

This approach has been endorsed by the brilliant case study from Virgin Media - find out what you do badly and improve it. As a former NTL (acquired by Virgin Media) customer I can definitely see the fruits of this exercise! However, very few people I spoke to are activating their promoters. LEGO showed the powerful returns that this can deliver. You see there is a marked difference between the scoring a 9 or 10 and actually recommending - and perhaps more importantly, recommending on a regular and systematic basis.

The secret to converting a promoter into an advocate is to Listen using NPS, Involve by treating them as advisers (through more systematic research) and Empower by actually allowing them to shape your future direction - just as Lego has done with its power users. And don't be put off from doing so just because you don't work for an iconic brand like Lego. Promoters already love you - because you exceeded their expectations. Turn that love into an active daily passion by making them part of your business.

From the presentation delivered by Conny Kalcher from LEGO Company, there were a number of points made from which you could choose a key takeaway such as...working for LEGO is so cool! to the importance of understanding your customer affinity groups and how to segment them.

However, for me there was one comment that stood out from all the others Conny made: "Listening to the customer is a commitment to taking action."

I'd be surprised if there are more than a few people out there unaware of LEGO as a company. Some fantastic facts about them include:

• There are 52 LEGO bricks in existence per person on the planet
• LEGO is the largest manufacturer of tyres in the world - albeit very small ones
• There are over 71,000 LEGO films on YouTube
• If you search for LEGO on Google you'll get over 53 million hits
• The 4,400 customers in their top customer segment have a Net Promoter score of 90%
• The average promoter spends around 50% more than the average detractor

With a brand like LEGO, with the passion that generates from both children and adults for their products, are we surprised that their results are so good? Isn't this a case of playing with a stacked deck?

No, that would be a somewhat unfair assessment. LEGO have had their fair share of problems, especially over the last 6-7 years; but their focus on the customer has helped them to keep their heads above water and get back on track once again. A revealing communication from a key UK customer -- a member of AFOL (Adult Fans of LEGO) -- helped to highlight the fact that LEGO were not spending the time listening to customers. That communication went straight to CEO level and the net result was LEGO started to listen actively and translated that customer insight into action.

Led by the CED team (Community, Education and Direct), LEGO have re-evaluated their customer affinity groups, changed their action focus accordingly and really reached out to the customers in terms of developing their community of enthusiasts. Tracking key drivers alongside the Net Promoter Score (NPS) has enabled the team to understand the impacts of process or packaging changes, for example, on customer satisfaction. Where action is then taken on that insight, the impact is visible in improvements to their NPS.

Conny admits that there are areas where they could still do better. For example, the closing of the communication loop with customers could be more robust. Recent customer feedback from the 9V protest group, however, would indicate that this is improving.

We all need to take action from our customers' feedback. LEGO are, and look at their results!

Click here to download the presentation.