Every now and then someone tells me they have been disappointed with Net Promoter because it didn't really do anything for their organisation. In every case so far the reason has been that they have only asked the Ultimate Question as part of a brand tracking survey. They have captured a number but not the reasons behind it.

At best this is interesting but in reality probably useless in terms of the practical difference it will make to a business.

The verbatim feedback from customers brings NPS to life. But if it's positive change you're looking for then what you really need is Discipline - or the Net Promoter Discipline. One of the fundamental tenets of Net Promoter is that it measures the difference between expectations and experiences. And the average product or service delivery chain embraces a host of experiences or touchpoints. And every touchpoint represents an opportunity to delight or to disappoint. So in reality unless you understand how you perform at every important touchpoint you will never truly be able to drive a better customer experience. That's why I believe Net Promoter works best when it moves beyond a relationship metric to a become a business Discipline that drives the ability to exceed expectations at every touchpoint. One of the companies that is reaping the rewards of this approach is Virgin Media who not only collects at least 1000 pieces of customer feedback every day but passes it on to the employee who 'touched' the customer during the delivery of the service. That's really listening to customers. In my view you have to understand the customer journey and make every employee understand their vital role in delighting customers at every touchpoint on the journey if you want to build a busines based on loyal customers who become advocates.