One of the most widely anticipated speakers of the day was Rob Markey, Partner and Global Head, Customer Strategy and Marketing Practice, from Bain & Company.
Rob started with a story about a recent experience with Hertz. Not the best experience in the world when he dropped off the car at the airport. Expectantly, knowing they had an NPS program, he waited for them to survey him...and when it happened, it was possibly one of the worst designed surveys out there...including:
- Inaccurate scales
- More questions than stated
- Being asked "do you want to contact someone", rather than "do you want someone to contact you"
...and with no end in sight!
When they followed up on Rob's complaint, it took another 2 attempts until he finally achieved "satisfaction" and they refunded the overcharge for petrol.
But the biggest issue within the whole situation was the ridiculous process from which employees would not deviate. The only thing that the Hertz employee had cared about was the process that fundamentally tarred Rob with the brush of being a "liar"! The accusation that he hadn't refilled the gas tank, they had to check it, and then they still overcharged him.
What was driving the poor experience delivered to Rob at the frontline employee level? Was it really that the lady in the kiosk didn't care? That she wanted to deliberately cause issues for Rob? Highly unlikely.
He then shared a photo of frustration in the eyes of an airline check-in agent. One that knows that she can never satisfy her customers as the plane will always be 15% overbooked and she will have to deal with irate customers. (This could be AA or Delta...etc...)
So different from the experience of jetBlue - who came out top of the airlines in the 2011 B2C Airline NPS benchmarks. Rob shared their video about employee safety "Safety is Mandatory - the Number 1 Value of Our Company". What a great company - putting their employees at the top of the agenda.
Or SouthWest Airlines - where an ex-rapper joined as an air steward and has uplifted the customer spirits by delivering the safety instructions as a rap. Now other employees are following the lead and doing their own versions. What a wonderful company to work for where creativity and individualism is embraced - not beaten out of them.
So what the heck is going on for companies like jetBlue and SouthWest?
- Employees are passionate about their company and for their customers
- Their CEOs are delivering the message that employees and customers are of number one importance
- Their ideals, values, ethos and guidelines are such that it allows freedom but freedom that comes with responsibility and empowerment
These are the companies that have cracked the code of the Net Promoter Flywheel. Happy employees helps to develop happy customers who become promoters who drive good NPS which drives growth which drives positive opportunities for employees who are more creative and empassioned and want to do what's right for the company and customers. Which drives more happy customers which drives more promoters which drives higher NPS....
What do Employee Promoters say about their companies? I...
- Feel valued
- Am an effective member of a winning team
- Work in a company that makes me proud
- Like and TRUST my colleagues and leaders
- Have opportunities to grow
Which translated into concepts becomes:
- Automony
- Mastery
- Purpose
- Affiliation
To drive real Employee Promotion, you need to go above the basics of Maslow's hierarchy and really provide an exceptional environment that engenders creativity and passion.
Take Zappos. Tony Hsieh, CEO, has created a company that makes Amazon bosses go weak in the knees with their customer-centricity. As Tony says, "It just about creating happiness." And that is not just for their customers - but for their employees as well.
The best companies, like Zappos, have Customer Promoters: "I want to buy from you!" and Employee Promoters: "I want to work for you."
A great presentation!
