Dr. Laura Brooks, VP of Research & Consulting at Satmetrix gave what might be described as a somewhat sobering presentation on achieving success with NPS in a B2B context. She reported that while 76% of companies aspire to be customer-centric, only 16% actually "execute" and achieve this aim. In addition, her group's survey of companies showed that only about 1/3 showed any improvement in NPS scores over a 3-year period, and that the overall average improvement was only 3%! The summary quote: "Breakthrough performance improvement (i.e., 10%+) is very rare in B2B." The tale of the tape shows that, as with American Idol, many are called but few are chosen.

Laura did offer some "secrets," however, for how to become one of the chosen few:

• Develop/sustain a customer-centric culture (starting, ideally, at the top)
• Measure who matters (Blogmaster note: see a related blog by Laura Brooks on this topic)
• Drive change through integrated processes
• Take action in big and small ways
• Expand/stretch for the next level

Of these, "measure who matters" caught my eye, if for no other reason than it's a play off the old adage to measure what matters. The idea is an excellent one because in the B2B context a single account can make all the difference. Laura urged B2B leaders to focus their efforts on accounts/prospects who matter, rather than treating everyone equally. Her catch phrase: "Voice according to value."

Laura offered a useful framework for thinking about some of the key differences between deploying/integrating NPS in B2C and B2B contexts:

Clearly, this framework highlights the fact that, in the B2B world, some accounts deserve more attention than others. After all, we're still talking about business. 

So, remember to measure who matters!