According to Martyn Christian, prior to 2002, FileNet had a fragmented approach to the customer, with no measurement of customer advocacy. Between 2002 and 2006, FileNet improved their NPS score from -6.3 to +20; an increase of over 26 points! How did they accomplish such a feat? By creating a customer-centric culture...

They created a Customer Loyalty Council led by Martyn, the company's chief marketing officer, and including the lead executives from all departments. While other companies focused on financial results primarily, FileNet kicked off each week with a Monday morning meeting focused on customers! They wrote up all the improvement efforts they completed in response to customer feedback (32 in all) and shared the document with customers and prospects as sales collateral! They even did the previously-unthinkable: they had software developers call actual customers on the phone to hear the feedback directly!

The result is such fierce customer advocacy that FileNet has won business away from competitors despite earning a substantial price premium. That premium is called the value of customer loyalty.

An even bigger payoff came last October 12 when IBM paid $1.6 billion to acquire FileNet!

For more details, read about their Net Promoter program with Satmetrix.

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!

http://netpromoter.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/dawn_breaking.jpgAs dawn broke on the first day of the much-anticipated NetPromoter Conference, the ultimate question for many was whether we'd awake to snow and ice from a passing storm. Thankfully, the overnight snow flurries left barely a dusting on midtown Manhattan, and gave way to sunny skies if somewhat brisk temperatures. The atmosphere inside the Grand Salon today, however, promises to be quite a bit warmer, as the B2B track will welcome presentations from Dr. Laura Brooks, VP Research and Consulting, Satmetrix; Martyn Christian, VP, Marketing and Content Management, FileNet (an IBM company); and Simon Lyons, Global Head of Marketing & Communication for Aggreko, Plc.