Michael Mendillo and Roger Thompson from FirstService Residential Management gave a great overview of the NPS program there from two perspectives--executive sponsor and program owner.

FirstService is the No 1 in property services company in North America. Approximately 85% of their business comes from long-term contracts, therefore, relationships are key. They service a million homes, up to 3 million people. Cross-sell across all divisions is critical to growth. They have different customers...developers, building owners and homeowner associations. Michael described the clientele as "tough", with every day being a street fight.Their service delivery is complex to manage, and as clients can cancel contracts with 60 days' notice, people's perception of the service has to be exceptional.

According to Michael, previous surveys depended a lot on past behavior and renewal, but the business decided they needed to have a different approach. They rolled out the new program in 2007. Now NPS is aligned with DNA. As Michael says "we eat live and sleep this". As executive, Michael led the way as he felt that NPS keeps the business true to the client.

Roger then described how the program was implemented.
Michael's division was part of the pilot group. They figured out a formal plan and focused on training the leaders. They educated employees through webinars (for leaders and general), a newsletter and a comprehensive program package. They also focused on customers...they explained that their
feedback was required. They promised to follow up, even if they couldn't resolve problems overnight. They said that honesty was critical.

According to Roger, you have to have passion throughout the organization. He hand-selected promoters throughout the org and trained them to a higher level--they became his internal advocates.

Roger made the messaging very simple...all feedback, positive or negative is important. Response rates are critical. The score does not matter (at least in the beginning). No cherry-picking, and this program is going to stay.

In the first 6-8 weeks of the program, management has a key role to play
-->to enforce the protocols, eg responding to everybody
-->to continue to educate
-->to manage the emotions
-->to support their teams

They developed an online survey platform that had automatic alerts and tracking on all feedback. All scores are available to management 24/7.They focus on the status of followup on surveys. Status needs to be close to 100%...that means that all surveys are being actioned.They review their accounts by looking at all key stakeholders in that account and whether they are a Promoter, Passive or Detractor.

Aisling viewpoint-->The really great thing about this program is the rigor around action planning and the fact they get back to EVERYONE.

They do monthly formal reports and theme reports.They also embedded in all regular meetings at all levels. Even down to individuals...but not based on score...on response rates and followup. They share best practices across divisions within FirstService.

The reports help investment decisions, process improvements, services and training. Low NPS are looked at more closely.

Key takeaways

• Get leadership buy-in
• Constantly educate everybody
• Exude passion
• Commit to it
• Report and be transparent
• Embed into regular processes
• Let it guide long term decision making.

Some general questions

How did you train the managers to be professional about feedback?

We did a pre-game...
--training
--allowed open dialog, and enabled them to address fears
--normalized the feeling
--identified who was most anxious and rallied around them

Explain sample communications?
--communicated to customers that program was starting and they would receive a survey
--made sure employees saw the letter before the board member got it.

How did you get finance on board?
--speak and think like a CFO and describe in terms that will resonate...eg leads and promoters
--Need to spend more time on economics

What are stepping stones to establishing NPS?
--start small, find a passionate leader in that area,
--if you are small enough, you should bite it all off

Your emphasis on feedback vs score was interesting...still the case?
--some BU's do now. Very tentative on scores as don't want that to be the focus
--first year is a drill down on feedback. Later scores can be a component of running the business

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Most companies have some sort of verbiage on their website that speaks about how important providing quality customer service is to them. They talk about how their service is top-notch, A-1, best-in-class, etc. And, this used to be impressive and convincing, but the time for that has passed. We've entered a new age.

We've entered a time when people expect experiences - and consistent ones - from your brand. It is no longer acceptable for one customer service rep to give one answer and someone else gives a different answer. This is where processes and procedures come heavily into play and can be a lifesaver for your brand.

It might seem like slight-of-word or semantics, but brands really need to make the shift from a service mentality to an experience mentality. Think relationship, not transaction.

Consider how you're treated when you shop at Nordstrom. When you purchase something, the clerk walks around the counter to personally hand you the item you've purchased. No one ever reaches over a counter at Nordstrom to hand you your shopping bag - at least they shouldn't. It's simply not the Nordstrom way. When you ask someone where something is in Nordstrom, they walk you directly to the item. There's no pointing and saying, "Over there." That's part of customer experience at Nordstrom. As are their signature blue shopping bags and gift boxes.

Compare this to your experience at the local corner store where you're told that vitamins can be found, "In the back on the right," and where your bag rips before you can leave the store with your item.

You might be inclined to think that this is about a price point. It's not. In fact, price point is the sad excuse many brands make when they want to explain away their poor customer experience.

Don't fall into this trap. Brands that offer products and services at lower price points should not focus any less on creating an experience, and in fact, they should focus more. Because an experience is about the totality of what your customer feels when they do business with your company; from how they are spoken to, to your return policies, to the cleanliness of your public restrooms.

The whole point of this year's Net Promoter conference is to take a good, hard, honest look at where your customer experience program is headed. Is it helping you to do swift business in this day and time of creating stellar customer experiences or does it have you stuck in the dark ages of transaction-based customer service?

If the former, come to the conference to see how you can learn from the best about how to make it better. If the later, well, I'll see you there