Melissa Namiot-Mader, Director, Business Systems Analysis and Loyalty Programs, Veritude
John Abraham, General Manager, Net Promoter Programs, Satmetrix
Melissa Namiot-Mader and Satmetrix’ own John Abraham had a bit of a ‘fireside chat’ session about how Veritude has leveraged Net Promoter processes to double their NPS inside 6 months and all but leave their competitors in the dust. Vertitude decided to use the NPS for several reasons:
- to set themselves apart in the uber-competitive staffing industry
- they were working very hard to land clients (and were successful in doing so), but now they wanted to train their focus on KEEPING those clients
- using the Net Promoter approach really fit their industry and what they do as a company.
What got them to measurable improvement was a combination of a number of carefully thought out, consistent action-steps:
- Veritude’s CEO walks the floor and takes a high-touch/open-door approach to dealing with employees.
- They conduct surveys twice per year without fail
- They conduct Net Promoter workshops and weave Net Promoter concepts into employee meetings
- Net Promoter Scores are tied to compensation
- All new hires are introduced to Net Promoter
- All new executive officers are given a copy of “The Ultimate Question” and are debriefed on what role Net Promoter plays in the company
- Each of their sites is required to do an annual Net Promoter action plan based on the verbatim feedback from the previous year. Only until they have created their action plan are they given their NPS from the previous year and then the scores are published publicly.
- NPS questions have been randomly built into their online time recording software via a pop-up questionnaire. Employees answer questions like:
- Have you heard from your staffing consultant recently?
- Would you recommend this staffing consultant to a friend or colleague?
- They’ve also kept it light by creating personas for promoters (a cheerleader), detractors (a devil with horns and pitchfork) and passives (the “Pat” character from Saturday Night Live)
When I asked Namiot-Mader what she would recommend for Net Promoter newbies, she advised that those interested in Net Promoter should make sure the Net Promoter approach is a good fit for their company and industry. She also suggested getting an executive sponsor or advocate. But, most of all she stressed DOING something with the data you collect. She cautioned not to try to address all the weak points at once, but to instead break the list down into manageable chunks – business line by business line if need be. As someone who has earned her Net Promoter Certification, Namiot-Mader encouraged the session participants to opt for certification because it’s good to go through implementing Net Promoter concepts with a group of people who are in the same position as you and whom you can bounce ideas off. Veritude has been effectively using Net Promoter in closed-loop for the past 2 years, but have been keeping track of their scores for the past 3 years and the results speak for themselves:
- In 2007, their NPS doubled from 2006
- In 2008, they exceeded their goals by 13 points
- They have created a new standardized resume template and implemented a consistent resume submission process so that their customers are able to see the quality of their candidates
- They implemented a new internal communication plan
- And, more importantly, they were able to answer the tell-tale question: “What should we NOT be doing?”
