Blog Posts From Jeanne Bliss' Blog Tagged With employee

Three Ways to Use Your Frontline to Increase Your NPS

info@netpromoter.com — Mon, 07 May 2012 20:50:50 GMT

Increasing your customer loyalty, and NPS, by investing in your front line employees

The latest US Net Promoter Benchmarks for 2012 are in! USAA, Trader Joes, and Wegmans, all topped the list with some of the highest scores in their sectors. So what makes these companies so effective at creating a loyal, happy customer base? A common thread between these top-scoring companies is not just how they treat their customers, but also how they treat their front line employees. Here are three ways these companies work with their front line to ultimately increase their customer loyalty, and achieve some great NPS as well.

1. Employees who know your customers’ lives can better serve their needs.

USAA was again one of the top brands in this years NetPromoter Benchmark study, with an NPS of 83 percent, the highest NPS recorded across all brands and industry sectors. One of the factors behind their success is USAA’s commitment to understanding the unique lives of their military customers. USAA invests heavily in their new hires’ orientation, so they can truly “describe a day in the life of their customer”, even if they are not from the military or military background. USAA does this by requiring all new hires to go through basic training, right down to eating MRE’s, wearing a military helmet and feeling the weight of the soldiers packs during their extensive orientation program.

2. Invest enough time in training your front line to trust them, and free them, to do the right thing.

Wegmans decided to eliminate the behind the scenes rules that interfered with the customer experience when the frontline staff had a restrictive list of “do’s” and “don’ts” when serving their customers. Wegmans instead decided to invest heavily in training their frontline, over 40 hours per year for employees, with the skills to take action on their own, free from management oversight. There is simply one rule: that no customer is allowed to leave unhappy. The result? Low employee turnover, and a NPS toping the list of the grocery sector.

3. Involve your front line in your products.

Trader Joes develops an enthusiastic, and committed, sales force for their products by directly involving their front line in product tastings and development. Frontline employees enthusiastically run “tasting huts”, talking candidly with customers sampling new products. When the front line feels passionate and about what they are selling, they pass this passion and commitment along to the customers they serve.

Wegmans Food Markets Excels By Throwing Away The Rule Book

info@netpromoter.com — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 16:26:05 GMT

By Freeing Employees to Do What’s Right for Customers, No Customer Leaves Unhappy

Wegmans Food Markets is a privately held grocery store chain with 41,000 employees. The company generated an estimated $5.6 billion in revenue in 2010. What fuels Wegmans’s growth are passion, training, and trust. In traditional retailing, customer experiences can become stilted when the frontline staff has a list of “do’s” and “don’ts” regarding how far they can go to serve their customers. Wegmans wanted to eliminate the behind-the-scenes rules and the required permission from managers usually necessary in retail. So the company decided to let employees make their own decisions no matter what customer situation they encounter. At Wegmans there is no rule book. There is simply this: no customer is allowed to leave unhappy.

A Trained, Trusted Employee Will Do the Right Thing

CEO Danny Wegman believes in giving employees extensive training and experience to garner an understanding of the product and service experiences they are trusted to deliver. Wegmans invests over 40 hours per year on training to back up people’s natural instincts to do the right thing with the necessary skills to help them take action. This allows Wegmans to free themselves of management oversight. Instead, they simply trust in the decision making of the people on the floor working with customers. That could mean deciding to give away a birthday cake to a customer whose order was accidentally misscheduled. Or cooking a turkey for a frazzled hostess who bought a turkey too large for her oven.

Employees with decision making authority will want to stay

By giving staff control over their own decisions and believing in them, Wegmans can deliver what Danny Wegman calls “telepathic levels of service.” This makes employees want to stay. The low turnover of 7 percent versus 19 percent for comparably-sized grocery store chains enables Wegmans to redirect the money it would have spent on constant recruiting to the constant development of their folks. And with that, profitability has followed. Wegmans’s operating margins are estimated at 7.5 percent—double that of its competitors. And its sales per square foot are 50 percent higher than the industry average. By throwing away the rule book, Wegmans prospers both financially and in the spirit of the people who work in its stores. Whether they’re putting away cans of garbanzo beans or sweeping the floor, everyone there knows that their decisions with customers stick.

What portion of your rule book can you throw away? Is Your “Trusting Cup” Half Full or Half Empty?

Wegmans decided that no customer should leave unhappy. They trust the people serving customers in their stores to interpret what that means.

How would you rate your intent and ability to trust the majority of your employees? Or do you manage to the minority?
Can you identify just one rule you can throw away?
How would your employees say you are doing?
Do employees rave about how you trust them today?
How does your decision to free employees to deliver what’s best for customers compare with this beloved company?
Do your decisions for trusting your employees to do the right thing earn you “beloved” status today?
What do you need to do differently to move toward earning the rave of customers and employees?

Customizing the Experience to Complement the Customers’ Day

info@netpromoter.com — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 21:27:11 GMT

Umpqua Bank Decided to Support People’s Lives, Not Execute Banking Tasks.

Umpqua Bank is committed to delivering an experience customized for each customer. Steve May, Umpqua’s executive vice president of “cultural enhancement,” has a goal that everybody in every store is able to do every task. Umpqua wants a teller who can take a mortgage application and a loan ofﬁcer who is pleased to help with a safety deposit box. Beyond the banking experience, Umpqua believes in customizing experiences by community. The company leaves it to the managers in each community bank to customize their offerings based on their customers and their interests—from yoga classes in one “store” location (they don’t use the word “branch”) to movie nights or a knitting club in another. Each has its own fund to enable it to customize the experience based on the lives of the customers in its community.

Make Umpqua a Community Destination.

Umpqua’s mission is to become a destination for customers. By offering a warm environment customized by community interests and a banking experience personalized to every customer who walks through their doors, it wants customers to think of the Umpqua bank in their community as their store, their gathering place. An unexpected place where they can go to listen to music and have a cup of coffee, or take a yoga class! Umpqua stores should feel more like a neighborhood gathering place than a bank.

Staff Turnover Is Half the Banking Industry Average.

As Umpqua changed its approach from a traditional “banking”-style service to a customized experience for each customer, employees had to learn to juggle many duties. It meant more work initially, but now they can’t imagine being limited to the individual tasks their jobs were deﬁned as previously. As Umpqua has grown from 6 to 184 stores, with staff increases from 350 to 2,154, it has retained its focus on the customer and the values that built the bank. And the company has retained its employees. Umpqua’s voluntary employee turnover rate is just 8 percent, compared to the banking industry rate of about 40 percent. In 2011, as a testament that this change in focus was not only good for customers but also great for employees, the company made, for the fifth year in a row, Fortune magazine’s list of the “100 Best Companies to Work For.”

How good are the jugglers in your business? Does your environment embrace and welcome customers? How can you make a visit to your business a welcome oasis during your customer’s day? Do Customers Look Forward to Seeing You? “Umpqua Bank is part Internet café, part community center, and part bank. The coffee’s good and it’s not a bad place to sit and read a book.” Umpqua’s goal was to make walking into their bank something people look forward to.

Are your operating decisions based on executing tasks? Or delivering an experience that complements your customers’ day?
Does your front line have the freedom to customize experiences for customers?
How would you rate your ability to make customers look forward to seeing you, to interacting with your people?
Do customers rave about how you customize the experience for them?
Do your decisions for delivering an experience earn you “beloved” status today?

The Employee Interview: Your Gateway to Earning Customer Referrals

info@netpromoter.com — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 12:10:23 GMT

Amy’s Ice Creams in Austin, Texas, is beloved for two things: the ice cream and the floor show. They are the ice cream equivalent of Seattle’s “flying fish.” Ice cream scoops are thrown from one worker to another and caught in cups balanced on their chins . . . while standing on one foot . . . hopping. You’ll see ice cream slingers sliding across the counters on their knees and bellies. It’s a carnival ride in there.

Without the Right People, This Is Just Great Ice Cream

Amy’s Ice Creams is clear about the vibe they want for their business. But, finding people who are fearless and creative enough to come up with stunts like flinging ice cream balls across a room just can’t happen in the normal interview process. How exactly do you ask, “Are you a little bit nuts?” You can’t. So, at Amy’s applicants receive a white paper bag. It must be brought back within a week turned into a creation that tells Amy’s about who they are. From this white paper bag, Amy’s finds the personalities to fill their shops.

By using a plain white paper bag as its job application, Amy’s gets to know the creative soul lurking within the teenaged candidate standing before them. This idea began with an applicant who was given the bag instead of the boilerplate job application because Amy’s had run out of the forms. The applicant floated the bag back into the store with helium balloons; inside the bag were items about her life. She got the job. Now for all applicants, this is how Amy’s fills their shops with people who make getting an ice cream like going to the circus.

So my question is this…

Employees Fueling Word of Mouth Decreases Advertising Costs.

Amy’s exceeds $5 million in gross annual sales—through word of mouth alone. Like many of the beloved companies, Amy’s Ice Creams doesn’t advertise. They don’t have to. Customer referrals build the business. And in Amy’s case, they redirect that unnecessary marketing money to community development, which fuels more word of mouth.

Getting the right people to work at Amy’s has spurred their growth from a single location in 1984 to over 14 stores today. In 1984, Amy’s served 125,000 servings of ice cream. Now they sell well over 1 million a year. The Amy’s Ice Creams Web site says, “Amy’s looks at ‘going out for ice cream’ as a total sensory experience that can revitalize a less-than stellar day.” Part of the joy of going to their ice cream shops is wondering what kind of floor show you’ll be greeted with.

Amy’s represents the power of the small business owner and how service and exceptional experiences can build their business. Amy’s Ice Creams prospers because it revels in being real. In being their kooky, nutty selves. That people love. This translates even to the Amy’s Web site, where the front page welcomes you with “Life is uncertain, eat dessert first!” Sound advice.

Go Try This:

Get “REAL” in how you hire and bring people into your company

• First, define the core values of people you want to fill your company.
• Next, determine the personality of your company. Are you serious and deliberate? Are you whimsical? Have you thought about it?

Next, EXAMINE your current hiring process:

•    Are you deliberate about selecting people who will deliver your distinct personality to customers?
•    How would our customers say you are doing?
•    Do customers rave about how unique you are today?
•    Do your decisions for selecting people earn you “be¬loved” status today? Are you selecting “memory makers” or filling slots?

DECIDE to be REAL:
• What’s YOUR version of a white paper bag to select people who will become our company to our customers?

Want to learn about other tools to help you earn customers who drive the success and growth of your business? Pick up a copy of: “I Love You More Than My Dog: Five Decisions That Drive Extreme Customer Loyalty in Good Times and Bad.”

How Zappos “Does” NPS

info@netpromoter.com — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 07:29:37 GMT

As a Zappos Insights VIP Panel participant and host, I recently hosted the Webinar: “The value of Net Promoter Score” with Fred Reichheld.

Zappos is getting 80s and 90s in their Net Promoter Score system, which Fred said in our webinar together, are “in the stratosphere.” So what I’d do in this post is give you a bit of background on how Zappos “Does” NPS:

Here’s how Zappos Asks The NPS Question

This is done in Two Different Situations; after an order, or after Speaking to a Customer Loyalty Rep:

On a scale of 0-10, 10 being the highest score, how likely are you to recommend Zappos to a friend or a family member? If you had to name one thing that we could improve upon what could that be?

-OR-

During your last interaction with us, you contacted a member of our Customer Loyalty Team. On a scale of 0-1-, if you had your own company that was focused upon service, how likely would you be to hire this person to work for you? Overall, would you describe the service you received from (insert name of customer loyalty rep) as good, bad or fantastic? What exactly stood out as being good or bad about this service?

Zappos Also Practices “Internal NPS” With Employees.

Every month, every employee gets a short survey asking how happy they are in their job. They’ve nicknamed this “The Five Second Happiness Survey.” There is a place (just like NPS) for open ended feedback, with every single comment personally responded to. The scores and feedback are emailed to all “Zapponians” and changes are made to the company and policies based on what employees say.

Their internal questions are the following. The questions are not exactly the same wording as NPS, employees answer with three choices: 1. definitely, 2. sometimes, and 3. not at all. But the discipline of follow up, identification of issues and making things right is at the heart of this practice. And at Zappos, it works!

I believe that the company genuinely has a higher purpose beyond just profits.
My role in the Zappos Family has real purpose – it is more than just a job.
I feel that I am in control of my career path and that I am progressing in my personal and professional development within the Zappos family.
I consider my co-workers to be like my family and friends.
I am very happy in my job.

Zappos Most Importantly Practices With Rigor, the Basics Net Promoter:

They recognize the importance of NPS. The process of customer feedback is seen as mission critical. It’s embedded in Zappos’ company values and culture. Fred said that “Net Promoter is a litmus test that means you have you lived up the golden rule and made your customers lives better.”
A clear measurement process has been established. For Net Promoter to go beyond just another survey score that’s being chased because it’s on someone’s scorecard, this has to be about saving customers and improving customers’ lives. This means systematically categorize the promoters and detractors with a measurement process that is understandable and reliable.
They close the loop with detractors and with promoters. Zappos is passionate about connecting with detractors. They solve the problem. And they hold Promoters close, actively communicating, tweeting and engaging with them. You need a system for activity of engagement or response with the customer and internally. “Don’t let the data just sit.”

If there is a breakdown in the system, and these 3 elements aren’t addressed, then NPS strategy won’t be meaningful, effective or gain traction in driving business decisions. For example, if the executives of a company make bad choices that hinder the employees as they try to create promoters—the NPS scores will reflect that and it shows a lack of internal commitment to NPS.

Finding the Right Rating Scale for Your Net Promoter Effort.

In our Zappos Insights webinar, I asked Fred about the 0-10 scale. Zappos practices using a 0-10 scale, but you may be like many of my clients who are struggling in their transition from a traditional CSAT survey with a different scale. I have many clients transitioning over to NPS, and this is always a big conversation—and a bit tricky. Reichheld discussed the rating scale that’s best suited to the Net Promoter question. He said using a 0-10 scale (vs. a different rating scale) is ideal. This system is the easiest to use, the best way to measure and interpret data, and finally, to compare the results. However, Fred also said that beginning with a different scale is not a calamity – as long as you are practicing the basic principles that make Net Promoter successful.
In a 0-10 point scale, there is a distinct difference and there must be a very deliberate intent to give a company a “Promoter” score (a 9-10) versus a 1,2,3,4. When the scale is lower, such as a 1-5 scale the perceived difference is more difficult for customers to discern and it’s harder to discern inside the company—those Detractors who need immediate closed-loop contact and those Promoters who should be connected with to keep their passionate connection with your company.

The Best NPS Practitioners Collect The Measurement In Two Ways – Just Like Zappos Does.

Measure NPS around transactions that are most vital (transactional NPS). Measure at one touchpoint for an operationally relevant measurement that offers feedback on performance at that key moment of truth.
Execute a top-down NPS. Set up an anonymous survey and contact existing customers to ask the NPS question—rating the overall customer/company relationship. At the same time, ask questions about the scores they would give to your competitors. This will give you a view from the highest level. Are you growing an army of fans? The results will also let you compare scores with your competitors.