I’d like to tell you about a question. A very important question.
Now, I’m not talking about some type of down on one knee question, that would be certainly a powerful question – if a little dramatic – for this setting. And this isn’t as serious a question as “what was I thinking having that last round of drinks last night?” either.
But somewhere between those two extremes exists a question that I believe can help you run your business and your career called the Net Promoter Score or NPS. In fact, we believe in this so much we’re using this as the only measure of success for our team. We didn’t develop this concept. It was developed by a consultant at Bain & Company and was made famous by an article in Harvard Business Review in December 2003.
Even though we didn’t come up with this program, there are two reasons we use this program. The first thing you need to know about the Net Promoter Score is that it is SIMPLE.
Simple to implement. Simple to use. Simple to understand.
How simple? The whole program resolves down to one question:
“On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the best, how likely is it that you would recommend our business to a friend or colleague?
That’s it. If someone answers a 9 or 10, they’re a promoter of our business. If someone answers a 7-8 we consider them passive or lukewarm. And if someone answers below a 6, they’re considered a Detractor – an unhappy customer who can damage our reputation and impede our growth through negative word-of-mouth.
What makes this so simple? Whichever audience of ours we’re talking to, the question remains the same. External employer customers certainly. But even internal customers or support organizations. We systematically focus on four distinct groups we serve: 1) external employer clients, 2) internal Lockton producers and account teams, 3) external vendors whose systems solve our employers’ needs and 4) inside our own team.
Our team’s score equals the average of the answers we receive. And as a manager – all my people, and their people as well, are measured on the same standard: the average of the responses received from their peers. As part of our annual performance process I ask everyone the same question about each of their teammates: How likely is it that you would recommend “Johnny” to a friend or colleague?” When that score is combined and contrasted with the scores from their external clients I have a rather accurate view of their performance.
The Net Promoter Score isn’t our favorite program only because it’s simple – it is a POWERFUL question.
Unlike most measurement tools I’ve found, this question is both a lead measure and a lag measure. Most LAG measures like profit or number of sales only tell a person what has already happened. By the time I have the data, it’s too late for me to impact the outcome. But with the way this question is worded – “would you” – it also captures a LEAD measure. Academic research out there says this score has shown to be predictive of how a business and a person will perform – not only how it has already performed.
The second aspect of the power of the program is that because it isn’t over-complicated – like a balanced scorecard might be – my managers and teams are actually using it consistently. In fact, the only problem we have is protecting the time on our calendars to actually make the calls! I am sure that the customers we are survey appreciate the ease as well. Instead of being asked to participate in a 45 minute survey with hundreds of questions, we ask one question and it is usually takes less than 15 minutes.
As individuals, the Net Promoter program can be a powerful predictor for our careers as well. If one wanted, they could use this concept to understand how they are perceived in their division, customer base or reporting structure through anonymous surveys. If I’m not serving my boss in a way that he’d recommend me to others – that’s a huge predictive indicator of a short career ladder. If my teams say they have super “loyalty” or satisfaction, it very likely bodes well for the future.
I thought this topic might be of interest for our blog as all of us work on teams that either serve external clients or internal co-workers. Could this simple and powerful question help you understand where your customer’s loyalties lie and where your business or career might be headed? That is what makes this such a powerful question. We aren’t the only ones using this system. Check out a list of other NPS users here.
If you’re using this program, we’d love to hear your stories and learn from your experience. Please click on the comment link with this article or holler out to us on twitter @HRTechKaiser. Follow us there to be alerted of any new blog posts or other insights from the HR Tech world.
(Images from Net Promoter System.)