You’ve made it clear that Net Promoter Score is the way to go during these tough times. However although NPS is easy to understand it is obviously hard to implement. I suppose it requires an organisation to make changes that merit a recommendation. This is obviously not easy.

Managers should make sure that they utilise someone like you who thoroughly understands NPS as it is much more than just adding a question to an existing survey rather than trying to do a DIY job or using a consultant who doesn’t understand the challenges of NPS.

I noticed on your web site that you are a Net Promoter Loyalty Partner. Can you please explain what this means?

All organisations have customer experience mishaps the key is how they recover. So what happened? Did they let you in? Did you end up having a great Birthday.

I strongly believe that the Net Promoter Score is even more critical in a recession.
Fact is that during tough economic times consumers still buy but they are more careful about how & where they spend their money. Trust in brands becomes paramount.

Nothing builds trust more than a great customer experience and/or a recommendation from a friend or colleague. Net Promoter Score implemented correctly delivers both great customer experiences and WOM.

Most marketers will tell you that due to over communication, media dilution and fragmentation traditional marketing channels don’t work as well as they used to in the past. Consumers are just not listening.

However one channel still works extremely well - people like you and me. This is why WOM is the most trusted and effective marketing channel available today.
When you listen carefully to the voice of the customer (especially detractors) and take systematic and strategic action you improve your customer experience but you also streamline your business operations and reduce costs.

In addition when you engage your staff in engaging your customers you not only create great customer experiences but again you also lower costs as staff also actively find ways to streamline your operations.

This is the beauty of the Net Promoter Score discipline. It’s much more than just asking a couple of research questions. It’s a customer focused discipline that delivers tangible results.

So potentially you can grow and reduce costs. You do need to ensure that you implement NPS systematically and strategically so the voice of the customer truly drives your actions and initiatives.

Have a look at my post titled “Cut costs or increase customer focus? That is the question”. It explains this topic in greater detail.

The link to the post is here http://www.engagedmarketing.com.au/blog/2009/04/27/cut-costs-increase-customer-focus/