Answering The Ultimate Question: How Net Promoter Can Transform Your Business

Fred Reichheld's 2006 book The Ultimate Question, that question being, "How likely is it that you would recommend this company to a friend or colleague?"-challenged the conventional wisdom of customer satisfaction programs. It coined the terms 'bad profits' and 'good profits' and pointed to a faster, much more accurate way of gauging customers' real loyalty to a company, introducing a quantitative measure (the Net Promoter Score) for establishing a baseline and effectively tracking changes going forward. Richard Owen and Laura Brooks are co-developers, along with Reichheld, of the methodology behind answering the question. In this book, Owen and Brooks tell how based on a variety of real case studies' to actually embed Net Promoter discipline in organizations of all types.

Richard Owen is CEO of Satmetrix. Satmetrix was instrumental in developing the concept of Net Promoter and is dedicated to helping organizations apply and benefit from this revolutionary approach using innovative technology and services.
Laura Brooks, PhD, is vice president of research and consulting at Satmetrix. She is the acknowledged expert in applying the Net Promoter discipline at an operational level. Brooks has conducted and published over thirty studies on Net Promoter, customer loyalty, and word of mouth marketing.

Introduction.
1 Net Promoter Fundamentals and Operating Model.
A Net Promoter Primer.
Why Traditional Approaches Fail.
Net Promoter: Key Tenets.
The Net Promoter Operating Model.
Putting It Together: Implementing the Operating Model.
2 Using Customer Economics and Segmentation to Maximize Loyalty.
Quest for Customer Intimacy.
Segmenting for Optimal Results.
Calculating Return on Promoters.
Estimating the Impact of Word of Mouth.
Conclusion.
3 Driving Change: Instill Customer-Centric DNA.
Why Discuss Change Management?
Aligning the Organization.
Getting Senior Leadership Committed.
Getting the Front Line Aligned.
Goal Setting in the Context of Change Management.
Program Governance Model.
Conclusion.
4 Designing an Enterprise Roadmap.
Customer Solutions.
Relationship Versus Transactional Survey Processes.
The Customer Corridor and Its Touch Points.
Employee Solutions.
Phased Versus Big Bang Approach.
Sequencing Your Roadmap.
Conclusion.
5 Building Trustworthy Data.
What Is Trustworthy Data?
Creating the Strategy: Three Key Elements.
The Right Customers: Measuring Who Matters.
The Right Question: Choosing the Right Metric.
The Right Questions: Fitting Survey Strategy to the Business.
Determining the Right Time to Measure.
Other Considerations.
Conclusion.
6 Determining the Root Cause of Promoters and Detractors.
Common Analytical Approaches.
Stated Driver Analysis.
Inferential Driver Analysis.
Comparison of the Tools.
Conclusion.
7 The Closed-Loop Process.
Defi ning Closed-Loop Excellence.
Action at All Levels.
Closing the Loop at the Front Line.
Case Study: BearingPoint Closes the Loop at the Account Level.
Closing the Loop at the Management Level.
Closing the Loop at the Executive Level.
Accountability at All Three Levels.
Conclusion.
8 Setting Realistic Targets and Improvement Strategies.
Relative Performance.
Cultural Differences.
Compensation.
Improvement Time Frames and Rhythm.
The Methodology for Setting Targets.
Conclusion.
9 Innovation Drives Transformation.
Technology Enables Transformation.
Operational Improvements and Innovation.
Developing Brand-Focused Communities.
Identifying NetWorked Promoters.
Conclusion.
Resources: Interviews Conducted.
References.
Acknowledgments.
The Authors.
Index.