Rev your sales engine with Net Promoter (part two)
Note: This is the second post in a series based on a webinar and presentation we gave which advises how to plan and implement a b2b Net Promoter program. Previous post: Use Net Promoter to put your sales team in the fast lane
Part two: Implementation, measurement and acting on responses
There are a number of ways to organise data, but here we focus on two – the Top Box approach and segmenting by account manager.
A Top Box approach means that you rank your clients by revenue and then measure their value to your business against their level of advoacy. This helps you quickly rescue which of your high value customers are at risk, and reward those of your high value customers that promote your business.
Rescue and reward your customers with the Top Box approach.
Furthermore, you should segment data by account manager. This helps individual account manager access the feedback relevant to them, gives them a benchmark against which to measure their progress, and the information they need to maximize the potential value of their existing customers.
Acting on responses
1. Organise and be ready
Expect 50% or more of the responses to give comments. In a large organization, this may mean a considerable amount of comments, so it’s important to have help in place to understand and act on the feedback.
2. Acknowledge issues
It’s crucial to acknowledge issues as quickly as possible – we advise within 24 hours, and track these issues from open to close. (Hint: the CustomerGauge platform is a great tool to do this with). When you acknowledge an issue, let clients know the steps you are taking to solve it.
3. Categorise issues
Depending on the nature of the issue, deal with it tactically or strategically. Be prepared to escalate serious issues to a board level.
4. Share feedback with your organisation
There are a number of ways to do this – on the company intranet, digital signage, email, or even physical signs or cards. But having positive reinforcement through placing the voice of the customer into the organization daily has benefits for team morale, product improvement, and through making the workplace one where success is celebrated, it even positively impacts unexpected areas such as staff retention.
This is not a comprehensive list, (for more details listen to our webinar or see our presentation), but hopefully offers a few valuable insights to help you on your way to implementing a successful b2b Net Promoter program.
And believe us, your sales team will love it!
Use Net Promoter to put your sales team in the fast lane (part one)
Admin. Bookkeeping. Meetings. Team building. Training. Salespeople typically dislike anything that gets between them and closing revenue. They even have a phrase for it – “Sales Prevention.”
With that in mind, we have something different – a two part series of posts that are designed to help your sales team keep their customers with little or no work from their side. The tips are based on a webinar and presentation we gave which advises how to plan and implement a b2b Net Promoter program from the ground up.
Part one: Planning your Net Promoter program
1. Get the support of the board
Even before you think of launching a Net Promoter program, you should make sure that it will be embraced by the entire organization, and the most effective way of doing this is to have support of the initiative from the top down. Otherwise, you run the risk of launching a program that may uncover a great deal of valuable insights but be unable to communicate them effectively across the organization.
2. Internal communication
Before launch you need to educate colleagues on program’s benefits. A powerful way to do this is a message from the CEO explaining that not only is customer satisfaction everyone’s business, but that the information unlocked by the program will be an effective tool to increase sales.
3. Identify survey targets
Ideally, you will survey product users, decision makers, and relevant senior-level executives. However, since someone on an operational level may have different feedback to offer compared to someone on a strategic level, it’s advisable to segment your survey for different groups of respondents, such as operational, tactical, and strategic levels.
4. Client communication
A request for feedback is the same as asking for a favour, so it’s important to demonstrate that you respect your client’s time and outline clearly what you are asking of them. Communicate the amount of times you will reach out to them (twice a year is recommended), how long the survey will take (less than five minutes), and use a personal, friendly tone.
RESOURCES: Download a copy of the A Model Contract Template for Customer Service (word docx)
Next post: Rev your sales engine with Net Promoter (part two)
Webinar: Focus on B2B Account Management with Net Promoter Score, Tuesday 15 January 2013
Start the New Year by making a resolution to put good discipline into the sales process, using techniques from Net Promoter® Score. By joining this short webinar you can learn new techniques and copy-paste ideas from forward-thinking companies that are making regular customer contact a discipline, pulling the customer voice into the company, and getting improved retention sales as a result.
Presentation highlights:
- How hi-tech b2b sales organisations are driving B2B account management with Net Promoter Score, resulting in improved retention, upsell, and company-client communication with reference to two real-life (anonymous) success stories.
- Why your Net Promoter project will improve sales discipline – and why salespeople like it!
- Help you on key areas including Planning, Organising, Communication, Reporting, and Actions.
- Best practices including incentivising schemes and embedding into the heart of your organisation.
We sincerely hope you will be able to join us for our webinar.
The webinar is completed – you can view a recording here (30 mins).
Presented by: Adam Dorrell, CEO, CustomerGauge and Vivek Jaiswal, CustomerGauge
Learn from the best
Company X was struggling to hold on to large customers, in spite of rolling out a large CRM project. Meanwhile, a separate part of the company was measuring Net Promoter on service offerings and seeing some improvements on support issues. But they were not realising the potential value of the two programs. By combining a Net Promoter account management approach to the entire customer relationship – using CRM and NPS, there were immediate positive effects on customer relationships across the board.
This company was able to improve its retention by combining CRM and NPS. This complex process was enabled by good planning, top-down management buy-in and some useful technology solutions
In the webinar, we outline the best practices they used to leverage their Net Promoter account management across the entire customer relationship.
Case Study: Basic American Foods: Making Customer Loyalty a Company Staple
CustomerGauge Basic American Foods Case Study: Making Customer Loyalty a Company Staple
Basic American Foods (BAF) was founded in 1933 by brothers Jack and Bill Hume in a modest dehydration plant using a technology later adapted for potatoes. Today, Basic American Foods (BAF) is the leading supplier of convenient dry potatoes and beans to the North America food service market, and the company remains in family hands under the leadership of Jack’s sons. Its product brands Potato Pearls®, Golden Grill®, Savory SeriesTM, and Santiago® are a much-loved staple for many American and Canadian consumers.
Basic American Foods’ customers are a wide range of businesses that include foodservice distributors, commercial and non-commercial foodservice operators across a wide range of segments. The company was confident that it had strong relationships with these customers, but lacked a metric to quantify the strength of these relationships.
It wanted an opportunity to establish a dialogue with its operator customers, and a system of measurement that would gauge customer advocacy levels. BAF also wanted to find a systematic approach to identify and leverage its strengths, build on its weaknesses, and maintain its competitive advantages in an extremely competitive environment.
This project team found that Net Promoter® offered the best value to deliver what BAF needed, a clear, simple, effective metric of assessing customer loyalty and satisfaction.
This case study examines how they managed their Net Promoter project with CustomerGauge – surveying their b2b food clients.
Result: +60 NPS
BAF found that its customers have a deep emotional connection with its products, and many comments were very positive not only about the products, but also about BAF as a company. It has recorded exceptionally high Net Promoter Scores above +60 from the beginning till the latest recorded, and found that according to its customers, its biggest strengths are ease of preparation, taste and consistency, and overall consumer satisfaction.
CustomerGauge are proud of having such a loyalty inspiring client. Download the full case study here.
Case Study: Melitta: How the inventor of the coffee filter is delivering a high-caffeine shot of Net Promoter excellence
Melitta is the 100 year old Minden, Germany based manufacturer of branded products. Founded by housewife Melitta Bentz, inventor of the paper coffee filter, its main activities are production and marketing in the fields of coffee, food storage and preparation, and domestic cleaning. Probably its most well-known product is its fully automated coffee machines. However, the company has a number of brands in its portfolio that enjoy leading positions across many international markets. And they are totally committed to excellent customer service.
Melitta: Brewing a First-Class Blend of Coffee and Customer Service
This case study describes how their Net Promoter project was implemented for their customer relationships and customer service systems together with CustomerGauge partner in Germany J/S/W Consulting.
Highlight of the system is the automated link from the call center to the CustomerGauge system via the API (CustomerGauge Application Programming Interface). Within moments a survey is sent out to the customer, resulting in a 60% response rate.
The system has already started to make an impact. Prior to the rollout, Melitta was confident that customers had a strong emotional bond with the brand and products. But the survey result surpassed all expectations, with initial scores above NPS +50 to back up the very high response rate.
Commented Consumer Service Coordinator Christoph Sundermeier: “It’s relatively easy to nurture relationships with customers to the point where they are satisfied with your service, but it’s another thing entirely to nurture relationships to the point where customers become active promoters, so we are exceptionally pleased with the initial results.”
As coffee lovers, we are delighted to have a client with excellent customer service, and great coffee machines too. By the way, our Client Operations Manager is an absolute coffee connoisseur – and she highly recommends their machines. Praise indeed!
Case Study – Dörken MKS Systems: How a technically focused business started a systematic approach to Net Promoter with CustomerGauge
Dörken MKS Systems produces and configures surface protection for the automotive, wind, construction and aviation industries under the brand name DELTA-MKS®, and in 2011 started a Net Promoter® project with CustomerGauge.
Headquartered in Herdecke, Germany, it has regional branches in the US, South America, China, Korea, and Japan. The company provides high level of technical service and products that meet exacting standards and complex specifications.
Case Study: Dörken MKS Systems. Fighting Corrosion. Maximizing Customer Service.
The case study describes how the Net Promoter project was implemented for their two-tier channels, together with CustomerGauge partner in Germany JSW Consulting.
Originally implemented in order to understand customers from a neutral standpoint, the survey succeeded in providing Dörken with successful results and useful feedback. And underscoring the fact that the company is a leader in its field in terms of customer service, at the end of 2011 it won an industry award for Best Professional Supplier in the category of “Substance and Semi-Finished Goods.”
Commented the Dörken Project Manager: “Immediate feedback was great from within the company and people were really curious to find out what their customers had said.”
We are pleased to have such a technically advanced client in Dörken MKS with excellent client focus.
