More on the always-fresh topic of customers …
Fred Reichheld is the God-Guru of Customer Loyalty. He pretty well took the anecdote-laden field and put (VERY) hard numbers to a previously (VERY) soft topic.
Now he gives us another, related home run observation backed by, as usual, a ton of unimpeachable data: There is one question/measure (just one!) in the “happy/pissed off customer” universe that correlates … perfectly (BIG WORD) … with subsequent revenue growth. Namely: “How likely are you to recommend [company] to a friend or colleague?”
Reichheld calls this the “net promoter score.” For instance, in wretched airline world, you guessed it, the golden oldies cluster tightly at the bottom … and Southwest is off-the-charts positive.
Nice!
Brilliant!
Wow!
Source: POINT (Advertising Age)/November 2005