One Question That Can Predict the Future of Your Company
Thursday, July 14th, 2011
The future of the company is definitely in the hand of the owner and his employees. But then there is another factor around which all the business revolves. The customers are the most important part of any business. It is they who need to be happy if any business needs to sustain for very long periods of time.
Thus the main question that regulates the future of the company is this:
Are the customers satisfied?
Most of the new startup businesses understand the basics to deal with the customers. They know the stats about their customers and can easily predict their reactions to marketing methods. The problem starts when the business starts to grow. The number of customers starts to increase. That’s when it becomes difficult to keep track of all the customers, and whether they’re satisfied.
What is the solution?
Many people have said that the solution to the problem is to conduct customer surveys. But these surveys seldom help. They give only half the stats and, as they say: half knowledge is the worst knowledge. Yet there needs to be a method to find a constructive solution to keep track of customer reviews.
The Net Promoter Score Methodology
This method is definitely one to consider and it has been formulated by Reichheld. The method revolves around a very important question that is asked to the customers:
On a scale of 10, how likely is that you would refer the service or the product to a friend or colleague?
It was discovered that if the person answers with a 9 or a 10 then he is definitely likely to purchase from the company or refer it to a friend. Also it was noticed that a high scoring company was more likely to be successful than a low scoring one. The idea behind the concept quickly caught up with the big companies and they quickly latched onto the method to find some definite solutions.
How to measure?
I would like to give an account of how to use the Net Promoter Score Methodology. The explanation is definitely easier with an example. On the scale of 10, the marks that you get are divided into three categories. The people who give you a nine or a ten are the promoters since they are most likely to promote your company. The people who give you a seven or an eight are passives; that is, they are the ones who are satisfied but are not likely to promote your product. Now there also are people who are not at all satisfied with your services. They give you marks between zero to six and they are known as the detractors.
To find out the exact score, take a note of all three types. Suppose the number of promoters are 40 percent, the number of passives are 30 percents and the number of detractors are 30 percent. Thus, your net score would be promoter percentage minus detractor percentage, which would be, in this example, 40-30, which is 10. It has been found that any company with a net score of 15 percent and above is likely to grow and flourish better.
So in the age when people hate to take surveys, but may be more willing to take a one question survey, you might want to try this method. If you score below 15, then it’s time for you to reevaluate your business operating and marketing methods as it pertains to customer satisfaction.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Sera Filson is a writer, entrepreneur and professional student who’s currently pursuing a B.A. in Business Management. She manages her busy life by staying organized with Outlook, which uses Intermedia’s Hosted Exchange.


