Focus on B2B Account Management with Net Promoter® Score

Adam Dorrell CEO CustomerGauge / Directness Adam.dorrell@directness.net 15 Jan 2013

*Net Promoter, NPS, and Net Promoter Score are trademarks of Satmetrix Systems, Inc., Bain & Company, and Fred Reichheld.

Introduction

•  Who this is relevant to: –  Sales/marketing/customer experience

executives in companies selling into medium/large organisations, with several contacts in the major accounts

–  Typically with enterprise-size deals of more than 100K

•  What we will cover: –  Using Net Promoter® to set sales discipline

and improve revenue –  Useful tips from real clients

•  Who we are and our credibility: –  Adam Dorrell

•  Former head of Marketing for b2b companies including Dell, FairMarket, FileNet, Interwoven (now ATG)

•  Using Net Promoter since 2003 •  CEO of CustomerGauge

–  Vivek Jaiswal

Thomas S Watson, IBM 1921

*Net Promoter, NPS, and Net Promoter Score are trademarks of Satmetrix Systems, Inc., Bain & Company, and Fred Reichheld.

A word about CustomerGauge…

•  CustomerGauge is the leading real-time Net Promoter® measurement platform.

–  Complete workflow and service recovery system

–  B2b, b2c and b2e solutions –  Automated reporting and digital signage –  Automated, with integrations to CRM

systems including SalesForce.com –  32 languages (reporting system in EN,

DE, ES, FR, NL, CN) •  Launched 2007 •  HQ Amsterdam, global coverage with

partners

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

Case Study numbers from Gartner (2004). Assume 2000 customers Revenue = €6000m per year Average Revenue

per Customer = €3m per year

At risk — 55% Decline in wallet

share

Defect — 45%

Poor experience 22%

Positive experience

78%

Complain 2%

Don’t complain

98%

At risk — 34% Issue not resolved

Defect — 28%

Resolved — 38% 440 customers

431 customers

2 customers €7m

194 customers €582m

3 customers €9m

200 customers $711m

9 customers

The Economics of Poor b2b Customer Experience: It’s the customers that don’t complain you need to worry about…

In this assumption improving the customer experience by 1% is worth €60m

At risk — 55% Decline in wallet

share

Defect — 45%

Poor experience 22%

Don’t complain

98%

What is “Account Management with Net Promoter?”

•  A discipline of regular customer contact with a feedback loop to drive sales engagement

•  Data driven approach that –  Measures and ensures that you have good client

engagement –  Measures customer loyalty by client and role in

company –  Can be a leading indicator of sales –  Drives good practices with clients –  Involves the entire organisation

•  Fast and simple to start

“These days, everyone IS RESPONSIBLE FOR the Customer Experience…”

Brad Tribble, Electrolux

1965 UNIVAC

Note! The score for Customer satisfaction is not the most important metric here

Net Promoter in a nutshell

•  No more 40 page surveys to a few contacts!

•  Ask everyone a very short survey, two questions

–  “How likely are you to recommend us to a friend or colleague?”

•  Report on Promoters or detractors.

•  One score •  Read customer comments

Download our cartoon guide: http://customergauge.com/tag/nps-comic/

Why is NPS interesting to salespeople?

•  Get customer issues fixed before an account review!

–  Helps manage account better, set account plan

–  Engages other people in organisation –  Support from top management

•  More revenue –  1. Find promoters

•  2x – 10x more likely to promote you company

–  2. Activate promoters –  3. Service Recovery

•  With upsell opportunities

•  Customer R&D •  Little or no additional work!

How to do it 1 Planning and Preparation

•  Net Promoter Champion organises project

–  Get board buy-in –  Organise client data

•  Rank into top clients by revenue •  Use 80/20 rule, top box approach •  By account manager, region, etc

–  Organise contact data •  Larger clients have more contacts •  Assign roles ABC (strategic, tactical,

operational) •  Get emails (activate with sponsor)

Client Companies

Contacts

How to do it 2 Communication

•  Communication is key –  Internally

•  Explain program, engage all parts of business

–  Externally •  Alert clients to actions •  Encourage feedback

•  Use a good email tool and survey mechanism –  If you are budget limited and

have time, Survey Monkey and Excel can work

Example Model “Contract” between you and clients •  Your feedback is important to us •  We will solicit feedback on average two times a

year •  We will respect your time – very short survey of

2 questions max – will take less than 5 minutes •  Only a few people in your organisation •  We will read and act on all of the feedback,

board level if necessary •  We aim to improve service •  We will be transparent with feedback and share

your results with you at least once a year

Internal communication From the desk of the CEO: •  Satisfaction is everyone’s

business •  We will be seeking feedback

from all clients •  Respond fast, use as an way

of increasing customer sales •  Don’t be afraid of feedback

Hint: CustomerGauge is an excellent all-in-one solution!

How to do it 3

Measurement

•  Measurement –  Survey people 2x a year –  Very short survey – 2 questions –  Track who is responding

•  Engagement –  Measure the engagement –  Aim for 100% response from top

clients –  Aim for overall 60%+

engagement from contacts

Tips •  Don’t survey all clients at once. •  Stagger them – do some each

week or month •  Then you can act on issues and

build in learning.

Contacting Customers: •  Everyone has email these days •  Make sure survey is mobile

compatible •  Get the sponsor in the client to

help get the contacts •  Some believe that non-responders

should be classed as detractors •  If response is less than 60%, you

need to work on sales engagement

How to do it 4 Acting on responses

•  Organise and be ready –  Expect 50% or more of the responses to

give comments –  Read every comment

•  Distribute comments around organisation –  Do it centrally or let the teams arrange –  CLOSE THE FEEDBACK LOOP

•  Track open issues and time to close –  Acknowledge with 24 hours –  Let clients know what you will do –  Escalate to board serious issues. –  Report internally on issues

•  Categorise, and deal with issues tactically or strategically

TIP! Incentivise staff to close issues in a short time

How to do it 5 Account Management

•  Organise responses by company

•  Present the findings at regular account reviews –  Scores –  Comments –  Track actions –  Improve scores for next

time

Start the conversation like this: “Here is what your employees think of your investment in our product/services…”

If different management tiers have different views, then explore why

Case Study 1: Large public hi-tech company •  Net Promoter History

–  2 years, mostly manual, last 18m with CustomerGauge

•  Operational measurements: –  Survey all clients and client key stakeholders –  Close the look for the respondents – Quickly

deal with issues that create passives or detractors

–  Board issues at management level •  Metrics (dashboard)

–  NPS –  Survey ratio (how many clients) – 100% –  Response rate +70%* (currently at 50% –  Close Loop ratio: respondents +95%, clients:

100% –  Board issues: prioritised/priocessed in 3

months •  Proficiency

–  Set targets (each unit and account mgmt team) –  Set Delta targets for NPS

– 

•  Support for sales –  Notifications to account managers when a

respondent answers –  Tracking close the loop –  Configured CRM tool (Salesforce) to support

Pre survey, follow ups etc •  Sales Actions

–  Get info from a client sponsor on WHO to survey

•  Governance –  Use a 4 box model –  Have meetings with top box clients –  Integrate reports into account plans –  Board issues tracked: prioritised OR rejected

Everyone involved in a 10 is thanked by the responsible manager

Case Study 1: Results and learnings

•  Baseline NPS 10 •  Measured NPS at levels:

–  Operation (--), Strategic (-), Tactical –(+) –  Conclusion: less personal attention lowers the NPS

•  Survey results : –  50% lack of trust (or issues that would eventually destroy trust)

•  Lack of Price/product transparency •  Lack Product quality (including old documentation) •  (Invoicing of client mistakes) •  New releases with large costs but dubious values

–  Looked at results by product area – Client Focus was largest negative contributor

•  How: - Set up an office of NPS –  Make sure actions decided in relation to board issues were

carried out –  Identify Detraction and Promoter drivers (eliminate, replicate) –  Identify top CS stars and practices –  Share resources and best practices –  Common targets in addition to local targets

•  Stats on which clients are filling it out (or are queued) –  Response rates by accounts –  Response rates by Strategic/Tactical/Operational –  Assist sales to call non-respondents

•  Survey Relationships and transactions (support calls)

Case Study 2, 3, 4

Basic American Foods: NPS 60

TIP! Case studies on http://customergauge.com/tag/case-study/

Singlehop: Learning from new customer activations how to improve for other new acquistion customers

Bavaria Film: Regular surveys after each studio engagement has improved engagement and attracted new clients through word of mouth

General Points •  According to industry stats *B2b company average

NPS 24 –  Account Management usually about 50% of NPS

•  You should survey 2x a year •  Target Response 60%+

–  Non responders – treat as detractors (can’t do 5 min survey, are not engaged)

–  Respond immediately to detractors – this can often result in an upsell

•  Act on feedback and explain to clients •  Don’t tie compensation to NPS •  Don’t incentivise clients (you may not be allowed to in

regulated businesses anyway) •  Digital signage brings real time data in •  Transparency is key

–  http://www.genroe.com/blog/how-to-confidently-and-transparently-share-your-transactional-customer-feedback/6309

•  Toshiba: Toshiba – Customer Satisfaction transparency: http://www.toshiba.co.jp/csr/en/customer/cs.htm

* http://www.netpromoter.com/netpromoter_community/blogs/conference_sf_2009/2009/01/27/b2b-and-nps-a-match-made-in-heaven

Thank you!

•  Questions? •  More details: info@customergauge.com