Click to read the article published in Money Wise in the December 2024 edition.
Net Promoter Score (NPS®) is far more than just a CX metric. It is an exercise in organisational transformation to build customer loyalty, advocacy and drive internal efficiency. By focusing on creating customer experiences and propositions that are worthy of recommendation, organisations naturally cultivate leaders within the organisation who embrace outside-in thinking, where their customers’ needs and insights drive decision-making and innovation.
It is a universal truth that every business leader desires organisational growth, but in my experience this is only possible when employees grow as individuals too. Growth drivers like increased referrals, enhanced loyalty and higher customer spend hinge on empowered employees. By focusing on customer-centric initiatives, employees not only innovate but also improve efficiencies, drive sales and reduce servicing costs through proactive solutions that they develop.
NPS® provides a hands-on environment for staff to develop real-world strategic skills. Rather than relying solely on classroom training, employees of organisations that practice a strong NPS® discipline tend to engage directly with customer feedback, aligning internal capabilities with customer expectations. While this fosters accountability and innovation within the organisation, it simultaneously accelerates organisational growth by enabling employees to focus on meaningful customer outcomes.
However, this is only possible if businesses go beyond the mindset around treating NPS® just like a survey or a score. They must treat it like a strategic conversation with customers that informs business improvements and innovation, thus creating a win-win for both – the employee and the organisation.
Key Leadership Skills That Can Be Developed Using NPS®
- Cross-Functional Collaboration Skills
NPS® necessitates collaboration across departments, especially to tackle broad organisational issues that involve multiple functions. This exposure helps emerging leaders see beyond their department’s focus, understanding the bigger picture of customer satisfaction.
As a classic example, one of our clients, Australian health insurance company TUH Health Fund, used NPS® to break down silos by creating cross-departmental workshops. These sessions helped the teams to align on a unified response to customer feedback. Everyone realised that they were personally accountable at an individual level, team level, departmental level and organisational level towards delivering a great experience for their customers. As a result, people who had the potential to become future leaders of the organisation learned the dynamics of cross-functional collaboration, creating solutions that improved customer retention, even against larger competitors.
- Cultivating Ideation and Innovation Skills Through NPS®
NPS® empowers local teams, whether in sales, customer service or product development, or any other business function, to proactively address customer feedback specific to their functions or locations. Encouraging leaders to ideate and implement solutions not only solves customer challenges, but also nurtures creative problem-solving and ownership.
When NPS® feedback is collected at a granular level, it reveals customer pain points and sparks opportunities for innovation. Training leaders to identify trends and balance creative ideas with financial feasibility strengthens their ability to drive impactful improvements.
Let me share an example with you. We train front line leaders on how to uncover insights and facilitate speed ideation sessions with their teams. Besides the benefits of developing new ideas, it also drives employee engagement. After all, as the saying goes without involvement there is no commitment. As a leader you have a choice – tell staff what they have to do, or invite them to help create experiences worthy of recommendation. There is no prize for guessing the right answer.
At one of these speed ideation sessions, one of our client’s call centre employees shared a brilliant idea. She shared her unique approach to engaging with customers at an emotional level where she imagined each caller as a family member or friend – a parent, sibling, friend or grandparent – based on their voice and adapting her tone accordingly. This personalised touch created a strong emotional bond, leaving customers feeling cared for and enhancing loyalty.
We help organisations create similar success stories. Through specialised half-day workshops, team managers gain skills to collaborate with their teams and develop rapid, innovative solutions to customer issues.
- Accountability and Personal Ownership
One of the core benefits of establishing and practicing a best practice NPS® discipline is that it builds a culture of accountability by encouraging not just business leaders, but staff as well, to take personal responsibility for customer feedback. This personal ownership is only effective when results are tracked at a granular level, such as a team member, team or function.
For many of my clients who are intent on doing NPS® right, we segment data and insights for them by specific touchpoints. This allows each team, and each member of the team where necessary, to see their impact on customer experience directly. This helps business leaders and managers, especially in service and product support, become more committed to driving positive changes like simplifying call scripts, refining technical support guidance or improving supply chain processes.
Recognising team achievements for their NPS® improvements based on such key insights also motivates staff, creating a culture of accountability.
- Influencing and Listening Skills
One of the critical trainings we conduct with our clients is how to manage Detractors and go on to convert them to Promoters. I call this critical because it is your Detractors who can tell you what is wrong within your business so that you can take corrective action.
Learning to deal with Detractors helps staff build empathy and effective listening skills, which is vital for understanding customer sentiment. Once this discipline is adopted and practiced across the organisation, it promotes a customer-centric culture within teams. Staff who have the aptitude to become future leaders become adept at listening and influencing others by responding to negative feedback constructively.
NPS® as a Launchpad for Future Leaders
NPS® offers a hands-on learning environment for both emerging and seasoned leaders, encouraging them to prioritise customer feedback while navigating the complexities of short-term actions and long-term customer loyalty. By embedding the NPS® discipline and by reiterating its importance in internal staff training programs, employees can gain practical experience in crafting customer-centric strategies that drive measurable improvements. This approach empowers leaders to think beyond just conducting surveys to fostering a mindset focused on sustained customer engagement and strategic thinking. These skills are vital for leading a business in today’s competitive, customer-focused landscape.
Quotes:
When businesses treat NPS® like a strategic conversation with customers, it informs business improvements and innovation. This, in turn, creates a win-win for both – the growth of both the employees and the business.
By focusing on creating customer experiences and propositions that are worthy of recommendation, organisations naturally cultivate leaders within the organisation who embrace outside-in thinking.
As a leader you have a choice – tell staff what they have to do, or invite them to help create experiences worthy of recommendation.
NPS®, Net Promoter® and Net Promoter Score® are registered trademarks of NICE Satmetrix Systems, Inc., Bain & Company and Fred Reichheld.
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