HOW TO GET CUSTOMERS TO RECOMMEND YOU
In his book, Fred Reichheld, customer loyalty expert and director emeritus at Bain & Company, a global business consulting firm, gets to the heart of measuring customer happiness and satisfaction.

It all boils down to one question, the Ultimate Question, which he recommends asking customers of most industries:

“How likely is it that you would recommend (Organization X) to a friend or colleague?”

Bain & Company’s research had proven that conventional customer satisfaction measures are unreliable. They found that there is little connection between satisfaction rates and actual customer behavior, or between satisfaction rates and a company’s growth. The many complex reasons for this are detailed in the book.

In tests administered to thousands of customers recruited from public lists in six industries, with the goal of determining which customer satisfaction survey questions showed the strongest statistical correlation with repeat customers or referrals, this question ranked first or second — and it makes perfect sense.

If customers are really loyal to a particular provider of goods or services, what’s the most natural thing for them to do? Of course: recommend that company to someone they care about. Does any other question matter? Not so much.

Reichheld notes that two conditions must be met before individuals will make a personal referral:

1. they must believe that the company offers a superior value in terms of quality, price, etc. (engaging their head), and

2. they must believe the company understands them, values them, listens to them, and shares their principles (engaging their heart).

On a one-to-ten scale, people who answer 0 to 6 to the Ultimate Question are considered Detractors, 7 to 8 are Passives, and only people who answer 9 to 10 are considered Promoters of the organization.

Okay, now that you know the Ultimate Question, try asking your customers how you rate, and track your own Net Promoter Score. Aim for a stable of 9’s and 10’s, go back to your 7’s and 8’s to see what’s bugging them that you can fix, and try to replace your 6’s and below with higher number customers. Your rate of referral will increase on its own, and you’ll end up with a better quality of loyal customers.