The World’s Best Marketing
Do what you do so well that they will want
to see it again and bring their friends.
WALT DISNEY
No matter what work you or your organization do the loyalty of the people you serve is your most valuable asset. This is true whether you are a for – profit business or a not – for profit charity/ministry. The result of loyalty is not only that you have the opportunity to serve people over and over but they will also become your promoters by recommending your organization to their friends.
At SpringHill our “customers” include campers, camper parents and grandparents, local churches and supporters (volunteers, prayer partners and donors). Over the years we have measured their level of customer satisfaction using ever-changing methods. This has been helpful but at the same time, it also has been frustrating.
Frustrating because we are always wondering if we are getting the clearest picture of this important question – do those we serve feel so strongly about us that they will recommend us to their family and friends?
This summer two of our team members, Eileen Zilch and Sue Boike, benchmarked the customer service of Zingerman’s Delicatessen in Ann Arbor, MI including attending their customer service training. One of their key take always was Zingerman’s use of a customer service measurement called Net Promoter Score (NPS).
Eileen and Sue train SpringHill staff in customer service
NPS was created by Fred Reichheld and Bain & Company and is published in Reichheld’s book “The Ultimate Question: Driving Good Profits and True Growth”. NPS is determined by asking your customers the “ultimate question” which is “Based on your most recent experience with us, using a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 equals ‘not a chance’ and 10 equals ‘in a heartbeat’, how likely are you to recommend SpringHill Camps to a friend?”
The idea of the “ultimate question” is an answer to our prayers. First because the measure is simple and proven and allows us to benchmark against other organizations and secondly (and more importantly) it tells us whether we are creating such outstanding, life transforming experiences that people will not only want to come back but will bring their friends. We tested the use of NPS this summer and will continue to implement this measure throughout SpringHill over the next year.
My next posted will be an article written for a local newspaper by one of our campers about her SpringHill experience. The story is inspiring but also demonstrates the power of having your customers be your key promoters.
