Thanks for the kind words!

I completely agree with you – running a large Net Promoter Score program from an Excel spreadsheet eventually becomes impossible. In my experience, many companies follow a similar path regarding the systems that power their NPS program.

Phase 1: A suite of non-integrated, mostly free tools. Companies at this stage generally use a free tool like SurveyMonkey for their survey, Microsoft Excel for reporting and analysis, and their email client for Close-the-Loop triggers.

Phase 2: A purpose-built, standalone tool. Companies at this stage will use NPS software from companies like SatMetrix, CustomerSat, CustomerGauge, Vovici, MarketTools, etc.

Phase 3: A system that is integrated with the core of the business. Companies at this stage will use purpose-built NPS software like in stage two, but now those tools are integrated with the systems that the business already uses. Examples would be ETL integration with the enterprise datawarehouse for reporting, CRM integration for Close-the-Loop activity management, and more complex analytical tools like SPSS, Minitab, etc.

Regardless of what technology is used, the important thing is that companies start asking, understanding, acting upon and responding to feedback from their customers.

Hopefully this post helps companies who are new to NPS get started just a little bit faster!

it all makes so much sense…so much so, in fact, that very few companies out there actually DO this.

only the rare and very forward thinking organization really understands the confluence of the “people” stuff and the “desired metrics” stuff.

one is fuzzy, soft, hard to quantify and almost ethereal. the other seems rather cut and dried, obvious and like we all should be able to wring out every ounce (especially in this economy) like a wet sham-wow.

few realize how the former affects the latter. Or, at the very least, very few know how to leverage the former to get better latter. say that three times fast.

anyway, well stated argument.

Well stated. I really like your two-fold definition. It’s easily understood and gets right to the point.

“In working with more than 50 Chief Customer Officers during the past 7 years, I’ve found that people may have the title of CCO but are not really more than a differently titled VP of Service.”

While my sample size is considerably smaller, I’ve also encountered several people with the title of CCO who are effectively a re-titled VP of Market Research.

It is interesting to see how consistently the type of CCO chosen correlates with company size and maturity. “

I find this datapoint encouraging. If the role of CCO is to continue to gain credibility in the C-suite, it is imperative that the CCO role follows the same patterns found in more established CxO positions. The CFO of a small company has a vastly different focus than one at a Fortune 500, and a CTO at a startup uses a different authority model than one at a 100 year old company. Likewise, the CCO’s focus and authority model should be appropriate for the size and stage of the company. If I were to emulate Jeb Dasteel’s approach (large, mature company), or if Jeb were to emulate mine (small, growth-mode company) neither of us would be successful and we would both weaken the credibility of the nascent CCO role.

As you correctly pointed out, the definition of the CCO Role is not necessarily suited for cocktail parties but is, in fact, useful in separating the real CCO from a functionary.

In working with more than 50 Chief Customer Officers during the past 7 years, I’ve found that people may have the title of CCO but are not really more than a differently titled VP of Service. Many more are functioning as a CCO, but without the title.

Thus, the two-fold definition: the CCO is the ultimate customer authority, and has the authority to cut across any organizational boundary in the name of the customer.

I created a CCO Continuum (available at the CCOCouncil.org website) that shows the different ways of classifying the CCO under this umbrella definition and according to their focus on customer acquisition vs. retention, and their authority model. It is interesting to see how consistently the type of CCO chosen correlates with company size and maturity.

Curtis N. Bingham
Founder and Executive Director,
Chief Customer Officer Council