Are Your Customers Happy? How Do You Know?

Seeking Satisfaction... "How likely is it you would recommend us to a friend?" That's The Ultimate Question that you should ask your customers, according to Fred Reichheld of Bain & Company.

Packaged as the Net Promoter metric, this hot trend is spreading through corporate America, including giants like GE and American Express. (Wall Street Journal, July 10, 2006)

"GE asks customers to rate on a scale of zero to 10 how likely they would be to recommend the company to a friend. Those who rate GE a nine or 10 are 'promoters,' seven or eight 'passives,' and six or lower 'detractors.' To create a net-promoter score, the company subtracts the detractors from the promoters."

So this got me thinking. What's the best way to measure customer satisfaction in the real estate services business? Is anybody using the net-promoter metric?

In an unrelated (or maybe not) New York Times article, "More than a third of American companies with 1,000 or more workers say they employ people to read through other employees' outbound e-mail. ... Companies look through e-mail for leaked trade secrets and improperly disclosed financial information..." (June 12, 2006) Oops.

Does your company monitor your e-mail? Does this oversight improve the quality of your service?

Sticker Alert... Three weeks ago, this sticker in Ashland, OR, got me smiling: "In order to insure the quality of your patriotism, your conversation may be monitored."

-- Peter Pike