Member Opinion

The voice of the customer: Are you listening?

John Castleman

by John Castleman, CEO, Alliance Global Services

Consider these facts:

According to a recent study by American Express:

A majority of Americans will spend an average of 9% more with companies that provide excellent service.
Just 37% of Americans believe companies have increased their focus on providing quality service in the current economy.
Contrary to conventional wisdom, consumers are more inclined to talk up good experiences (75%) than they are to complain about bad ones (59%).

According to Return on Behavior Magazine:

91% of unhappy customers will never purchase services from you again.
Satisfying and retaining current customers is 3 to 10 times cheaper than acquiring new customers.
70% of buying experiences are based on how the customer feels they are being treated.
7 out of 10 customers who switch to a competitor do so because of poor service.

These statistics show the tremendous opportunity for companies to build their business through excellent customer service.

At Alliance Global Services, we consider ourselves successful only if we exceed our clients’ expectations — but how do we know if we’ve achieved this goal? Our customer satisfaction program, the RIGHT Experience, has allowed us to effectively measure and build on the results.

There are three main areas that we focus on in our RIGHT Experience program: Client Audit Process, Client Satisfaction Surveys and Net Promoter Score.

Client Audit Process

Our RIGHT Experience program begins with getting constant in-depth feedback on our performance directly from our clients. We don’t know if we’re successful if we don’t ask.

To this end, one of our senior executives spends two full days with each of our clients asking such questions as “How are we doing?” and “What can we do better?”, and digs into the details of the engagement. During these open conversations, we are strengthening our relationships with our clients and confirming that we’re in sync with our clients’ business objectives, all while building trust. This trust begins with listening and listening often. Rather than soliciting feedback only at the end of an engagement, we are consistently and proactively opening lines of communication with our clients throughout the year. But we don’t stop there. We then immediately turn the feedback into a plan with next steps outlined. The time and effort dedicated consistently over the course of the year ensures that we’re on the right track and creates a benchmark for the next deep dive.

Client Satisfaction Survey

The second part of the RIGHT Experience program is formally conducting client surveys twice a year.

The Client Satisfaction Survey measures our performance on key areas, such as Delivery, Account Team, Project Management, and Products and Services offerings. Delivered electronically, the survey asks for ratings from 1 to 10 or from excellent to poor. It also offers open comment sections where clients can expand on their assessments of Alliance. As with the deep dive meetings, we then share this valuable information with our clients and use it the basis of an action plan that drives performance improvement.

Net Promoter Score

A key metric that we use to determine customer satisfaction is the Net Promoter Score (NPS). The NPS is the most widely accepted measure of customer loyalty and satisfaction in the business world. NPS provides a proven, quantifiable measure of how our clients perceive our work and given its widespread adoption, it also provides a benchmark against others in the industry.

NPS is obtained by asking customers to answer one question on a 0 to 10 rating scale: “How likely is it that you would recommend our company to a friend or colleague?” Based on their responses, clients are categorized into one of three groups: Promoters (9-10 rating), Passives (7-8 rating), and Detractors (0-6 rating). You then take the percentage of Promoters and subtract the percentage of Detractors to obtain your Net Promoter Score.

When we compare our most recent survey (Alliance received an NPS of 60), with scores for other technology industry firms presented by Performance Monitor, LLC, we have a tangible, measurable benchmark to understand how we’re doing in light of the competition. It also sets expectations and goals for the next round of survey results for each of our clients. Further, understanding which clients are Promoters and which are Detractors brings focus across our team for improving relationships.

Overall, creating the RIGHT Experience program has allowed us to effectively measure how we are wowing our clients every day and positions us with increased client engagement and open communication, the essentials to successful partnerships. The end benefits are clear. When clients are engaged with a company and receive excellent service, they:

Buy more services
Are willing to pay more for a company’s services
Exhibit higher levels of customer loyalty
Stay longer in a business relationship
Provide more feedback and therefore uncover more opportunities
Refer a business more often

How will you deliver and measure outstanding customer service? I’m interested in hearing your thoughts and ideas. Email me.

As CEO of Alliance Global Services, John Castleman is charged with setting the vision and executing Alliance’s growth strategy. Alliance Global Services is a software solutions firm providing the full life cycle of capabilities from strategic guidance through product development, quality assurance testing and application maintenance outsourcing. Castleman has spent most of his career holding senior management positions with technology services and software companies, where he has earned a reputation for strategic thought and successful execution. Before joining Alliance Consulting as SVP of Operations, Castleman held leadership positions with Elemica, Acorn Systems, Safeguard Scientifics and MeadWestvaco. Castleman holds a degree in History from Princeton University and an MBA from the University of Virginia.