Going Beyond The Metric to Deliver Promoter Advocacy

Jim Bush has been head of Customer Service at American Express since 2005, and his role is seen by many as having been central to AmEx outperforming the S&P 500 Financial Index by 63% during the period 2007-2012.

In a recent interview with Fortune Magazine, Bush described a new mindset he brought to the role, in that "I thought about the opportunity of capitalising on every human interaction and moving away from being a cost of doing business to being an investment in building relationships".

As the method and the metric to achieve this, Bush chose the Net Promoter Score, and as a result "we've been able to show that increased satisfaction drives increased engagement with American Express products and that drives shareholder value. For a promoter who is positive on American Express, we see a 10% to 15% increase in spending and four to five times increased retention, both of which drive shareholder value".

What's particularly interesting is how Bush then describes what AmEx has done to complement the method and metric of Net Promoter Score with a new focus on the mindset and behavioural development of the Customer Service Organisation 

The training has changed. In the past, 75% of it was on how, technically, you complete the transaction. Now it's on how you create the relationship, and build it through humanity, conversation and engagement. We developed purpose, and we created energy around that purpose. When you unleash the personality of people to make those connections the value is significant.

This experience resonates very strongly with FranklinCovey's approach. Our Customer Loyalty Practice also has as a partner Fred Reichheld (who co-develoepd the Net Promoter Score at Bain) and is managed by Sandy Rogers (who Reichheld often cites as a case study early adopter during his time at Enterprise Rentacar). What sets our offer apart is how FranklinCovey can then bring to bear 20 years' experience of helping people and organisations to adopt principle based mindsets (and corresponding behaviours) in developing relationships with others, as this is what fosters the trust and confidence that sits at the heart of promoter advocacy.