NPS (23) The heart of the Net Promoter System (1-minute read) – 23rd article in a series on the Net Promoter System®
Welcome to the 23rd article in my series on the Net Promoter Score and System. This post is the shortest of all. I decided to separate it from the text I have written about the Inner Loop (which will now be the next article) for the sake of clarity. Over the last few years I have found that the terms Inner Loop and Outer Loop may be counter-intuitive. The reason is that the Inner Loop is the one that involves customers most immediately and directly. Casual readers tend to think that must be what the Outer Loop is about. Whatever your current state of understanding, I urge you to take the short time needed to read what follows.
While it is unfortunately the only part of the system that many companies use, the NPS numbers don’t matter all that much. What matters is what you do with what you have learned. The heart of the Net Promoter System lies in the three processes that support feedback, learning and improvement. They are shown above.
The Inner Loop covers improvements for individual customers. You will find that some issues come up repeatedly and need to be improved for many customers. These ‘class issues’ are the subject of deeper analysis and improvement work in the Outer Loop. Some Outer Loop items cross business and / or functional lines and need to be led by someone who has the appropriate authority; usually the customer experience leader in larger companies. The Huddle is a regular team meeting to discuss progress. For those not familiar with American Football, the Huddle is the brief get-together each team does to plan its next play. It takes seconds. Implementing each of the three elements well should be the top priority for your Net Promoter System implementation.
(Image is copyright Bain & Company. Used with permission.)
Next time
The next article will be about the Inner Loop.
As is often the case, the above is a slightly-edited version of a chapter in one of our books; in this case Net Promoter – Implement the System All of our books are available in paperback and Kindle formats from Amazon stores worldwide, and from your better book retailers.
