CEOs regularly announce ambitious growth targets, then fail to achieve them. The reason? Their growing addiction to bad profits. These corporate steroids boost short-term earnings but alienate customers. They undermine growth by creating legions of detractors - customers who complain loudly about the company and switch to competitors at the earliest opportunity. Based on extensive research, "The Ultimate Question" shows how companies can rigorously measure Net Promoter statistics, help managers improve them, and create communities of passionate advocates that stimulate innovation. Vivid stories from leading-edge organizations illustrate the ideas in practice. Practical and compelling, this is the one book - and the one tool - no growth-minded leader can afford to miss.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Almost everyone appreciates the importance of customer satisfaction in business, but this book takes that idea to two extremes. First, it claims that customer satisfaction is more important than any business criterion except profits. Second, it argues that customer satisfaction is best measured by one simple question, "Would you recommend this business to a friend?" Pressure for financial performance tempts executives to seek "bad profits," that is, profits obtained at the expense of frustrating or disappointing customers. Such profits inflate short-term financial results, Reichheld writes, but kill longer-term growth. Only relentless focus on customer satisfaction can generate "good profits." One unambiguous question, with answers delivered promptly, can force organizational change, he claims. Reichheld makes a strong rhetorical case for his ideas, but is weaker on supporting evidence. The negative examples he gives are either well-known failures or generic entities like "monopolies," "cell phone service providers" and "cable companies." When presenting statistics on poor performers, the names are omitted "for obvious reasons." On the other hand, the positive examples are named, but described in unrealistically perfect terms. Believable comparisons of companies with both virtues and flaws would have been more instructive. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
Among management books, this one's a keeper. -- The Washington Post
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
NPS, finally a customer service score I can use,
By
This review is from: The Ultimate Question: Driving Good Profits and True Growth (Hardcover)
The Ultimate Question is compelling to read. Alright, so I listened to it. Then I went out and bought five more copies for the senior people on my team. This question (and the supporting elements) have already begun to ripple out and have an impact upon our organization. Would you refer us to your friend or family member? It places accountability upon the person being asked at a completely different level. Talk about amping it up.The second, and in many way more important element, is tracking this effort with the same level of dilligence and seriousness of your accounting or financials. Actually making this a metric you track with results that work their way toward forecasted revenue is huge. It justifies the effort of trying to track it in the first place. And of course at the end of the day we get to delight our customers which is why most of us started our businesses in the first place. We're learning what we can do better and reacting to it more quickly...probably because we respect the NPS system more than we ever did our customer satisfaction surveys. I can only imagine how our organization and our work product will be over the long term. An excellent cornerstone element!
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best way to measure customer satisfaction levels!,
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This review is from: The Ultimate Question: Driving Good Profits and True Growth (Hardcover)
This is the best book I have ever seen in terms of providing the simplest way to measure the satisfaction level of a customer. Not only does the ultimate question provide that, it also is quick/easy for clients to complete. That is also important. There is lots of data to support the effectiveness of the ultimate question, which adds to its credibility. I have successfully used this methodology in our business and have received good feedback.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Correct your company's course,
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This review is from: The Ultimate Question: Driving Good Profits and True Growth (Hardcover)
This is the first career/business development type book that truly kept me interested from cover-to-cover. Reading it will define your Jerry Maguire moment and you wonder how your business got the point it has without this being on the forefront of everyone's minds. How do companies truly "grow". Follow this book.
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Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
Too many companies these days can't tell the difference between good profits and bad. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
bad profits, customer promoters, more promoters Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Net Promoter Scores, American Express, Golden Rule, Community of Promoters-By Listening, One Goal, Four Seasons, Andy Taylor, The Rules of Measurement, Southwest Airlines, Design Winning Customer Strategies, Can Drive Growth, The Measure of Success, The Enterprise Story-Measuring What Matters, Organization That Creates Promoters, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Inner Circle, The Vote, Pat Flood, United States, General Electric, Six Sigma, The Consumer Tax Group, Tell Dell, Feargal Quinn New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Too many companies these days can't tell the difference between good profits and bad. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
bad profits, customer promoters, more promoters Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Net Promoter Scores, American Express, Golden Rule, Community of Promoters-By Listening, One Goal, Four Seasons, Andy Taylor, The Rules of Measurement, Southwest Airlines, Design Winning Customer Strategies, Can Drive Growth, The Measure of Success, The Enterprise Story-Measuring What Matters, Organization That Creates Promoters, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Inner Circle, The Vote, Pat Flood, United States, General Electric, Six Sigma, The Consumer Tax Group, Tell Dell, Feargal Quinn New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 1
book:
1
book
cites this book:
- Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't by Jim Collins on page 117
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