Explaining the JudgeService Promoter Score
JudgeService have established a clear link between customer satisfaction and the speed of stock turn in used vehicle sales.
I’ve been asked on many occasions to explain what the Promoter Score is. This is so that clients and colleagues have a clear understanding of what drives improvement in customer satisfaction.
In essence, the Promoter Score is a scale of 0-10 that asks customers how likely they would be to recommend the business to friends and family or colleagues.
It then splits the customers surveyed into promoters, passives, and detractors.
If you score a business 9 or 10, you are a promoter. You are likely to endorse, recommend or even defend the business against criticism.
If you scored them either a 7 or 8, you are passive. So, you’re not critical of the brand, but neither are you super engaged.
You’re quite happy and may carry on using it, but you might substitute it too because you see something else better or fancy a change.
Those who score 6 or lower are detractors, people who wouldn’t recommend your business and may actively troll you.
How I explain the Promoter Score
I proposed to my wife, Wendy, in a Café Rouge in Cambridge.
I wasn’t aware at that time Café Rouge was a part of Whitbread, (a huge chain that has famously owned Premier Inn, Costa, Beefeater and more). I thought it was a lovely independent café in Cambridge.
Luckily, she said yes. So, after moving jobs and relocating up North to Yorkshire, we started to book Café Rouge in York for our Wedding Anniversary each year. It became a bit of a tradition.
(I’ve since come to learn that going to the same restaurant every year isn’t that romantic!)
So, we went to Café Rouge, and we’ve always had a reasonably good experience, but the quality of the food definitely declined a bit over time. On the last occasion, we ended up being seated in a corridor, near a drafty back door and the only thing you can really see is the entrance to the gents.
Wendy quite quickly said “you’re not happy are you”, and so we made our excuses and left.
Then we were in an awkward situation because it’s Valentines weekend and we don’t have a booking.
So, we went to Betty’s, a famous Yorkshire tearoom.
It was about 7pm and Betty’s always has a queue outside because they don’t take bookings.
The queue wasn’t too bad, so we got a table, and we had some brilliant food. We were really well looked after by our server and the atmosphere was great.
The cherry on top was that they had a pianist; I went over and asked her if she would play the song from our first dance. Nat King Cole – When I Fall in Love.
She said that she didn’t know it. However, during her break she learnt it, came back downstairs and played it for us! Outstanding customer service.
I’ve told this story many times. This makes me a detractor of Café Rouge and a promoter of Betty’s.
What about the passives?
I like a cup of tea or a coffee, and sometimes something cheesy and melted! Particularly, when I’m on a long car journey. So, I’ll pull into a Starbucks or a Café Nero or a Costa. I’ll go to any of those three and they are all fine, all good. I couldn’t tell you the difference between any of them in terms of the quality of the coffee or their tea or even their cheese toasties.
I would give them a 7 or 8 but I’m not a fan. I wouldn’t go out of my way to drive to a Costa over a Starbucks.
To get your Promotor Score you take the number of detractors away from your promoters, ignoring the passives.
Moving people from passives to promoters is achieved by implementing 3 things into your business:
- The right product for what you charge
- Outstanding, measured customer service from motivated colleagues
- A deliberate policy of trying to get people to endorse and recommend the product
This is where I think something like JudgeService, a business that conducts surveys on your behalf to measure customer satisfaction comes in, It helps you understand where your business is at, and how individual people are performing too.
If you improve your Promoter Score by excelling in all elements of your customer’s journey, from enquiry to handover, you will see an increase in speed of stock turn, raving fans spreading the word of mouth and ultimately profitability.
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