By Polly Lynn
posted
Nov 12, 2012
Of course, Killington is known for its snow, its vast number of
trails and skiable acres, its entertainment, parties, and deals.
But one thing affects the guest experience more than all of these:
Customer service, explained Tracy Taylor, director of operations
for Pico Mountain, at the Annual Killington Chamber Meeting, Oct.
18.
"Our single most important survey metric asks the simple
question: 'How likely are you to recommend the Killington Resort
Community to a friend, family member, or colleague?'" he said
during his presentation.
How customers rate their likelihood to recommend the Killington
Resort Community to a friend, family member, or colleague gives the
resort a Net Promoter Score (NPS.)
For the 2011/2012 season, Killington Resort scored 64.7%-16th
out of 28 New England resorts.
Killington is determined to improve this telling metric and has
launched a "community-wide customer service initiative" as part of
their efforts to create "One Killington."
"We know the guest experience is based on their entire
experience here," said Taylor. "7 out of 10 customers who use the
resort facilities are visiting one of your businesses," he told
Killington Chamber members.
In an effort to "galvanize the region" Taylor outlined a
cooperative goal: improve Killington Region's NPS to 71% for the
2012/2013 season. This would match the average score for a resort
nationwide. In three years, he said, the goal is to grow
Killington's promoters to 85%.
HOW IT WORKS
Customers respond to the question: "How likely are you to recommend
the Killington Resort Community to a friend, family member, or
colleague?" on a 0-to-10 point rating scale and are categorized as
follows:
• Promoters (score 9-10) are loyal enthusiasts
who will keep buying and refer others, fueling growth.
• Passives (score 7-8) are satisfied but
unenthusiastic customers. They are vulnerable to competitive
offerings.
• Detractors (score 0-6) are unhappy customers
who can damage your brand and impede growth through negative
communications.
NPS is calculated by taking the percentage of customers who are
Promoters and subtracting the percentage who are Detractors.
Proponents of the Net Promoter approach claim the score can be used
to motivate an organization to become more focused on improving
products and services for customers. The Net Promoter approach has
been adopted by several highly successful companies, including GE,
Apple Retail, American Express and Intuit.
The NPS will be be calculated bi-monthly as soon as enough data
is collected to make the score statistically relevant. These scores
will be shared with the community through the Chamber of
Commerce.
"What's in it for you?" Taylor asked the audience at the end of
his presentation. "One Killington; One Vision!" and more revenue
growth! A company's Net Promoter Score has been shown to strongly
correlate with revenue growth, loyalty and positive long-range
business development.
So what do you say, Killington?
It's a simple concept and a simple goal; but it will require
cooperation, support, a bit of patience and a good deal of
passion-driven commitment to raise the bar.
