The Ultimate Question: Driving Good Profits and True Growth »

Frederick F. Reichheld, Director Emeritus and Fellow at Bain & Co., is the bestselling author of The Loyalty Effect (1996) and Loyalty Rules (2001), both published by HBS Press.

One Question Can Determine Your Business s Future. Do You Know the Answer?

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.

Now loyalty expert Fred Reichheld shows how to reverse the equation, turning customers into promoters who generate good profits and true, sustainable growth. The key: one simple question—Would you recommend us to a friend?—that allows companies to track promoters and detractors and produces a clear measure of an organization s performance through its customers eyes. In industry after industry, this "Net Promoter Score" is the single most reliable indicator of a company s ability to grow.

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.

The Washington Post

Among management books, this one's a keeper.

1	Bad profits, good profits, and the ultimate question	3
2	The measure of success	23
3	How the net promoter score (NPS) can drive growth	39
4	The enterprise story - measuring what matters	59
5	Why satisfaction surveys fail	77
6	The rules of measurement	95
7	Design winning customer strategies	117
8	Deliver - building an organization that creates promoters	137
9	Develop a community of promoters - by listening	155
10	One goal, one number	175
App. A	The linkage between NPS and growth	191
App. B	Winners and sinners for selected U.S. and U.K. industries	195