Skip to main content
SolarWinds MSP
  • Login
  • Support
  • Partnerships
    • Partnerships Overview
    • Solution Provider Program
    • Technology Alliance Program
    • Distributor Program
SolarWinds MSP
  • Products
    • SolarWinds N-central Automate what you need. Tackle complex networks. Try this remote monitoring and management solution built to help maximize efficiency and scale.
    • SolarWinds RMM Start fast. Grow at your own pace. Try this powerful but simple remote monitoring and management solution.
    • SolarWinds EDR Defend against ransomware, zero-day attacks, and evolving online threats with Endpoint Detection and Response
    • SolarWinds Backup Manage data protection for servers, workstations applications, documents and Microsoft 365 from one SaaS dashboard.
    • Mail Protection & Archiving Protect users from email threats and downtime.
    • Password Management Easily adopt and demonstrate best practice password and documentation management workflows.
      • Passportal Demo
    • PSA & Ticketing Manage ticketing, reporting, and billing to increase helpdesk efficiency.
    • Remote Support Help support customers and their devices with remote support tools designed to be fast and powerful.
  • Solutions

    I'm looking for...

    • Security Solutions
    • Monitoring Solutions
    • Efficiency Solutions
  • Resources
    • Blog
    • Webcasts & Events
    • Ask the N-central Experts
    • Daily Live Demos
    • RMM Foundations Training
    • Upcoming Events
    • Upcoming Webcasts
    • Resource Center
    • COVID-19 Resources
    • Resource Library
      • Case Studies
      • Product Information
      • eBooks
      • White Papers
      • Infographics
    • SolarWinds MSP Free Tools
    • GDPR Resource Center
    • Security Resource Center
    • MSP Institute Webinar Series
    • MSP Advice Project
  • About
    • Contact
    • Customer Success
    • Worldwide sales and support
    • Careers
    • Awards and Recognition
    • Get A Quote
    • Newsroom
      • Press Releases
      • In The News
      • Media Contacts
      • COVID-19 Response
    • Leadership Team
    • Legal
      • Cookie Policy
      • Privacy Notice
      • Software Services Agreement
      • Terms of Use
      • Backup Fair Use Policy
    • Security
      • SolarWinds Security Statement
      • Vendor Data Protection Requirements
    • Support
  • IT Departments
  • Contact Sales
    • Get A Quote
    • General Inquiry
  • TRY NOW
    • SolarWinds RMM
    • SolarWinds Backup
    • MSP Manager
    • SolarWinds Passportal
    • SolarWinds N-central
    • SolarWinds Mail Assure
    • SolarWinds Risk Intelligence
    • SolarWinds Take Control
  • Request a Quote
  • Try Now
    • SolarWinds RMM
    • SolarWinds N-central
    • SolarWinds Backup
    • MSP Manager
    • SolarWinds Mail Assure
    • SolarWinds Passportal
    • SolarWinds Risk Intelligence
    • SolarWinds Take Control
Request quote
Filter Blogs
  • Filter by:
  • MSP Business
    • Automation
    • Backup & Disaster Recovery
    • Security-series
    • Best Practices
    • Business
    • Business Growth
    • Business Risk
    • Cloud Computing
    • Customer Service
    • Cybersecurity
    • Cybersecurity Awareness Month
    • Data
    • GDPR
    • Internet of Things
    • IT Support
    • ITSM
    • LOGICcards
    • Machine Learning
    • Mail
    • Managed Services
    • Marketing
    • Mobile
    • Networking
    • Operations
    • Podcast
    • Product
    • PSA
    • Remote Management
    • Research & Trends
    • Risk Intelligence
    • Security
    • Security Vlog
    • Service Desk
    • Services & Support
    • The Head Nerds
    • Tips & Advice
    • Training
Home Blog MSP Business Operations How Do You Know Your Service Delivery Is Hitting Its Mark?
Operations

How Do You Know Your Service Delivery Is Hitting Its Mark?

By Eric Anthony
3 June, 2020

To answer this question, we need to start somewhere a little more obvious: Why is service delivery important? The obvious answer is that happy customers pay their bills and recommend your business to others. The next challenge becomes determining for certain whether they are happy (or not) with our service delivery—and if they are happy enough to refer us to others.  

There is a single question we can ask that encapsulates this: “How likely is it you would recommend us to a friend or colleague?” The answer to this question is a leading indicator of growth that can help you predict which direction your business is headed before the financials do—which is incredibly useful.

This question is the basis for what we call NPS or Net Promoter Score. There are several things that make NPS a great way to measure—and improve—service delivery. First, it is simple. The customer does not have to invest a lot of time or thought into their answer. They simply give a score of 0 to 10. Optionally you can ask for detail, but the only thing that should be required is the number score. Second, the answer is a good indicator of their overall experience with your company. Lastly, for the data nerds, NPS gives you measurable data from which to take actions we will discuss later in this article.

NPS is measured on a scale of 0 to 10 with ranges defined as:

  • Detractors (0 – 6): generally unhappy with your service and would probably say something negative to potential new customers
  • Passives (7– 8): satisfied but not overly so—these customers may be at risk for the competition stealing them away
  • Promoters (9 – 10): happy with your service and will continue to engage your services and refer you to others when asked

When to ask the question

CTA Image

SolarWinds Remote Monitoring and Management

Get the tools you need to manage, secure, and improve all things IT—all within a single web-based dashboard.

Try It Free Learn More

To get the score, you simply ask the question “How likely is it you would recommend us to a friend or colleague?” and allow them to click on a number. Like I mentioned before, you can optionally include a form field to allow them to give detail but never make it required. It is far more important to get the number score. If you want more detail, pick up the phone when you see the score. You can ask the question at any time but right after an engagement is always a good time. Some opportune times are:

  • When a ticket is closed (post-ticket survey)
  • Right after you have onboarded a new customer
  • When you complete a large project
  • At their regular business review

So now that you have this data, what do you do with it? The great thing about data is that it can drive defined workflows. Here are some ideas, broken down by category.

Promoters

  • Ask for the referral. If they are willing to refer, ask them if they have anyone in mind.
  • Get a quote, testimonial, or video to use in your marketing.
  • Use them as a spokesperson at events.

Passives

  • Dig deeper and find out what makes these customers different from your promoters.
  • Ask them what you could do to make their experience better.
  • The goal with passives is to transform them into promoters.

Detractors

  • Find out what went wrong.
  • Get details about why they are unhappy. Timing is key—reach out as soon as you see a score less than 7.
  • The goal with detractors is also to transform them into promoters, but sometimes your business is not a good match for a detractor. Finding this out sooner rather than later is better for both you and the customer.

Actions speak louder than words

Collecting the NPS scores is meaningless if you do not take action. Create an action plan or workflow for what to do with each and every score you collect. This will make your organization much more effective at moving toward outcomes that satisfy customer expectations and help you steer clear of clients that are not ideal for your business model.

At the end of the day, NPS gives you insight into future growth and arms you with data to take targeted action at clients, people, and processes to improve your overall customer experience. By asking one simple question, you will have your pulse on the overall health of your customer base as well as the information to address each client as an individual. 

Getting started is easy, there are many NPS solutions out there or you can simply ask the question and record it in a spreadsheet. The import thing is to get started, define your processes for responding, and get your people to start acting on the scores as you receive them.

 

Eric Anthony is the Head Operations Nerd at SolarWinds MSP. Before joining SolarWinds, Eric ran his own managed services provider business for over six years.

You can follow Eric on Twitter @operations_nerd

 

Additional reading

MSPs: How to Build a Referral Program
How Net Promoter Score Can Be the Key to Closing the Loop on Churn 
Customer Success—Using Your Data to Make Organizational Change
You might also like...
Operations

Why SLAs and SLOs are Important for Efficiency 

Operations

The Real Cost of Field Service 

Operations

Building an Efficient Escalation Process 

Operations

Staffing Your MSP for Efficiency, Success, and Growth 

Operations

Why Spend So Much Time Documenting Your Clients’ Stuff?

Operations

How Do You Help Customers Keep Important Documentation?

Want to stay up to date?

Get the latest MSP tips, tricks, and ideas sent to your inbox each week.

Loading form....

If the form does not load in a few seconds, it is probably because your browser is using Tracking Protection. This is either an Ad Blocker plug-in or your browser is in private mode. Please allow tracking on this page to request a subscription.

Note: Firefox users may see a shield icon to the left of the URL in the address bar. Click on this to disable tracking protection for this session/site

Recent Posts
  • January 2021 Patch Tuesday: One Actively Exploited Vulnerability and a Few Likely to Be
  • TAP Blog Series: Maximizing Your Service Delivery Opportunity
  • Why Do MSPs Choose SolarWinds Backup? IT Central Station Finds Out
  • Seven Features Remote Assistance Software Should Have
  • TAP Blog Series: Creating Your Automation Strategy—Three Key Components You Must Have in Place
Categories:
  • Security (229)
  • Tips & Advice (122)
  • Best Practices (94)
  • Managed Services (86)
  • Backup & Disaster Recovery (82)
  • Business Growth (75)
  • The Head Nerds (74)
  • IT Support (41)
  • Business (39)
  • Cybersecurity (37)
  • Automation (36)
  • Mail (33)
  • Operations (33)
  • Remote Management (27)
  • ITSM (25)
  • Data (21)
  • Cloud Computing (21)
  • Networking (21)
  • Marketing (14)
  • Product (11)
  • PSA (10)
  • Services & Support (4)
  • Mobile (4)
  • Risk Intelligence (4)
  • Service Desk (4)
  • Internet of Things (3)
  • Customer Service (3)
  • GDPR (2)
  • Research & Trends (2)
  • Training (2)
  • Business Risk (1)
  • LOGICcards (1)
Show moreless
SolarWinds MSP

Products
  • SolarWinds RMM
  • SolarWinds N-central
  • SolarWinds Backup
  • SolarWinds EDR
  • SolarWinds MSP Manager
  • SolarWinds Mail Assure
  • SolarWinds Risk Intelligence
  • SolarWinds Take Control
  • SolarWinds Passportal
  • All Products Use Cases
Solutions
  • Security Solutions
  • Monitoring Solutions
  • Efficiency Solutions
  • Identify which RMM solution is right for me
  • Drive Efficiency with Automation
  • Manage my MSP Business More Efficiently
  • Manage my IT Department More Efficiently
  • Layered Security
  • Cross-Platform Support
  • Data-Driven Insights
About
  • About Us
  • Careers
  • Newsroom
  • Leadership Team
  • Upcoming Events
  • Subscription Preferences
  • SolarWinds
  • SolarWinds Trust Center
  • COVID-19 Response
Support
  • SolarWinds RMM
  • Solarwinds N-central
  • SolarWinds Backup
  • SolarWinds Mail Assure
  • SolarWinds Take Control
  • SolarWinds MSP Manager
  • Solarwinds Risk Intelligence
  • Solarwinds Threat Monitor
  • SolarWinds Passportal
  • SolarWinds Take Control Downloads
  • Backup & Recovery Downloads
  • Service Status

Footer 2

  • Legal Documents
  • Privacy
  • California Privacy Rights
  • Security Information
  • Sitemap

© SolarWinds MSP Canada ULC and SolarWinds MSP UK Ltd.
All Rights Reserved.