Net promoter / Net detractor

A lot of noise has been heard about the whole concept of "Net Promoter" especially at "The Ultimate Question" book and in customer survey driver Statmetrics. The idea is quite simple most people have a small set of products that they rave about be it an iPod or a bar of soap. Those products can do no wrong, and folks will miss no opportunity to tell you why. For these products you will answer the magic question "Will you recommend this product to a friend ?" with a big wide yes. Measuring the quantity of your customers that are net promoters gives any business person a good steer for the likelihood of future growth.

Well here is the list of products for which I am a net promoter ..

BMW 3 Series Diesel engines An excellent motor that will cruse at over 60 miles per gallon ( approx. 6l per 100Km). Torquey and responsive the power-plant will pull and pull. 12,000 miles between services and with 120k under its belts the block still motors hard.

Green and Blacks Chocolate - Aromatic, smooth and absolutely delicious. Put away that slimy lard, and feast your senses on some real chocolate. All of the products are organic, certified by the UK Soil Association and the Maya Gold range is fairtrade based.

Apple computer- It has to be a design thing, I can't design for toffee but oooh that ease of use and low cots of ownership pushes my buttons. Scratch my surface and you''ll find a Unix Geek inside so I know a thing or two about troublesome tech at work; having a Mac at home just fits right. Over the last 17 year since the first Mac ( an over clocked IIsi ) arrived on the desk, there have been big highs from System 7 and Tiger, and lows from clicking Zip drives and pricy software. In the round however all the Macs, IIsi, Q650, G3 Blue and White, Imac Sunflower have delivered great and trouble free service. It's key value is just not getting in the way of what needs to get done.

oh yes just one more thing.. Metal Tavern Puzzles - When you work with your brain all day having a solid tactile metal object to manipulate and solve with hands is a joy. I guess that tinkering with cars and the mechanics of engines comes close. Maybe its a bloke thing but it sure is a great way to unwind after a day pounding the keyboard.

So for every upside there is a down side ... Net demoters are

MBNA - Home of the sub prime credit card, with auto-rising interest rates and the biggest junk mailer in the uk, MBNA is responsible for 100 million mailshots a year to UK households.

Time - Some may think this a strange element to dislike, but you try controlling it. Unlike wealth, love, health and food over which we have some human control but with time there is no control. It's gone in a flash when you want to revel in the moment and drags slowly to cross a void.

That it for now ...
Gannet

A week with Leopard

Well it has been a week or so since the Leopard arrived on the G5 * 2GHz * 4GB and I have to say it's sweet. The new finder view coverflow with quick look is great for photo and file review. The dock tweaks look good and replace folders with useful links that previously littered the desktop.

The only issues I have seen are video extraction application "TivoTool" not working, a rather worrying Crash while sleeping and application windows sticking to the glass in Spaces.

Spaces does work with two monitors ( different sizes ) just as I hoped it would. Fantastic.

Gannett