The Net Promoter Score (NPS) is superficial

Check out my latest  post on LinkedIn if you are interested in the common question designed to tell an organization something useful about customer satisfaction and loyalty.  

"On a scale from 0 to 10, how likely are you to reccomend us to a friend or colleague?"

Aside from leading marketers to easy conclusions, singular use of the NPS question is annoying to me.  For some of us, it's simply not the question we want to answer, nor do we want our views confined to a Likert Scale for marketing purposes.  

I suspect some NPS devotees just don't want to deal with unstructured data.  Perhaps more marketing heads will require their surveymonkeys to leverage AI and mine that data that tells them so much more than a checkbox.

Image by upklyak on Freepik

Priceless clips from five of the funniest films ever made

 

Film titles in alphabetical order...

• Airplane! (1980) clip here.

• It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963) clip here.

• Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) clip here.

• My Favorite Year (1982) clip here.

• Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987) clip here.

(Image above by freepik)

Reviewing products and services online

Who doesn't read consumer reviews on the Internet?  I take them seriously when making purchase decisions and while drafting them.

Many of my reactions as a consumer come in oral rather than written form.  For example, a couple of months ago I left a voice message for a service manager about outstanding service I received from one of his auto technicians.  Last month, I spoke directly with the restaurant chef to compliment his dish, after telling his manager about it.

In essence, the majority of my reactions as a consumer -- whether published online, or spoken, are positive.  This past week was abnormal in that I published two reviews of healthcare professionals: one an Orthodontist (positive) and the other an Optometrist (negative).  

The hyperlink to the Orthodontist will take you to the website associated with this business that dispenses superb care and service; in my view.  I issued a glowing, albeit brief, "5 star" , Google review for them.  

The hyperlink to the Optometrist, will take you to a one star review I wrote on Yelp, which reveals my poor experience.

Note to the gentleman in the Philippines emailing me about online safety and a shared desire to root out fake reviews: thanks for your messages, but I haven't been able to confirm your identity and your website is not functional.

(Image above by freepik)

   

Hashbrowns and physics

By George Webb Corporation - http://www.georgewebb.com







1. For three consecutive mornings, I've happily eaten breakfast at George Webb, a Wisconsin chain of some 30+ counter and booth style restaurants which first opened for business in 1948.  I've been enjoying them -- and particularly their cheese hash browns -- since the Seventies.  However, I'm ordering their free water as my beverage for the foreseeable future.  I recognize the ill effects of inflation, but $3.30 for their small size glass of institutional orange juice?  Ridiculous.  

John Maddente photo

2. I'm guessing few of my seven readers are familiar with Luckbox magazine.  Its stated focus on "Life, Money, Probability" is geared toward Traders and other professional investors.  I do not belong to that group, but a copy of this magazine at an airport lounge with its snappy graphics and offbeat topics, drew me in.  

The latest issue has an interesting article on the high stakes fight to preserve, or slowly kill, AM radio.  The piece reminds readers that AM radio remains relevant to 82 million American listeners and also government officials that rely upon it as a medium for public emergency alerts.  What's more, AM radio defenders in Congress are remarkably bipartisan.  

I close with a friendly jab at the Luckbox editor of this article.  

Dear Madam or Sir, Re: the copy of "Night Radio" --  I believe your columnist intended to cite the laws of physics not "psychics".   Your oversight reminds me of a M*A*S*H episode whereupon Col. Potter exclaims, "We order rectal thermometers, we get spark plugs. Both useful articles, but hardly interchangeable."

Cum On Feel the Noize

Slade was a 1970s British band that could wake up any audience.  As a teen, I loved Noddy Holder's raspy voice, his onstage penguin steps with mirrored stove pipe hat and the sound of Slades' instruments.  One track called, "Cum On Feel the Noize" (yes, they had a penchant for deliberate misspellings with song titles like, "Look Wot You Dun") still warms my nostalgic heart.  I thought of that song today while listening to an NPR podcast about Trump's recent NATO comments.

There were two parts to Trump's NATO invective.  The first should be ignored as "noise" and the other should be heeded as a "signal".  First, the ridiculous assertion that he'd invite Putin to invade NATO countries that don't pay their bills should be ignored, but the second one about NATO members not paying their "bills" requires closer examination as a signal.

One problem with the American Left, is that they fail to understand why Trump was elected in 2016 and instead they focus on Trump's hyperbolic noise which, to be fair, is often preposterous or dangerous.  However, I believe that most Trump barbs and threats are designed to agitate others, fire up the base and keep him in the headlines.  

In this case, I heard a podcast commentator -- obsessed with Trump's use of the noun "bills" --  remind listeners that NATO "is not a country club" with its members getting billed.  That observation is just noise.  Of course, no administrative entity issues annual dues invoices to 31 member nations, but members have agreed to fund a minimum of 2% of their GDP to pay for their own defense.  

In the last report by the NATO Secretary General  (the 2022 report was issued before Finland became a member in 2023) just 7 of the 30 NATO member nations met their minimum 2% of GDP military spend commitment. That's the signal and Trump is right.  Most NATO countries are not paying their share.  The rest is just noise.

(Image Above By freepik)

Biden family transactions revisited

"Moral clarity" is a phrase I heard recently and it comes to mind when sorting out these troubling times and who's done what for whom and why.  In the case of the $200,000 (or $240,000) sum(s) transferred between the Biden brothers, there is clarity someplace.  We just don't know where it is yet.

The money transfers under scrutiny, either represent a legitimate extension and repayment of a loan, or they don't.  Much seems to hinge upon a trust account established by a Delaware law firm used to transact business on behalf of ___________ and that's the question....who?  

Rep. Comer and company seek to prove that the trust fund was used to launder money for the benefit of Hunter Biden, his Uncle and partners -- and ultimately to compensate the elder Joe Biden.  

The White House and their acolytes seek to prove that the trust account in question was controlled exclusively by Joe Biden and simply used as a conduit for the funds extended by Joe Biden to his brother, in the form of a personal, interest-free, loan.

Neither side has definitively proven its case.  Only one side can be correct and that's the missing clarity.

Image by wirestock on Freepik

Biden family storm potential

If President Joe Biden didn't have enough to worry about with epic low approval ratings, a massive border crisis, rampant inflation, unclaimed cocaine deposits in the White House and a deeply polarized Congress, the corruption charges levied against NJ Senator Bob Menendez yesterday reminded me of the President's other smoldering problems...  

#1.   "10 held by H for the big guy?"  According to an article from the Washington Post Fact Checker, an email from one of Hunter's business associates proposes a profit allocation of 20% for each associate except for Hunter's Uncle Jim Biden, who would get 10% -- and a remaining 10% allocable to the "big guy" which would be held by Hunter.   

The email author has asserted that the big guy actually refers to Jim Biden, not Joe Biden.  However, one of the other business associates in receipt of the email, said that's false and that it actually referred to Hunter Biden's father.  Who's telling the truth?

Their project was a flop and so there's no financial benefit (at least from this venture) that inured to the whomever the big guy is, but the whole Jim Biden--Big Guy explanation is odd.  If the email author and business partner was already proposing a 10% allocation for Jim Biden, why would he propose that his nephew hold another 10% for him?  Why escrow this 10% kicker with Hunter instead of just paying Jim Biden 20%?  And is there a history of these business partners calling Jim Biden the big guy?   

#2.  The second problem is an allegation that if proven, could become equally injurious to President Biden's administration.  The allegation is that the Justice Department may have deliberately impeded the investigation of Hunter Biden's tax problems.  That allegation is supported by two highly credible IRS sources.  If this can be proven, President Biden would presumably allege he knew nothing of it and sack Justice officials on the order of President Nixon's firing of Archibald Cox in 1973 to thwart impeachment.  Of course, if it is proven that Joe Biden did know of investigation obstruction; let alone approved of it, he's finished.  

I hasten to add, that's a big "if" and it's too early to credibly draw such a conclusion.  Yet, if problem #2 has legs, America could sadly witness corruption on par with the famous cover up of a third rate burglary.         

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Image above by vecstock on Freepik)