Does Schwab’s “Client Promoter Score” Position Firm as Social Business?
The social landscape is full of buzz words, and while the jargon may be a convenient way to discuss trends and strategies, there’s little consensus on meaning. Take “social business,” for example – there are dozens of definitions.
However, one from Business 2 Community, an online publication and marketing community, really resonates with us in terms of what Schwab is doing. Business 2 Community says, “Social business is the ability for an organization to use its communities to improve its performance.”
So does Schwab’s Client Promoter Score (CPS), a system it uses to measure and improve how it serves clients, position the investment firm as a social business? We think so. Everything we read about CPS – from this Schwab Talk Blog post to financial services articles like this one from Forbes – indicates that Schwab not only actively seeks client feedback but also acts upon it.
At a time when trust was lacking between the public and investment firms across the board and companies struggled, instructive feedback from clients via surveys and one-on-one conversations helped Schwab considerably. In other words, CPS opened a dialogue that lead directly to changes in the company: Schwab was able to build the relationship lessons and client service improvements into its corporate environment.
This kind of interplay not only builds customer confidence in transactions and day-to-day business, but it also creates additional opportunities for the firm. With great listening skills under its belt and the ability to tap its clients’ knowledge base, Schwab may be able to expand the scope of its improvements and venture more confidently into social media than it could have prior to the experience it’s gained via CPS.
