Recently there has been a lot of talk in the business community about Net Promoter which, according to the official website for the product is "a discipline by which companies profitably grow by focusing on their customers." The Net Promoter is the subject of a book titled The Ultimate Question by Frederick F. Reichheld. In this book, Reichheld claims that the ultimate question for businesses to ask their customers is "would you recommend us to a friend/relative?" He also purports that if you ask this "ultimate question" in a regular, systematic, and timely fashion, and then track and publicize the answers and put the information to work right away, you will be on "the only path to prosperity and true growth."

So, should you use Net Promoter? Is it the answer to business success? Is it a revolutionary tool or just a fad? To answer these questions, let's start with the "ultimate question." Reichheld states that all we need to ask our customers is whether or not they would recommend us to a friend or relative. I will agree that this is a good and important question. Getting customers to recommend us to others is a great, inexpensive way to build our businesses. People tend to trust recommendations from friends and family more than information they obtain from advertisements. However, the issue is not whether "Would you recommend us?" is a good question, the issue is "Is it the only question we need to ask?"

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This political season will no doubt be recorded as one of the most historic in American history. The United States elected its first African-American president, Barack Obama, who defeated Republican nominee John McCain.

If McCain would have defeated Obama, the year of political firsts would still have been in play, as the Arizona Senator would have been the oldest first-term president and his running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, would have been the first female vice president.

With the election now in the rearview mirror, pundits and the public will break down every facet of the 2008 race, including the political polling and survey landscape. Were Americans truthful about their answers prior to the election? What did the numbers mean? Were they right on target or way off base?

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Have you ever worn a “one size fits all” garment? Perhaps you have and know from personal experience that they do not really “fit” all. Or perhaps you have avoided such garments all together because you knew they would not provide the kind of fit you prefer. For some individuals such garments merely hang on them with what seems to be yards of excess fabric, making the occupant look lost. For others such garments are too tight and do not provide adequate room for movement. I assume this is why some have modified these tags to say “one size fits most.”

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A recent political research study by the National Business Research Institute, Inc. (“NBRI”) shows that post-debate opinions of the 2008 Presidential Candidates changed when compared to pre-debate opinions. The initial survey was distributed to a random sample of 61,018 individuals in September, 2008, prior to the Presidential and Vice-Presidential debates. NBRI received 2,571 completed surveys. The post-debate survey was distributed to a random sample of 56,386 individuals in October, 2008, just after the final Presidential and Vice-Presidential debates. NBRI received 2,138 completed surveys. A confidence level of 99% and a 3% sampling error was achieved. Independent Sample T-Tests were conducted to compare pre-debate and post-debate opinions. All statistics reported are significant at the .05 alpha level.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - A recent political research study by the National Business Research Institute, Inc. (“NBRI”) shows that pre-debate opinions of the 2008 Presidential Candidates vary significantly by Age, Gender, Annual Income, Level of Education, and Marital Status. The survey was distributed to a random sample of 61,000 individuals in September, 2008, just prior to the first round of Presidential and Vice-Presidential debates.

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