The Collective Voice
How many members would recommend your union?
The American consultant Fred Reichheld wrote a book, The
Ultimate Question, a few years ago revealing that one
question predicts success in business: “Would
you recommend us to a friend or colleague?”
Word of mouth matters
His point is that word of mouth matters more than advertising
or anything else when customers decide where to shop or what
to buy. Why? Someone who will recommend a company is a free
commercial, a loyal advocate whose opinion others trust. Reichheld
found that a product or company with positive word of mouth
grows more than twice as fast as its competitors. Reichheld
said his research proves the reverse is also true. Dissatisfied
customers condemn a company with their word-of-mouth trash-talk.
Recommendations count
Other opinion research supports Reichheld's hypothesis. In
a 2005 Gallup Poll interviewers asked a representative cross-section
of Americans:
“In general, which of the following would be most
important in getting you to go to see a movie in a theater?”
- The movie’s stars?
- Positive reviews by movie critics?
- Commercials for the movie?
- Recommendations from friends or relatives?
A 43% plurality said friends’ recommendations; only
21% said commercials, 16% the stars and 14% critics. Conclusion:
more people listen to recommendations from friends or relatives
than from anyone else.
Would members in Canada recommend their union?
Vector Research conducted a nationwide online poll March
2-28, 2007, with 1,000 members across the country to find
the answer. Almost half (43%) say they would
recommend their union. One in five would “definitely”
recommend the union that represents them, and another one
in five would probably recommend it. Some 23% would not. Another
24% say it depends.
Just counting those with an opinion one way or the other,
if their friends asked, two thirds of members (66%) would
definitely or probably say the union that represents them
is a good union to join.
Q: If you personally were asked by a friend or someone else
to recommend a good union to join, how likely would you be
to recommend the union that represents you? Would you say
you...
Turning Questions into Strategies:
As much as any organization, unions depend on the opinion
of their members.
Which union is likely to grow faster? All other things
being equal, the union with the most engaged members will
find it easier to organize more employees. In Reichheld’s
terms, members are a union’s “most valuable
assets.”
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