Upcoming Free Webinar: Applying a Marketing Operations Approach to References

April 28, 2009

We have an upcoming Webinar that we are excited to tell you about.

It’s called, A Marketing Operations Approach to Customer Reference Management and it’s going to be live on May 12 at 1PM MDT. [If you missed it, here is the recording]

peopleIt is a collaboration with Marketing Operations Partners CEO and Founder, Gary Katz .  We will be discussing how to take a more formal, operations centric approach to customer reference management.

The goal is to help marketing executives boost sales and marketing results on a measurable and repeatable basis using customer reference activities.

Here are some of the learning points for attendees:

  • Economic relevance of customer reference management
  • Explanations of how to apply an operational approach to a customer reference process
  • Considerations before introducing the new practices

We think marketing executives will find the information in this 30 minute web event quite valuable. Please join us!

When: Tuesday, May 12
Time: 1:00 – 1:30 PM MDT
[If you missed it, here is the recording]

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Posted by Joshua Horwitz

Create a strategic marketing plan with customer references

April 20, 2009

I was recently discussing with a client the idea of creating strategic marketing plans with selected customers.  Instead of asking an individual person for help as a customer reference, this is going big and folding it into the marketing strategies of both companies.

The approach involves gathering key stakeholders from multiple marketing disciplines to create an integrated plan and laying out a proposal that adds value to the brands of both companies.

Participants in the initiative would generally include PR, Product Marketing, Product Management, Advertising, and other Marketing Communications types. 

Clients presented with this proposal should be carefully chosen based on timing, brand fit, and access to key executives.

The proposal should lay out all the activities at once, presenting it in a manner that highlights the mutual benefits to the brands of both companies. Don’t make it  an all or nothing proposition.  For best results, encourage participants to select those activities that match their goals. Refine the proposal together.

Yes, companies that have significant brand equity already may be able to apply more leverage to the discussion.  However, the point of this approach is to elevate the discussion from an ad hoc request to one with mutual benefit.  Emphasize the investment your company is willing to make into the effort and then be prepared to discuss the anticipated results of the campaign elements.

In an economic environment where marketing budgets are being reduced, the ability to show your customers a way to increase their brand visibility with minimal investment on their part becomes a more interesting proposition.

They key to this approach is to take the reference request from one of “a favor” to a more formal marketing effort.  To do this, it must include the right stakeholders and be treated as such. 

Use strategic marketing plans to open up marketing opportunities that might otherwise have been missed.

1 Comment | Customer References, Program Tips | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by Joshua Horwitz

Building the business with that first reference

April 20, 2009

Today, I came across this Wikipedia entry for Savvis that included a nice illustration of a point we made about the value of a single customer reference. 

In the company history section, it included the following note about how their first customer reference was instrumental to building the business. 

“By leveraging the Apple Computer customer reference and testimonials, Savvis was able to close additional large contracts with other industry providers.

Let it be good encouragement for reference advocates out there!

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Posted by Joshua Horwitz

TMC Contact Center Solutions Analysis Featured Article

April 14, 2009

Boulder Logic and customer Deltek received some nice press this week on TMCnet’s Contact Center Solutions news site. 

TMCnet Contributing Editor, Susan J. Campbell writes “Both Deltek and Boulder Logic have done well to recognize the functionality that works to streamline customer interactions and the development of leads to advance the efforts of any customer-focused company. In doing so, Boulder Logic creates greater demand for its solutions and Deltek is better able to serve its customer base.” 

To read more of Susan’s comments and analysis on the relationship check out the entire story here.

Leave a Comment » | Customer References, Reactions | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by Joshua Horwitz

Guest Post: How an Operational Approach to Customer References Feeds Both Marketing and Sales

April 9, 2009

 Today we have a guest post from Gary Katz on his experience applying a formal Marketing Operations model to customer reference management.  Enjoy…

About five years ago, I walked into Shoreline Communications as the new director of communications and corporate marketing. After completing my first objective – helping to re-brand the enterprise phone company from Shoreline to ShoreTel – I realized I had a significant challenge ahead:

  • ShoreTel had great customer loyalty, which needed to be leveraged as a significant competitive advantage in the market.
  • Our marketing programs depended heavily on great customer references – webinars, seminars, case studies, media relations, analyst relations, speaking engagements.
  • The company’s sales channel model provided neither the structure nor motivation for Sales to collect timely customer reference data. Once the deal was done, the heavily lifting was passed to a channel partner and Sales was on to something else.
  • The same customer references were being burned out, used over-and-over again. Why? Because with more than 1200 customers and more than 150 channel partners at the time, no one wanted to assume responsibility for qualifying and managing these customer references.
  • My success was directly related to being able to tap into this rich pool of customer references.

At that time, I didn’t know about Boulder Logic. I didn’t even know what Marketing Operations was. I just knew I wasn’t getting anywhere trying to qualify these references on an ad hoc basis.

So I worked with a consultant to design a customer reference process aimed at developing a robust and renewable pipeline of customer references – just like a sales pipeline. Specifically:

  • ShoreTel’s customer database was categorized, continuously updated and mined for strong reference candidates.
  • All references were qualified for use in marketing and sales efforts
  • Qualified references were matched to appropriate marketing, public relations or sales opportunities
  • Select customer references were converted into case studies or e-newsletter articles, or used in webinars, editorial calendar, article, analyst research or speaking engagement opportunities.
  • We began formally tracking all active references, including customer contact info, channel partner info, reference type, usage log and color-coded status information.

Since that time, ShoreTel’s customer reference program has grown from about 20 qualified references to more than 1000.  The program generates approximately 25 new case-study candidates every quarter.  The public relations team has a ready supply of credible references to present to editors and analysts as publicity opportunities arise or are uncovered.

But most importantly, within months of rolling out the program, the major benefactor and requester shifted from Marketing to Sales. Today, ShoreTel Sales relies on this program to identify references that help it win strategic deals in new vertical markets and new geographic territories.

And who do you think helps them find the best matches for their requests? The same consultant I hired to implement the program one day a week back in 2004! Dick has out-survived four of my successors and his value (and workload) is greater than ever, even in a miserable economy.

So let’s get with it, people! Odds are, your customer reference effort is suboptimal. Bringing operational discipline to your customer references is not only a Marketing Operations best practice, it’s a proven way to increase your value and contribution to your company’s success.

Today, you have great tools like Boulder Logic to make the customer reference process even more effective.

Think about it. What other marketing program can simultaneously influence your company’s customer lifetime value, ensure that valuable Voice of the Customer insight is collected and utilized in marketing, potentially transform your customers’ technologists into industry rock stars, and help Marketing become Sales’ best friend by increasing the velocity of the sales pipeline?

With a heightened emphasis on Marketing optimization and ROI, today you can’t afford to miss this golden opportunity.

Gary Katz, CEO, Marketing Operations Partners

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Posted by Joshua Horwitz

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