Finding New Customer References

September 6, 2011

Do you find yourself stuck in a reference rut? Are you using the same handful of customers time and time again to fulfill reference requests?  Worried about burning them out?  It might be time to recruit some new customer references.

 
Finding new references can be challenging especially if your customer list is not as long as you would like it to be just yet.  But, believe it or not, sometimes those that do have a lengthy list of customers, have just as hard a time finding good references than those that have a dozen or fewer.  Regardless of the length of your list, there are several ways to uncover and cultivate a variety of great references for your company.  Below are three to get you started.

1. Build relationships with your sales team.  Depending on the size of your sales organization you may need to be selective about who you focus on as it may not be possible to have a relationship with everyone.  But getting to know your key sales reps is the yellow brick road to uncovering hidden customer gems.  You will have the inside knowledge about what the customers are doing and how they feel about the company.  This will put you on the fast track to adding new reference customers.  Make yourself valuable and likeable to the sales team and you will be rewarded.

2. Send a survey out to your sales team.  Just ask a few key questions or use it to request that they each nominate a few new customers for the program and then do the follow up research yourself.  Try to do this in bite size chunks so as not to overwhelm them and turn them off to the process.  Remember, every sales team is different in terms of their willingness to participate in these types of activities.  So, if your group is likely to be less motivated, try enticing them with some type of  incentive or play on their competitive nature by making it a contest.

3. Scour the list.  Whether your list is scribbled on your office white board, maintained on a spreadsheet or securely housed in a customer reference management database, take a good hard look at who you have, who you have already used and who you have not.  Try to give those you have used recently a break and find ways to use the others, the underused members of your program should be considered a wasted asset and given some extra love and attention.

Sometimes it helps to step back from your day to day routine and take a look with fresh eyes.  Be creative, switch up your typical way of thinking.  Dig a little deeper, you will find fresh resources that will take your program further.

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Posted by Joshua Horwitz

Know your Customer, Know Yourself

July 29, 2011

No two customer reference programs are created equal.  Each is defined by the type of business and the customers served.  Let go of expectations.  Spend some extra time to understand your customer’s needs and where they spend their time, marry that with your unique knowledge of your own business, and you will come away with the most effective reference strategy for your organization.

If you work in a fast paced technology driven industry that derives information from sources such as webinars, YouTube and other online sources think about how to make those references as high profile and impactful as possible.  Focus your energy on technology and work with your marquis reference customers to develop excellent presentations using web technologies and video testimonials.

If you work in a smaller niche industry where buying decisions rely heavily on personal peer interactions, concentrate your reference efforts on direct phone calls and other live discussions such as customer forums and roundtables.

If your company can demonstrate irrefutable results without requiring direct peer conversations, you may want to consider putting an emphasis on the written word.  Case studies, whitepapers, or other types of marketing content can be very effective.  Deliver this type of content to prospects via microsites for a personal yet professional website with built in tracking features.

There is a lot to gain from providing great customer references.  Use your combined knowledge of your business and your customers to come up with the right mix of reference activities.  Consider customizable software solutions to help you stay on track and avoid bottlenecks and distractions.  And finally, remember the importance of metrics, tracking your results allows you to report back on the power of the program and keep it moving in the right direction.

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Posted by Joshua Horwitz

Mark Your Calendars : Upcoming Event for Customer Reference Professionals

July 18, 2011

July 28 – International CRP Community Call

We are excited to invite you to join us as we continue the conversation on the changing role of social media in customer reference programs.  We are lucky to have Leon Doell, of Parature a leading provider of customer service and support software, join us on this call.  As Customer Experience Manager at Parature, Leon focuses on social media engagement, customer relationship management, and the development and management of web communities.  Leon will focus this discussion on how best to engage clients through their reference cycles via social media.

 Please join us and be part of the conversation on July 28 at 9:30 am PST / 6:30 pm GMT+1 (German time).  Dial in details below.

Webex: https://eu42.spreed.com/checkin/jc/542445768

Conference Call Numbers:

 Access Code: 197535#

Germany +49 (0) 234 543 9810

France +33 (0) 1 8014 0620

Great Britain +44 (0) 784 843 2901

Canada +1 559 546 1800

Austria +43 (0) 1 265 05 40

Portugal +351 21005 1191

Romania +40 317 807 020

Switzerland +41 (0) 44 595 9030

Spain +34 91 119 6770

United States +1 559 546 1700

2 Comments | Customer References, What's happening | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Joshua Horwitz

Look Forward by Looking Back to Your Most Loyal

June 9, 2011

In a recent post we discussed making the most of existing customer reference content.  With a similar mindset, let’s talk about the customers themselves.  If you are running an effective program and avoid burning out your customers, it’s not uncommon to establish long term customer reference relationships. 

These customers that have been with you a while require a few extra considerations so you can continue to maximize the value of their ongoing contribution:

• Keep it Relevant    Take the time to really understand how your customer is using your solution today and what’s happened in their environment recently.  It’s too easy to presume their good stories will continue to be of interest to new prospects when in fact things may have changed on their side or yours.  Take the time to determine if their message is still on target and if possible, help them understand the talking points that are important to your current prospects’ needs and selling situations.

• Go For The ROI    Customers are often recruited into reference programs way before any return on investment (ROI) has been materialized.  Those that remain loyal customers are most likely to have achieved the most real value from your solution, but it’s not unusual to forget to go back and ask again.  Take the time to work with them to explore further than you have in the past.
 
• Find New Faces    Don’t be afraid to ask who else might have stories to tell.  We always recommend trying to find multiple contacts within each customer reference site, but that request gets easier as the relationship matures.  Asking your loyal customer to vouch for how easy it is to be a reference for your company can make all the difference in recruiting others that may have new perspectives and new stories to share.

One of the most important reasons to run a formal reference program is to increase the tenure of customers who agree to be references.  Take the few extra steps needed to ensure they continue to add value long term.

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

Guest Post: Building an Advocate Army

May 11, 2011

We were super excited when our good friend Kerri Shea Beers agreed to write a guest post for us. Kerri really understands the value of customer references, has a ton of high tech experience, owns her own firm called Monarch Communications, and is an award winning writer to boot. Enjoy!

If you are reading this blog, you already understand the value of customer references. You know the power your customers hold in helping your sales team close more deals and close them faster. Maybe your program is new and just getting off the ground — or maybe you have a robust program that’s been in place for years and is a well-oiled machine. In either case, you are undoubtedly always looking for new ways to differentiate your program and to do more with less. Building an Advocate Army is one way to extract the power of influence from your customers, increase your brand awareness and accelerate the sales cycle all at the same time. And it’s free. Sound too good to be true? Read on.

What Is An Advocate Army?

An Advocate Army is a group of customers who will fan out across the online world of social media, community forums and product review sites and say good things about your company and your product. They will comment on a blog post or industry article, chime in on a Linkedin conversation or forum discussion, tweet in response to a complaint about a competitor’s product – all in the name of YOUR company and YOUR products. Sure, your social media intern or PR team can do this until the cows come home – but it is usually ignored, disregarded and not trusted. Of course your highly paid PR agency is going to say your product is great! Yes, your product manager will tout the cool feature she just released. Comments from your internal people will fall on deaf ears, most of the time. Prospects don’t want to be marketed to on this turf and it is often a breach of social media etiquette to pitch your product there.

However, if you can get an actual customer (with a credible point of view and real-world experience solving a similar problem) to endorse your product or service – that third party validation from a peer or colleague is what can turn a prospect into a customer and what can poach a competitor’s customer and make it your own. Wouldn’t your sales team love that? Isn’t that why we have customer references in the first place? Having customer advocates sing your praises in the conversations where buyers are making buying decisions is powerful promotion. Plus, it’s a free way to increase your brand awareness!

Who Should You Recruit Into Your Advocate Army?

An Advocate Army is your chosen inner circle of customers — your favorites, your “go-to” customers. When the Wall St. Journal wants to talk to a customer – you pick your strongest media-savvy customers to be interviewed. These are the ones who get it – they are active in social media, they keep up with the latest industry trends, they love your product and they will gladly evangelize for you. They are active on Twitter; they belong to industry groups, Linkedin groups, etc. They don’t need their hand held in a press interview and they return your calls and emails. They are on your CAB and beta test your product. They are confident both in talking about your products and in social media. In short – you can trust them and know they will never say the wrong thing when talking about your product or company.

How To Build Your Advocate Army

Building your Advocate Army does not take much time, effort or budget. Pick your best customers from your reference program and don’t forget to talk to your Sales team — whom would they choose to evangelize for you? Start small – depending on the size of your customer base, maybe you only have ten customers to start. You can grow it over time as you see fit. Reach out to these customers personally – either with a phone call or a personalized email explaining that you are inviting them to be among a select group of elite, trusted customers. Once you have a solid set of participants, schedule a one hour webinar (with your PR, Social Media or Product Marketing Director) setting out some guidelines, expectations and gentle messaging guidance. Be sure to leave ample time for questions.

Where is the conversation happening? What is the current chatter in your industry? Decide if you simply want them to say good things about your product/service/support or if you actually want them to comment with links to trials or demos. Be careful that you don’t micromanage them too much – in order for their online reputation to remain credible, their participation needs to be genuine. Also, be sure that you set it up so that they are simply weaving this into their current activity – it should not be thought of as additional reference “work” they are doing for you per se, but more like extra credit. Then, cut ‘em loose! Monitor their progress and measure their influence.

How Do You Thank Them?

Be careful how you thank your customers. Depending on your industry and your company policy, you should reward them the same way you would for any other customer reference work. If you have a point system, you could add the Advocate Army in as another way they can gain points (see extra credit above). A phone call, a handwritten note, a box of chocolates – something small with a personal touch says a lot. Let your customers know you appreciate the unique value they provide and nurture them along the way.

Building an Advocate Army is one way to extract the power of influence from your customers, increase your brand awareness and accelerate the sales cycle all at the same time. Good luck, have fun and let me know how it goes!

Kerri Shea Beers has worked in high tech for over 15 years (at both start-ups and large corporations) as a marketing director, technical writer, communications manager, copywriter, PR manager, freelance writer, advertising manager and customer reference guru. She is a published writer who has created award-winning collateral and managed global marketing communications and PR programs for multi-million dollar companies. Kerri is the owner of Monarch Communications – a strategic sales empowerment, marketing and communications firm that can help you clearly articulate your message and turn prospects into customers. Learn more at www.monarchcomms.com.

2 Comments | Customer References, Guest Post, Program Tips | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Joshua Horwitz

Guest Post: Customer Reference Tips from Celia Brown of Dell Boomi™

April 20, 2011

We are joined today by Celia Brown, a Marketing Program Manager and Social Media and Community Professional at Dell Boomi.  Celia was responsible for defining customer reference and social media strategies for Boomi before their acquisition by Dell in 2010, and she continues to help evolve these important programs.

Why are customer references important to your business?
Prior to the acquisition, references were especially critical because we were such a small company and as a start up many of our prospects questioned our credibility.  Pointing them towards our references and having reputable customers to offer up was critical.
 
What is your definition of a customer reference?
I think of our customer references as individuals who might be willing to participate in the program in multiple ways.  One may only be available for sales references via phone whereas another might be interested in speaking opportunities or a joint press release.  We take it case by case.
 
What are some of the activities you’ve established for your program?
When I proposed enlisting a solution like Boulder Logic to support our reference program, I created a matrix of priorities.  The basic design was to categorize each customer, for example by size, industry, product, and by the type of activities they might participate in.  We ideally wanted larger companies who had deployed Boomi as an enterprise solution and to involve them in wider reach activities like press releases, case studies, and speaking circuits.  Sales references were definitely a high priority too, but we felt we could make bigger waves for the business overall by focusing these marquee customers on contributing to marketing.  This left smaller customers as sales references or to give us a review on the salesforce.com AppExchange.  This strategy helped us focus our really limited resources.
 
How do you encourage customers’ organizations to encourage customer participation?
I think our reference program became much more successful once we were able to showcase some of our customers that participated in the past.  Beyond that, I think it’s important to learn about the individual contact within the customers’ organization, understand their business goals and personal goals as well.  We’ve found that a number of our customers have a personal agenda that we can help to support through our reference program.  They may be interested in getting more public speaking experience or providing thought leadership within their field.  A lot of our smaller company customers were especially interested in getting branding exposure on our Website.  They get very excited about that.  So I encourage folks to inquire about the goals of the individual as well as the company.
 
How would you advise somebody just getting a reference program started?
I would recommend that they enlist a solution that is easily accessible by both sales and marketing. Making it friendly for sales is most important because they are typically less motivated to participate if it’s not convenient to them.  So that was one of the big reasons that we picked Boulder Logic because it is integrated with salesforce.com which is a tool that our sales team lives in on a daily basis.
 
Can you comment on the process of deploying your customer reference solution?
Anyone who is tech savvy and has been a database administrator of some sort in the past could probably set up Boulder Logic successfully in just a matter of hours because it is very easy to customize and configure and there is no coding required.  Once our client services manager showed us the basics, we just dove right in.  The solution is very flexible, so I feel confident that anytime I need to reconfigure, I can go in and revise and modify without too much hassle and without causing any problems with what we have set up already.
 
How has your reference program changed in the last year?
Since the acquisition by Dell, you could say we have a lot more chefs in the kitchen!  In addition to our sales, marketing, and customer success teams, we also have various parties from Dell headquarters that are interested in taking advantage of our sales references and reusing our case study content.  So it’s been incredibly valuable to have a centralized source of information.  I think it’s definitely increased our visibility at Dell and our credibility internally because we are clearly very organized.
 
What are your next steps?
So the good news is we are staffing up to some extent.  We’re doubling our marketing team from two to four – allowing us to be able to focus on customer success.  Right now I’m spending 5 to 10 percent of my time on that and I’m hoping to double that in the near future, so I’m excited.  I love the Boulder Logic tool and have had no issues with it.  The features seem just right for our needs.

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Posted by Joshua Horwitz

Get the Most Mileage out of Your Customer References

April 6, 2011

We believe in and promote the value of efficiency.  Be efficient in any work you do and you are guaranteed to go farther, faster. 

There are many benefits to a well defined customer reference program.  Whether your program is managed with spreadsheets or has the advantage of a technology platform, one of the most obvious benefits is the efficiency it brings to sales and marketing. 

Folks often ask us how to get more reference customers, so we dedicated a chapter to that in the Customer Reference Handbook.  In this post we wanted to highlight the importance of being efficient with each of those customer references.  So, take a look at your list – are you getting the most mileage out of each of them?  You may be able to get more by simply finding ways to repurpose, recycle and republish existing content. 

Start by talking to your customers, find out what they are each willing and able to do for your program.  Look at the list of ideas below and remember that content is easily changed to take on new forms, thus it has the potential to fit many needs.  By repurposing existing material you can easily get a lot of mileage out of just one good customer reference.  Some great ways to do this include:

• Sales reference – phone call or onsite visit with prospect
• Press release – supporting quote or customer feature release
• Web site content – published under the customers/clients section
• Case study – published on your web site, in a trade journal or in printed form for the sales force to take along on calls
• Testimonial recording – to easily and quickly play back for prospects
• Press and analyst interviews – to support your external visibility programs
• Event speaker – at tradeshows, industry conferences, company sponsored webinars, sales conferences, etc.
• Advertising – highlight your reference in an advertisement or campaign
• Guest blogger – feature customer reference material in the form of a guest column on the company blog
• Advisory council – leverage the reference by inviting your customer to join your advisory council

References are extremely valuable and sometimes hard to come by, so do what you can to get the most out of them.  Be efficient and maximize your reference efforts through repurposing and republishing, it will amplify your results and help accelerate your business.

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

Going Straight to the Top

March 16, 2011

Getting Executive Support Will Set the Tone for a Successful Customer Reference Program

Recently someone posed this question: “We have a customer reference program but it just isn’t getting enough traction.  How do I spur it into action?”  Unfortunately this is a pretty common sentiment, so let’s take a few minutes to explore one of the most common reasons why this happens and how best to tackle the issue.

To determine the shortcomings of any given customer reference program, it’s necessary to take a closer look at the specific situation, but quite often the core issue is that the program lacks the right type of executive support.  You may have a very well managed, well structured, and organized program but without visible support and influence from the executive team you may find you are struggling to get your constituents to participate.  Sales professionals, who are competitive by nature, may feel the need to keep their references close to the vest.  Others may simply see it as more work and unnecessary if it’s not defined as a direct responsibility.  Whatever their perspective, this will need to change for your program to thrive.  And you will most likely need an individual more powerful than yourself to make this happen- this is your executive sponsor and enlisting their support is challenging but with some persistence it’s achievable and will be worth the effort.

Begin by locating the individual that you believe will be your strongest advocate and have the loudest voice within the company.  Gain their support by providing them some hard evidence.  Speak their language with well defined metrics that prove the positive impact references have had on the business’ bottom line.  Once you have solid executive level sponsorship on your side then work to directly engage the sales reps and managers.  Ask your executive sponsor to include the importance of the program into all relevant communications.  Offer to craft that message for them.  Their voice will go a long way.  Arrange for your executive to sponsor a contest to see who can offer the most new customer reference nominations, then have them publicize the rankings and recognize the winners.  If this type of contest doesn’t work then it may be necessary for your executive to require each member of the sales team to nominate a certain number of references.  Either approach will work and breathe new life into your program.

Regardless of departmental responsibility, all members of the senior management team speak the same language and are driving toward the same goals- financial growth and success.  Your customer reference program is designed to directly support these goals.  Show past performance and future potential.  Be clear about offering solutions for any gaps or challenges and they will support your efforts.  Make it easy for them to help you achieve your participation goals by doing the work for them – drafting the message and creating the vehicles to deliver it.  In no time you will have an evangelist that will light a fire under your program and send it to the next level.  Remember to report on the progress of the program regularly, this helps to remind everyone that their hard work is paying off and will keep them motivated and participating.  Securing executive support and maintaining that support requires more work for the customer reference program manager, but going the extra mile will bring great rewards.

If you have a story of how your executive sponsor supported your program and made a difference we invite you to comment and share your story here.

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Posted by Joshua Horwitz

Beyond Sales – Customer References for PR Programs

January 31, 2011

We spend most of our time here talking about the relationship between customer references and the sales team.  We all know that a happy customer willing to give a reference is a sales rep’s best friend.  However, there are a few others in your company vying for the affections of your satisfied customers.  Instead of directly working with customers and prospects to close deals, these individuals take the end run to build a public perception of the company that will pave the way and open doors for the sales team.  It’s their job to tell the story of the company to the rest of the world.  Who are they?  They are the corporate public relations team.

PR people often find themselves in a catch 22.  They are tasked with putting the company’s best face forward, but since everyone knows this, folks are often skeptical of the information that comes directly from them and the company.  PR people know that the best, most credible voice comes from the customers themselves, so they are constantly looking to leverage those voices to tell their own story.  They try to involve customers in a range of activities, such as press releases, interviews with reporters, case studies, web content, and events to name a few.

Since PR doesn’t work directly with customers on a daily basis, finding those references can be time consuming and full of obstacles.  Here is a little bit of what PR people are up against when working to find good PR references.

• Obtaining assistance from sales when they need a PR reference.  Sometimes sales people want to “protect” their references and shield them from any request besides their own, so getting them to give up names and contact information can be a challenge.

• Understanding the current situation of the customer.  PR people find it difficult to be kept in the loop, but it’s necessary for them to have up to date information. It’s important to know the customer’s current reference status, which products they’re using, and any issues they may be having in order to make an effective reference request. 

• Navigating the degrees of referenceability.  Some customers may be willing to speak to a prospect but may not be interested in speaking to a reporter.  Or a PR professional may want a particular customer to do a press or analyst interview but then find out that they don’t have their company’s authority to do so.

One longtime PR professional I know had this to say on the subject….

“Obtaining customer references has often been one of the biggest challenges for my PR programs but also the most important.  I’ve found that organizations that have automated company-wide programs are far and away in a better position to maintain a high level of customer service while advancing sales, marketing and PR/branding.”

Centralized customer reference programs that include all customer facing groups are the most well rounded and effective.  PR folks are well versed at expanding and repurposing each reference in a variety of ways to create a number of different pieces of content, and sales and marketing can benefit from this.

My PR friend left me with a few great tips on how to successfully acquire and use customer references for PR efforts, saying this…. 

“Make friends with your sales force, stay organized, know what you are getting into, and present your request properly.  Always deliver on your promises, record everything, recycle your references, and I can’t stress this last piece enough – urge your company to create a customer reference program with a dedicated team, resources, and an executive who will help support it.  The most successful programs I’ve seen also include an automated tool to help keep things organized and running smoothly.  With all this, you can’t lose and trust me, the entire company will thank you for it.”

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Posted by Joshua Horwitz

Check Out Our Guest Post on The Savvy B2B Marketing Blog

January 24, 2011

There’s a wealth of information at our fingertips these days – all we have to do is log on. We subscribe to a number of different blogs to get tips and tricks, learn from our colleagues, and keep current on what’s important to us. One of our favorites is the Savvy B2B Marketing Blog, it’s chock full of great information. So, it goes without saying that we were super excited when the sisters invited us to write a guest post for them.

These six gals have a little something for everyone. So check them out here and subscribe to their blog for great pieces on B2B and content marketing as well as their weekly picks for the best reads on the web.

Click here for our Savvy guest post…… Getting Personal With Customer References: Matchmaking That Works

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Posted by Joshua Horwitz

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