Many years ago while working at Novell, I had the awesome opportunity of being a program manager in the sales organization. One of my responsibilities was to administer a quarterly survey to 1200 sales employees. This was a great experiences as I got to know the sales people, learn how challenging their job can be and understand how important they are to company's success. One complaint I often hear from reference managers is how hard it is to work with sales. I disagree. The sales people in your company should be your best friend and here are some reasons why.
First, they have better insight into your customers than anyone else. When I first started referencing I thought just because I heard that a customer was happy meant I could ask them to be a reference. But that was only a snapshot of their entire relationship with us or a 2D view of the relationship. The sales rep knows about their overall satisfaction, any problems they are having, if they are in the middle of a renewal etc. You need their 3D view of the relationship before assuming anything and definitely before going directly going to a customer. Nothing will ruin your relationship more with sales than bypassing them and going directly to your customers.
Second, great sales people have great relationships with their customers. I have worked with a lot of great sales people over my career but the most remarkable sales person I have worked with was Karl Sartor. Karl could sell ice cubes to an Eskimo BUT he didn't need to. Watching him with customers was like watching magic happen. He always understood their needs, understood how to help them solve their pains, respected them and genuinely cared about them. He knew his customers so well and was able to get them to do almost any reference activity just by simply asking and yes that included Fortune 100 customers!
Third, sales people know their stuff. The turnover for reference managers is high, most likely due to the intensity and never-ending requests, and sales reps usually stick around companies longer. They know the company, the customers and the product. Take advantage of their knowledge. Ask them for help. I promise that they'll love it!
Do yourself a favor. Get to know your sales management, sales reps and join sales calls/meetings. I used to sit on weekly calls with the North America sales team and just listen. I'd listen for current engagements, new wins etc and it really helped me to stay in touch with them. Another idea is to survey your sales teams often. Are you serving them well enough? What else do they need from you? Do they have new reference opportunities for you? Trust me. If you take care of them, they'll take care of you!
