So should you give up and not even try? Not at all. Even if there's a one percent chance you could REALLY impact your company's sales, would you do it? It isn't easy but you can get Fortune 500 references and here are some tips that can help you:
- Go for the highest levels possible in the organization (CIO, VPs etc) and position it as a win-win opportunity for them. Find out what their goals are for the year and see if you can help (Example - Getting more recognition for their IT success). One thing that really works is have your senior executive (CMO) ask their senior executive (CMO/CIO). It's amazing how powerful this approach is!
- Leverage the sales reps'/manager's relationship with the customer and have the sales rep ask them
- Only ask for one request at a time rather than asking for everything (Video, case study, speaking opportunity etc.). Shoot for activites that benefit the customer. For example, one I had a Vice-President of IT at a Fortune 100 company speak on a Radio Talk Show for CIOs. Her goal was to become a CIO and this helped position her as a thought leader with an audience that could help her career.
- Keep your ears open. A few times after big wins (fixing a technical problem, save the company a ton of money, time etc) I have reached out to the customer to see if they would do something for us. This has worked more than a few times!
- Persistence and ask periodically. Sometimes company policies change or they get a new legal/executive/communications team that isn't as strict.
- Last but not least it takes time. In fact probably weeks or even months longer than if you just ask a small to medium business but honestly it's so worth it. Some of my biggest wins as a Reference Manager were when I was able to get Fortune 500 customers to help with reference activities!
For more on this topic, Bill Lee, of the Customer Reference Forum shares some thoughts in his June 2010 newsletter.
