One of the biggest things that can help your Customer Reference Program be a success is communication. Whether you are just building your program or already have a program in place communication can be a real game changer. There's no right or wrong answer but I will say the more creative and proactive you are with communicating your program the more positive results you will see (customer reference program acceptance, number of references, success stories, video testimonials etc).
An example of this is internal communication. Do you look for every opportunity to communicate (aka sell) your program internally including employee newsletters, corporate intranet, sales conferences etc? Does every new sales employee get an overview on your reference program and how you two can work together to benefit the company? Have you provided sales tools to help the sales teams be successful including a presentation for them to talk about your program, customer success examples, customer success slides, etc? Have you reached out to other departments (Consulting, Services, Support, Sales etc) to find out about customer advocates they are aware of and to make sure they are briefed on your reference program?
How well are you doing on communicating your program externally? On your main company website is it easy to find out about your customer successes and information on your reference program? In every customer newsletter you should make sure it includes a customer success and a link to your program to learn more. Are you working with your lead generation marketing team to leverage the customer success tools you have including videos and success stories? Do you go to customer/user conferences to meet customers and promote your program?
