Thursday, September 30, 2010

Expanding your Customer Reference Portfolio by Industry

An interesting phenomenon I noticed when I first became a customer reference manager was the number of education customers who volunteer to be customer references. One of the first things I did at LANDesk when I got there was to review the existing customer references and success stories by many areas including industry, geography, company size, product/solution, etc. I don't remember the exact number but it was somewhere around 20% of the existing references were education. This got me investigating why it was such a high number. Wouldn't you want to have references for industries that have bigger budgets and/or are growing rapidly like financial services, healthcare, etc? Also don't you want to align your customer references and reference assets to the industries you want to sell to?

After five years of being a reference manager I now understand why education customers are typically references. First, IT teams at colleges and universities are usually early adopters and like to participate in beta programs. Second, they usually don't have to get approvals like customers at Fortune 500 customers do. And third, they are some of the nicest customers I have ever worked with!

Bottom line is that it's fine to have educational references but be sure to expand your reference and reference asset portfolio to include other industries as well.

Happy referencing!

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

How to Avoid Customer Reference Burnout

Whether you are a new reference manager or a long-timer one of the biggest challenges you will face is trying to avoid customer reference burnout. Your customers are your biggest assets and if you annoy your customer references by overusing or abusing them, you not only hurt your reference relationship but it can impact your company's bottom line as well. This is especially challenging when you have a customer reference for a new product/solution and you have to ask them for various reference requests. Here are some tips I've learned over the years:

First of all, track your reference requests! Whether you use cool reference software from companies (BoulderLogic and Point of Reference) or an Excel spreadsheet, you need to track your customer asks so you make sure you are overusing them. This is also helpful so you can follow up on them. I know it takes time to track these but this is a critical activity to avoid customer reference burnout.

Second, if possible try to funnel all reference requests through yourself and the sales rep. I remember at one company when I called a customer to be a reference and the customer said they had also gotten a call from a product manager, someone in PR, and someone in sales. This can be so frustrating to customers. Make sure to communicate internally that you are the reference manager and that reference requests should be funneled through you and the sales rep. Or at least establish ONE contact that works with the customers on reference requests.

Third, build up the number of customer references you have and have a good variety of references by industry, geography, size, product/solution, etc. I heard recently about a multibillion company that has two PR references that the PR team uses. This was astounding to me as they are a multibillion company and I would think they would have a much bigger pool of references to choose from.

These are just a few of my ideas. What do you do to prevent customer reference burnout at your company?

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Mapping Reference Assets to Sales Cycles

The sales cycle is the sequence of phases that a typical customer goes through when deciding to buy something. As a reference manager there are many opportunities you have to provide reference tools to help move customers through the sales cycle. Did you know that by mapping your customer reference program materials to your sales cycle can help move prospects through the sales cycle faster which ultimately closes more deals?!!! For the sake of this blog article, awareness is when a company realizes they might need a solution and are starting to do research, prospects are those that actually spend time on your website downloading assets etc and a lead is someone who is qualified by budget, request for a sales rep to contact them, identified timeframe, etc.

Awareness - Video testimonials, customer names/logos, success stories, customer success resources on company website, webinars, blogs and tweets
Prospect - Success stories, analyst reports
Lead - Sales References, Press releases/articles, white papers, RFPs, success stories and site visits

If you haven't done this exercise before, take some time and review your website to see what customer reference assets you have available for your prospects. It's a very eye opening experience I promise you. Have fun!

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Reference Program Collateral - Customer Success Examples

One of your most important responsibilities as a customer reference manager is to share your customer successes. A few years ago I came up with a internal collateral piece that has been very successful. It's a customer success examples document. This document contains the following information: Industry, Company Name, Pain, Solutions, and Benefits. This success example document is used primary for your sales teams but also for employees, executives and even partners.

Tips to create a powerful customer success example document:
  • First and foremost when possible your benefits should always be in metrics for example, dollars saved, productivity increased by x%, headcount reduced by x%
  • Second, makes sure the information in the pain and benefits columns are in short concise bullet items. These should be succinct points not wordy sentences.
  • Third, take the time to develop this document. It would be easy to throw something together but if you take your time to gather the information, this document could become the most valuable tool the sales team uses.
  • Fourth, depending on how many customer successes you have, this document could be huge! If you need to narrow it down then narrow it down by industry and make sure to include the most powerful metrics and numbers you have!
  • Fifth, share this document with everyone! It is helpful for all employees to be able to share customer successes and this document is concise enough that it's easy for employees to memorize a few successes.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Customer Reference Program Research

If you are just starting a program or wanting to start one, one thing you'll probably be interested in is research around customer reference programs. Maybe your manager wants you to justify headcount/budget or maybe you just want to know best practices around this exciting field. Here are some resources that I have found and please leave others if you know some. Thanks!

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Organize Your Reference Program for Improved Sanity

One of the biggest challenges I faced when I became a customer reference manager was being organized. Being a reference manager involves so many responsibilities, stakeholders and requests that at times it can become overwhelming. If you aren't careful you'll spend all your time being reactive dealing with requests rather than being proactive. One way to deal with the chaos that comes with this role is to get organized. Here are some suggestions that have helped me organize customer reference programs.

  • Develop processes - You can develop processes for sales reference requests, success story development, video testimonial development, and so much more. It takes a little time to develop processes but once you have them it's very helpful in keeping you focused, follow-up, etc. You can also share these processes with others if needed, such as your success story writer so they know the process as well.
  • Establish turnaround times - I found early on that it was very helpful to have established turnaround times. One example of this is a 48 hour turnaround for sales reference requests. While sales reps usually wants references immediately they have been respectful of the 48 hour turnaround time. There are exceptions of course and sometimes I would provide the references even quicker. But having the 48 hour turnaround was helpful so I could manage my time better and have enough adequate time to provide a qualified reference that was the right fit. I also established turnaround times for success stories and videos. I learned it helped me keep them on track. My usual turnaround time for a success story was one month but I did turn some around in a few days!
  • Track your customer reference information - Whether you use a reference database, Salesforce or whatever, make sure you have your customer information captured somewhere. For instance if someone asks you for a customer that will talk to a prospect, where and how do you have this information captured? This is especially important as you get specific requests like the prospect wants to talk to a customer in the financial sector who has implemented x, y and z products and has a similar environment. As a reference manager you need to be able to quickly provide this information.
  • Track requests and projects - This is a great one! Let's say you get four requests today including a press request, analyst and two sales references. Is there somewhere you would track this so you know the actions you took and the follow-up needed? It is also very helpful to track projects like success stories. There are sometimes 20+ steps you have to go through to get a success story produced from getting approval from customer, writer interview, legal review, management review, putting success story in layout, posting to the web, getting them included in employee and customer newsletters etc. It's very helpful at a glance to know what stories you have in the pipeline and where you are with them. This is really great to keep everyone else on task and follow-up with others when needed.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

How to Get Customers to Help with Requests

One of the most important skills I have learned about reference programs is how to position requests to customers. When I first started being a reference manager I was somewhat hesitant to ask customers to do anything. I felt like I was bothering them and wondered why they would want to do favors for the company.

Over the years I have learned a few things. First of all, when you find the 'right' kind of customer references, customers who are truly advocates, they love helping you out! In fact sometimes these advocates will often ask you if there are ways they can help.

Second, it's really important to position all your requests as 'opportunities' rather than having the mindset you are 'bothering' them. I first heard of this concept when I was at a Customer Reference Forum conference in 2009 and listening to a panel. Elizabeth Stack, who works at SAS, was sharing how she was able to get so many government references. Her tip was that she positions all her requests as opportunities. When I heard that it was like a light bulb went off in my head and I had a paradigm shift. Since then I have always positioned my requests as 'opportunities'. Think about it. Customers want to get recognition for being a thought leader and one way to do this is to share their expertise publicly. This can include success stories, press interviews, webinars, etc. You are actually HELPING your customers by asking them to be references. Give it a try. I think you'll be surprised how well it works.

Third, always respect your customers. Ask them as soon as you hear about any requests. Customers want and need advance notice of requests. I know this isn't always possible but make it a priority to do this as much as you can. Make sure to be as specific as possible giving them all the information they need to make the decision and when you need to know by. I typically will e-mail the requests to the customers and then follow up with a phone call.

Fourth, always try to make things as easy as possible for your customers. One example of this was that I've had a few customers who wanted to fill out the success story questions via e-mail. That's not my preferred way of doing things but if that's how they want it, I will respect their wishes. When I sent them the questions, I filled in everything I could to save them time. I have done things from developed customer's presentations for customer events, developed tips for customers to help put them at ease during video shoots and so much more to save my customers time!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Sharing Customer Success Through Stories

Another powerful tool in your company's marketing arsenal can be your success stories. Success stories seem to come in three flavors: product-focused, nice fluffy stories and then metrics-filled compelling stories. Your mission, if you choose to accept it is to produce the later kind. To help you out with this mission, I want to share some suggestions.

First, if you have budget get a writer to help you out. There are writers who specialize at success story/case study writing and are very good at this. Some of the great writers I've worked with include Ken Baker and Casey Hibbard. When you get the right writer they know the right questions to ask, how to ask follow-up questions and how to get the important information out of customers!

Second, the most valuable success stories are ROI focused and include plenty of metrics. What was the customer's pain before and include numbers like hours, percentages and dollars? And what benefits have they have seen and make sure again to include numbers like hours, percentages and dollars. The best scenario is if your company has an ROI tool that you can complete with your customer to identify the ROI. When I worked at LANDesk we had an ROI tool and one customer identified one million dollars in savings just from headcount cuts, productivity improvements etc. It was a great experience for me to see the difference that measurable ROI results can show.

Third, try to help promote the customer's company and them as thought leaders. Some ways to promote the company include: if your customer has been recognized with a prestigious award then mention that in the opening paragraph when you introduce your customer and finding out their company objectives or initiatives include those in the success story. Try to make writing a success story a win-win for your customers. Ways to promote your customer as a thought leader include spotlighting their innovatiness, their knowledge, include great quotes etc.

Last but not least, read up on what makes a great success story. Here are some of my favorite success story blogs:
- Stories that Sell
- Compelling Cases
- Savvy B2B Marketing

Monday, September 13, 2010

Customer Reference Program Maturity Models

Customer Reference programs come in all shapes and sizes. But whether you are building a reference program for a small company with 50 employees or an enterprise with 50,000 employees, one reference program concept is consistent. That is the concept that reference programs are at different stages of maturity. Point of Reference provides solutions to help companies build their reference programs and has developed software to help reference managers track references.

The four maturity levels of customer reference programs are:
  • Level 1 - Underdeveloped
  • Level 2 - Emerging
  • Level 3 - Focused
  • Level 4 - Advanced
Visit Point of Reference website to download their white paper titled "Customer Reference Program Maturity Model" or to access their other tools. How mature is your reference program?

Thursday, September 9, 2010

How Reference Programs Drive Customer-Driven Cultures

One benefit of customer reference programs I've seen over the years is that often when you get the right person managing your reference programs it typically will drive a customer-driven culture. One of the ways this happens is that a company that is willing to invest in a customer reference program is usually one that cares about their customers. One a reference program gets started typically it will either drive more customer programs, influence employees to be more customer friendly or both! Here are some ways I've seen reference programs drive a customer reference culture:
  • Communication - For many companies, sadly the only time they actually communicate with a customer is when the sales rep asks for a renewal. I worked at one company when a customer said I was the first person to reach out to him in eight months. When I hear stories like this I am astounded. Have we become such a digital world that we think we need to only communicate with customers over email and find out their feedback only through online surveys? Customer Reference Programs give you the opportunity to talk to a customer and to build a relationship with them!
  • Feedback - This is another area where I think most companies fall short. It's estimated that less than 20% of companies do customer surveys and probably half or less of those follow-up on the results! Even more important, I wonder how many of them include the Net Promoter questions which to me are the most important questions to include! When you have a reference program, customers provide positive and negative feedback through their conversations with the reference manager and hopefully it gets forwarded to the right person for follow-up! I love Oracle's customer organization which has the customer reference program and feedback team in the same organization! That's brilliant!
  • Customer Satisfaction - One of the goals of a reference program is to find happy customers therefore a reference manager is very driven to want more happy customers. Through their hunting for happy reference customers, they will often come across processes that are broken and opporunities to deepend relationships with customers. Often this will spread across the organization when the reference manager is passionate about creating more happy customers!
  • Customer Focus - According to one of my favorite books, Discipline of Market Leaders, companies need to focus on "one value discipline--customer intimacy, product leadership, or operational excellence." When you have a reference manager who drives customer focus for their reference program often this will permeate throughout the organization.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Customer Advisory Boards as a Reference Benefit

One way to incent your more invested and strategic customer references is to invite them to participate in your customer advisory board. This is an activity that benefits not only your customer but is a huge benefit to your company as well! Whether you are a startup or an established company, customer advisory boards are an incredibly powerful activity that requires some investment but the payoffs are astounding. Honestly some of my favorite times in my career were when I participated in the customer advisory boards at LANDesk Software. I could spend weeks talking about this topic (and maybe I will in the future) but here are some highglights.

Customer Benefits
  • Opportunity to give feedback on product development
  • Exchange ideas, best practices and recommendations with other customers
  • Meet company executives and senior management
Company Benefits:
  • Work with key customers to ensure products meet needs
  • Build relationships with key customers
  • Help close sales deals in the pipeline and identify new opportunities
  • Learn how your customers are using your products
  • Validate ideas for new products and features
  • Learn about future technologies your customers are evaluating and how this will impact your product's future

Want to read more about customer advisory boards? Learn more:

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Customer Insights for a Stronger Reference Program

Understanding your customers better is a great way to help you build a stronger reference program. The better you know them and how they think, the better you'll be able to connect with them, know how to approach them, know when to approach them, etc. One way to understand customers better is through Customer Insights. "Customer Insight is the collection, deployment and translation of information that allows a business to acquire, develop and retain their customers." (Wikipedia - Customer Insights)

Here are some of my favorite resources I've found around Customer Insights:

Do you have a favorite resource? Please share!

Monday, September 6, 2010

Customer Reference Program Collateral

When you are starting your program, one thing that is helpful is to have a customer reference program overview flyer. There are many ways you will use a program overview including posting on your website, selling your program internally, sending to customers, sharing with partners/resellers, and giving to your sales teams.

This collateral should include the following: program overview including levels if you have them, benefits for the customer, explanation of the different reference program opportunities, sample reference customers and how to sign up for your program. Some companies are putting their reference program information online but some still have a program brochure. Here are some sample reference program flyers to get your creative juices flowing:

Friday, September 3, 2010

Reference Programs & Reporting Structure

Someone recently posted a question to one of my LinkedIn groups where Reference/Loyalty Programs report in organizations. I have heard over the years of reference programs being part of Marketing, Marketing Communications, Public Relations, Sales, Field Marketing, and Product Marketing. Some things that influence where the program reports into is company size, industry, program objectives, executive sponsor, etc. So keep in mind there's no right way. However all three times I've worked with reference programs the program was part of corporate marketing which I loved because it meant I stayed in the loop on corporate objectives/messaging and I was able to get my materials developed and posted quickly.

Maeve Naughton (Reference program expert at http://customerreferences.wordpress.com/) says it really depends on what the main goal of the program is. When you work in Corporate Communications, the main goal is to get more press releases, case studies and analyst reference done yet Sales references were also critical. When you work on the Field Marketing team you are focused on offering Sales references yet press releases, case studies and analyst references were also important. Maeve suggests you ask the questions: "What's your main goal? "What group has executive sponsorship for the program?" and "What group wants the program the most

Here are some survey results:
  • Forrester (May, 2010 - "What AR Can Learn from Customer Reference Managers), in answer to the question, "Where does reference management responsibility reside?" - the breakdown is 57% Corporate Marketing, 11% Public Relations, 19% Other, 7% Sales, and 6% Product/service group.
  • Customer Reference Forum survey - As part of the Customer Reference Forum conference, Bill Lee surveys customer reference managers and shares the results. This is great information as it's broken down by company size and shows trending from 2007 to 2008. The breakdown for all companies was 54% Corporate Marketing, 15% Sales Support/Operations, 13% Public Relations, 13% other and 7% product marketing. Click here to see full report

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

A Note to New Reference Managers

Dear Customer Reference Manager,

Welcome to the world of customer referencing! You have chosen to join a profession that it not only challenging but very exciting as well! As you start your journey, I wanted to share a some tips to help you get up to speed quickly and confidently!

First of all, you don't have to go on your journey alone! There are hundreds of other customer reference managers who have been doing this for years and are willing the help you with questions you have. We have an amazing reference manager community with reference managers in all geographies, industries, company sizes and experience. Join the various groups on LinkedIn and get to know other reference managers! You will definitely want to consider attending a Customer Reference Forum . Here you can mingle with a few hundred other reference managers and learn best practices that can help you build a best-in-class customer reference program! These conferences are usually only two days which is perfect for our busy schedules.

Second, there are many resources that can help you understand what customer reference programs are, what your responsibilities with include, customer reference program best practices etc. These include the many vendors that provide customer reference program service. Second, there are some fantastic vendors out there who can help you. Here are some of the ones I am familiar with: Big Sky Communications, Boulder Logic, inEvidence, Mainstay Partners, metia, Point of Reference, Projectline and TechValidate. You can also find all sorts of documents that are out on the Internet including sample plans, timelines, templates etc. One new site that posts resources for reference programs is Customer Reference Program org.

Third, know that if you have a positive attitude and a willingness to make a difference you will be successful at this job! Of course it helps if you have sales and marketing background, strong communication skills, strong customer service orientation, ability to work well under pressure, great knowledge of PC tools, strong project and program management skills but honestly some of those skills can be learned. What you can't teach someone is to have a positive attitude and a passion to make a difference!

Fourth, start reaching out to others in your company and at your customers. Relationship building is a key part of successful referencing. Get to know key people at your company including sales, consulting, support, inside sales, public relations, analyst relations etc. Go to your customer conferences and user groups so you can meet customers and start building relationships with them!

Good referencing!
The Customer Reference Program Guru