One of the most important things you need before you start your program is make sure you have the right attitude toward customers. The best customer reference programs are when a companies and customers work together for a win/win relationship. If you are building a reference program just to get what you need from customers, you are missing out on a great opportunity build some amazing relationships with your most valuable asset - your customers. There are many things you can do to build the right kind of relationship with your customers.
First, make sure your program is going to track reference activities so you don't overuse customers. Your customers have a full-time job at 'their' company. Anything they do to help you is taking them away from their job, their family and their lives. Be respectful of their time making sure you do everything you can to take up as little of their time as possible. It takes a lot of work to get a reference and the quickest way to lose a reference is to overuse them. By tracking reference activities and customer asks, you can spread the requests among all your references.
Second, as you develop your program make sure to build into your processes the need to be respectful of customers. You should be always courteous to your customers in your e-mails, phone calls etc. One example of this is timing. If you PR team gives you a week to get a customer quote, then immediately start reaching out to customers to ask them for quotes. It takes time to get things approved on their end and so build that into your process. In my book, it's very disrespectful to go to a customer and ask them to give you a quote in a day. Sometimes I know it happens that way, but when possible reach out early.
Third, stay in touch with your customers. Periodically reach out to them to make sure they are still happy references and especially to make sure to thank them for their help with reference activities. If they are unhappy with another department, make sure to forward on their concerns and follow-up. This is what makes a customer for life.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Before You Start - Customer Incentives
One of the most controversial topics in the Customer Reference Program world is the customer incentives. On yesterday's Gartner call Richard Fouts said that 90% of customers are willing to be references without any sort of incentive. This just validates what I strongly recommend to others. When I first started customer referencing five years ago I researched this topic quite heavily and solicited feedback from others. Here are some reasons why I chose to not have an official incentive program for reference customers.
First, customers themselves say it isn't necessary. If 90% of customers say they are willing to be a reference without an incentive, why would we incent them? I'm not saying I haven't ever incented them, I just have never had an official rewards program. Second, I want genuine customer advocates to be part of my reference program. I don't want to buy their loyalty or incent them for doing something they want to do anyway. Third, I have always been a one person show at my companies and it takes time to administer a reference reward program. For me, I would much rather spend my time on more strategic tasks.
What I suggest instead is providing customer value to customers who participate in your reference programs. This can include access to executives, input into your product roadmap, invitation to participate in customer advisory boards, promoting them as a thought leader in case studies and in press, opportunities to speak at conferences, and others along these lines. One example of this was the beta program at LANDesk Software. When I got an e-mail from the beta manager about a new beta coming up, I would send an e-mail out to the reference customers giving them first dibs on being part of the beta.
One last suggestion is that you have to make a shift mentally from "I'm bugging our customers" to I am providing value to my customers. Develop a win-win relationship between you and your customers and not only will you have a succesful reference program but this will impact your sales revenue as well. Good luck to you as you build your program and Happy Referencing!
First, customers themselves say it isn't necessary. If 90% of customers say they are willing to be a reference without an incentive, why would we incent them? I'm not saying I haven't ever incented them, I just have never had an official rewards program. Second, I want genuine customer advocates to be part of my reference program. I don't want to buy their loyalty or incent them for doing something they want to do anyway. Third, I have always been a one person show at my companies and it takes time to administer a reference reward program. For me, I would much rather spend my time on more strategic tasks.
What I suggest instead is providing customer value to customers who participate in your reference programs. This can include access to executives, input into your product roadmap, invitation to participate in customer advisory boards, promoting them as a thought leader in case studies and in press, opportunities to speak at conferences, and others along these lines. One example of this was the beta program at LANDesk Software. When I got an e-mail from the beta manager about a new beta coming up, I would send an e-mail out to the reference customers giving them first dibs on being part of the beta.
One last suggestion is that you have to make a shift mentally from "I'm bugging our customers" to I am providing value to my customers. Develop a win-win relationship between you and your customers and not only will you have a succesful reference program but this will impact your sales revenue as well. Good luck to you as you build your program and Happy Referencing!
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