More Customer Reference Programs!

Since I started working with reference programs five years ago I have wondered why every company doesn't have a reference program? From my research most software companies have a reference program and some hardware companies do but I would think every company would need one! I mean in theory every company has customers, every company has sales people and every company wants to increase their sales. Am I missing something? Here are a few reasons why I think EVERY company needs one!

First it's a small investment that can reap huge rewards! You hire one marketing person and they alone can increase your revenue, company brand, sales effectiveness, press coverage etc! Sure if you want to go big, you can spend more on your program including videos, success stories, etc but honestly just having sales references alone that impact your company at least 10x what it will cost you to hire that one employee.

Second, I honestly think a customer reference program could benefit any company. I mean think about it. Financial Services need customer references to help in their marketing efforts. Healthcare and Biotechnology is another industry that would benefit from reference programs! Think about it. These tried and true concepts of customer references apply to any company, any size and any industry. It's been really fun for me to see other companies attending the Customer Reference Forum and I we see even more in the future!

Third, it can really help build your employee morale. Sure it's great to provide pizza every now and then to build up your employee's morale but sharing customer successes internally is a huge morale booster! For example, if you have research and development and there are engineers who are developing your product, wouldn't it help those engineers to know that the products they are developing work and work well? Share those successes internally and you'll see how much of an impact it has!

Success Tip - Communication

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?