Customer Reference Programs thrive on a steady diet of new customer reference candidates. Most programs are on small rations when it comes to getting new candidates via the sales force. Salespeople should know best who to recommend as candidates for the program, but they’re typically too busy and too quota focused to act as a sole source if ideas. Here are six tips to breaking the customer reference nomination code: [Read more →]
Customer Reference Nominations, Six Tips
July 20th, 2010 · Customer Engagement, Customer Reference Programs, Tools
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Qwest Voice of the Customer Program Receives Industry Recognition
May 17th, 2010 · Best Practices, Customer Engagement, Customer Reference Programs, Podcasts, Program Content, Program Metrics, Tools
Many of you have sent congratulations for the Q4 2009 Marketing Leadership Council (MLC) award given to Qwest Communications for their Voice of the Customer (VOC) program. We’re proud to have supported this program at Qwest for over 3 years. They’ve come a very long way in that time, and continued to grow without proportionate growth in head count.
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Data Rock Stars and Customer Reference Programs
May 17th, 2010 · Best Practices, Customer Reference Programs, Program Content, System, Tools
I came across this recent article from 1to1 Media on the importance of having a “Data Rock Star” on your team. Over the past few months we have been involved in some significant data migration projects as part of bringing new clients live on our customer reference management system (RMS).
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YouTube – Tips for Customer Reference Programs
May 4th, 2010 · Best Practices, Customer Reference Programs, Program Content, Social Media
Many of our clients are now using or exploring the use of more informal customer videos accessible through YouTube. Most have a YouTube channel—think “microsite”—just for their company.
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Mapping Customer Reference Content to the Sales Cycle
March 2nd, 2010 · Customer Reference Programs, Program Content, Social Media
Filling the Gap
We’re often asked to help companies put together their customer content strategy. To begin, we share our version of a well-known quadrant diagram to set a foundation for how we approach content in reference to the sales cycle. Each type of customer content has a place, but in formulating a strategy, one cannot confuse how various categories relate to each other from the perspective of the sales team.
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Customer Reference Programs in a “hyper-social world” – Our Take
February 19th, 2010 · Customer Reference Programs, Social Media
I recently came across a blog post entitled reference programs in a hyper-social world, which included a mix of interesting notions (i.e., think tribes vs. market segments) and observations of what’s wrong with many of today’s programs.
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Building a Customer Reference Program Case – Through Sales
February 2nd, 2010 · Customer Reference Programs
Every organization we work with has gone through some trials and tribulations to gain executive support and funding for their customer reference program. There are the exceptions where an executive intuitively “gets it” and doesn’t require extensive financial payback models and your first born to get her signature—but those are rare.
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Customer Reference Content & System Support
January 14th, 2010 · Customer Reference Programs, Program Content
We’re a big believer in prioritizing your spend on customer content and this includes efforts put toward social media activities that generate “customer-sourced” content. We found a kindred spirit in Galen DeYoung, Managing Director of Proteus SEO. In a recent post titled A Six-Step Content Marketing Check-Up For B2B Marketers he offers some useful advice including these specific steps from his checklist:
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Podcast best practices
December 8th, 2009 · Customer Reference Programs, Podcasts, Program Content, Social Media
We’ve created podcasts of various kinds for clients over the years, and recently I was asked about best practices in this area. Below are some thoughts that immediately came to mind:
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Customer Reference Stories = $1 Million
December 2nd, 2009 · Customer Reference Programs
Yesterday I saw this headline flash across my inbox:
Compuware launches $1 million giveaway for customer testimonials
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