For the past 6 years we’ve played a part in the creation and evolution of many customer reference programs (CRP). Although we’re not a consulting organization per se, our customers have come to rely on us for best practices and trends in our space. Over the past few months in particular we’ve been asked for examples of CRP marketing plans. So we decided to invest the time to create an outline that could jumpstart a CRP initiative and hopefully ensure important project details aren’t overlooked.

Our outline covers just about anything a disciplined, process-driven organization would need. But don’t let that scare you if you want to take a less structured, and less formal approach. This outline can be modified to adapt to any environment or implementation style. We do believe that a well-conceived plan sets the stage for a well-supported program, echoing Laura Ramos’ (Forrester Research) words from the Feb ‘09 Customer Reference Forum. She emphasized the need for “community marketing” professionals to prove to executives that CRPs are as professional, disciplined, and measurable as any of the more established programs such as lead generation and direct marketing.

As we assembled the outline (Microsoft Word) and corresponding timeline view (Microsoft Excel) of the outline, we took note of how well it aligned to our Customer Reference Program Maturity Model. This model identifies the 11 elements of a program and describes 4 stages of evolution for each. It’s a framework for setting up or benchmarking a program that many organizations have found to be helpful. By starting with the “How to use it” section in the Word document, it should be clear how these tools work and fit together, but if not, we’re happy to provide further explanation (info@point-of-reference.com).

If you have suggestions for making these tools more complete, clear or effective, please comment.

Good luck with your program initiative!!