There was a great discussion on the LinkedIn group, Customer Knowledge Sharing Network, recently. The question posed was:  “How do you encourage sales reps to share information about possible reference customers?”

We believe that at the heart of this issue is trust. Sales reps often worry that the reference program will potentially “mess up” the relationship, overuse them, or make it hard for them personally to access their own customers. All of these concerns/objections need to be addressed head on when communicating the value of participation and purpose of the request. Have a good plan to share, then execute on it as advertised. Those willing to step up and share with peers that their worst fears never materialized (and hopefully want to sing the program’s praises) will then be your best references.

Here’s a summary of some from the thread that we endorse because we’ve seen them have an impact:

• Face Time With Sales
  There’s something about face-to-face meetings that can lead to trust and cooperation more quickly and easily. So attend sales meetings and other events whenever possible to put a face on the program.

• Director-Level Buy-In
  Getting executive buy-in is important to be sure, but sometimes it’s the level below, closer to the action in the field, that can have a bigger impact. If directors understand the program’s value proposition it’ll be a more consistent part of sales conversations.

• Rep Recognition
  Competition and recognition are part of the sales reps’ DNA, so work those angles. Make their efforts to nominate customer references and their successful use of references highly public. If you can add a game element (a.k.a. gamification) to a nomination effort make the leader board public and prominent.

• Leverage Internal Communications
  Treat the reference program like any other marketing program and establish a cadence of touch points to reinforce the program benefits and share reference success stories and metrics with the sales force. Don’t expect the reference program to simply catch fire on its own.

• Alternate Lead Sources
  Remember that Sales isn’t the only source of leads for the reference program. Your consulting/professional services team, for example, is often closer to the customers after an implementation. They’re also more motivated by incentives.

For those of you with the opportunity—the right conditions—to not only influence revenue, but to be a change agent for the organization, here are a few, more ambitious goals:

• Referenceability as an incentive
  This is the carrot vs. the stick and could apply to not only sales, but also the team responsible for implementing and servicing the account. Philosophically, many executives believe this is part of the job and doesn’t merit an incentive. And whether it will work in your environment is very much dependent on the leadership and culture.

• Referenceability as a component of compensation
  It’s no small task to change a culture of “sell and run” to one where sales views a customer’s referenceability as a long-term responsibility. This one takes CEO support and sponsorship. Making it a part of the comp plan removes any possibility for mistaking the requested cultural change as lip service.

Hopefully these suggestions lead to a closer relationship with sales and a never ending supply of leads for your program