1. Starting a BIG Reference Program at a High Growth Company
Lauren LeRoy
Director of Customer Marketing, Kespry
March 2018
Introduction and Recap the morning session highlights…
This morning we talked about getting started building a new program
Finding out what is important to your internal customers, executive team, sales and marketing
Taking an inventory of what already exists and how you can add value by reusing those reference assets (also great for education), and collecting all resources in one spot to document and use a system that will work with your company infrastructure and culture
Working with sales and customer success for introductions to get new customers on board
Now let’s get strategic

2. Claim Your Seat at the Table
Learn Your Org Structure
Partner with Sales and Customer Success
Provide Strategic Resources
Align on Prioritized Needs
Be the Trusted Advisor
Claim Your Seat at the Table – Build Trust with Sales, Account Managers and CSMs
Partner with these guys. You need them to be successful in your role and you need the relationship to be reciprocal. Align with sales strategy and priorities – personas/ roles, industries.
Provide them with content and value that they need to sell. Be their wingman – use customer examples when you talk with other customers – your information is all public. Be their eyes and ears – share what you hear from customers.
Share stories – hear a comment about how helpful CS is – put it up on slack channel. when you hear that a customer is going to talk to his sales rep about an upgrade or expand, be proactive and start the conversation.
Image ideas: Pic from sales meeting

3. Be Strategic and Proactive
Identify the best customers to support your business priorities
Sales leadership priorities
Campaigns, events, new releases
Ask for Introductions
Be Proactive
Who are the best customers and what is the story that we want them to tell.
Old way was to take whatever was nominated by sales. New way – be proactive in what you need for messaging or new feature release or event coming up.
Be strategic in your selection and go after the references that you want to develop your program – work with beta programs for new product or feature releases.
Target customers to pursue based on sales priorities. Share examples: World of Concrete – scan salesforce, Before IPO or quarterly reporting we need specific references. Identify them, work with sales and CS for introductions.
Image: fill the gap

4. Selling Customer Advocacy
Customers want to be advocates
Social media and self-promotion changed individual motivation
Consider your customer’s motivation
Change how you invite

5. Add Value
Listen for customers hinting at an upsell or cross-sell opportunity
Look for customers using product in new ways
Add Value – This also helps sales and CSMs
Share examples: Talk about customer examples to other customers to expand sales - working the booth at trade show and meeting the guy from Macy’s, talk about another call center. Suggest new ways to use your product
Getting customers together to talk outside of a closed line event at Tableau conference,
Look for use of product in unusual ways – share this with your product, marketing, sales team to be essential in areas of product development
Image ideas: Include slack quote from Danny

6. Slack Chat with Danny

7. Interview Tips
Focus on the business benefits and quantifiable benefits
Do your homework
What is the story that we want them to tell?
Have a plan, but don’t be afraid to go off script
Listen
Interview tips: Have a script, but don’t be so stuck to it that you miss a great follow up question.
Listen
Emotional and personal impact – share examples ‘late nights & weekends’ and ’stuck in the mud’
Don’t waste your customers’ time. Do your research.

8. Build a Searchable Library
Build a Library
Record
Transcribe
Share
Build a Searchable Library
Record and transcribe all calls. There are transcription companies for $1 or less/minute will transcribe for you. Person is better than digital! Can I recommend rev, fiver, Night Ninja, Zoom service? This is important to be able to pull quotes later, build a draft case study or press story or summary for media outreach.
Also transcribe any presentations, video interviews. Share story: you can’t search video, Beth asking about Tableau or Amazon references. How to save and search all of your content.
Image ideas: Faces page? Record button and transcribe

9. Build Trust with Customers
Be your customers’ advocate
Find out what is important to each customer
Building a personal brand
Promotion
Flattery
Fun
Create content that customers can use also
Trust with customers
Content Notes: Be your customers’ advocate. Advocates are the best customers – they buy more product and tell their friends. They deserve to be recognized and given special attention.
Help discover and provide what they want – publicity, logos, seats at a presentation.
Share story - When you are helping customers with presentations, add value and suggest other presentations that they should attend. Helping customer speakers get seats at session.
Write content that your customers can use for their own promotion – both company and personal – customers promoted at work. Find out what is most important to them – what is their motivator – and then find creative ways to make that work for you both.
Example press release yesterday.
sent customer to Vegas to work at our booth – huge impact for media and event presence, Complete Roofing example. Customers thank you notes/gifts. Always write a thank you note.
Image ideas: Jack Morgan pic – dinner in Dallas

10. Questions?

11. 5 Actions for Success Claim Your Seat at the Table
Be Strategic and Proactive
Add Value
Maximize Interviews
Build Trust

12. Thank You! Lauren LeRoy *lauren.leroy@gmail.com