There are many benefits to a well defined customer reference program. Whether your program is managed with spreadsheets or has the advantage of a technology platform, one of the most obvious benefits is the efficiency it brings to sales and marketing.
Folks often ask us how to get more reference customers, so we dedicated a chapter to that in the Customer Reference Handbook. In this post we wanted to highlight the importance of being efficient with each of those customer references. So, take a look at your list – are you getting the most mileage out of each of them? You may be able to get more by simply finding ways to repurpose, recycle and republish existing content.
Start by talking to your customers, find out what they are each willing and able to do for your program. Look at the list of ideas below and remember that content is easily changed to take on new forms, thus it has the potential to fit many needs. By repurposing existing material you can easily get a lot of mileage out of just one good customer reference. Some great ways to do this include:
• Sales reference – phone call or onsite visit with prospect
• Press release – supporting quote or customer feature release
• Web site content – published under the customers/clients section
• Case study – published on your web site, in a trade journal or in printed form for the sales force to take along on calls
• Testimonial recording – to easily and quickly play back for prospects
• Press and analyst interviews – to support your external visibility programs
• Event speaker – at tradeshows, industry conferences, company sponsored webinars, sales conferences, etc.
• Advertising – highlight your reference in an advertisement or campaign
• Guest blogger – feature customer reference material in the form of a guest column on the company blog
• Advisory council – leverage the reference by inviting your customer to join your advisory council
References are extremely valuable and sometimes hard to come by, so do what you can to get the most out of them. Be efficient and maximize your reference efforts through repurposing and republishing, it will amplify your results and help accelerate your business.
