Are You Sure You Want to Use Me as a Reference?

Has this ever happened to you? You use a vendor and you’re pretty satisfied with them but they never ask you how things are going. They don’t ask you about the quality of service, the price, the ease of using them, nothing. Then, you’re told that they have given your name as a reference. As a reference professional, my blood boils when I’m put into this position.

How in the world can you can you give someone as a reference if you have absolutely no idea what the customer thinks of you? Absolutely no idea! Would you really do that? Going completely blind into a reference you obviously don’t want that new opportunity bad enough. If you cared, you’d make sure you were giving good references.

When you put a customer in a position like this, you’re pretty much not validating any thoughts or opinions your customer has because you are assuming things. And, we all know what happens when you assume.

Solve this problem before it becomes one. Ask your customers if you want to use them as a reference – especially when they are to be expecting a call from a prospect. It could save you a whole lot of trouble down the line.

Just ask! It’s that easy.

“Things to Think About” for the Reference Professional

#crlp Never tell a customer you’re going to use them as a reference. Always ask them first.

“Things to Think About” for the Reference Professional is a weekly blurb to get you thinking. You can find content here on this blog or at Twitter under the hashtag for Customer Reference and Loyalty Professionals #crlp.

The Definition of Insanity

I was at a friend’s house a few weeks back and I kept hearing a thud every two minutes or so. I couldn’t figure out what it was until I went to the sun room and realized it was a bird. The bird would sit on the fence, look forward (which happened to be a window in the sun room) and then the bird would try to attack his reflection. In doing so, he would slam into the window, slide down the window, jump up to his feet and then fly back to the fence and would repeat…over and over and over and over. Watching this was providing great entertainment for me but I thought of Albert Einstein who said “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

For some reason, I started thinking about customer reference programs and how many groups there are and blogs (including this one) that give you tips and pointers on how to run a program. Most of these tools should be used as guides and not as the only way to do things.

There’s no “paint by numbers” approach to running a reference program. Everything isn’t going to work for all programs. Depending on the vertical, the product, the customer base, the location and the needs of the customer reference program, each program is going to be different. However, there are still some common things that all programs should have including respect for the customer, not assuming you know what the customer is thinking and knowledge of what the purpose of the program is.

Folks who tell you that there’s only one way to run a program aren’t telling you the truth. Having run reference programs for almost ten years and at a bunch of different companies, I can tell you that not one of them have been identical to another one. Each company has its own needs, wants and roadblocks when it comes to the reference program.

Don’t be afraid to try new things. See if what works for company X will work for you. But like the bird flying into the window, don’t keep doing it over and over again if it’s not working. Try something new.

“Things to Think About” for the Reference Professional

#crlp Do you know what your customers think of you or do you think you know?

“Things to Think About” for the Reference Professional is a weekly blurb to get you thinking. You can find content here on this blog or at Twitter under the hashtag for Customer Reference and Loyalty Professionals #crlp.

The Voice Heard Around the World

There seems to be a lot of news lately about people getting fired from their jobs because of stuff they said on social networks. Here’s a video report by CNN today on two folks who used to work at Houston’s restaurant who got fired for ranting about a manager on a private group within MySpace. Then there was last week’s news where two employees of KFC got fired for well, doing things you don’t want done to your food. (the video is no longer available online)

We sometimes forget that the Internet is a powerful tool/vehicle for spreading our voice. If I make one comment online (good or bad), it can be easily and quickly spread to all parts of the world to people I don’t even know.

So what does this mean to me, the customer reference/loyalty professional? I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, know what your customers are saying about you. Listen to them and help them solve problems rather than helping them become a problem. As businesses, we’re all online and so are your customers. Be aware of what folks are saying by searching for your company, product, brand online via tools like LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and Google. You can’t know too much about what your customers are saying. And worse case scenario, you stop a mess before it happens. Not only can you use these tools to reactively see what customers are saying about you, but you can use them proactively too. Ask questions and get answers before you make a mistake.

Remember a few months back the big blow up about the new Motrin ad for moms? (here’s the video if you forgot) Who would have thought that it would cause such a backlash? Motrin was aware of its customers (apparently they were a bit late) and they pulled the ad because there was such a forceful backlash to the commercial. (I personally liked it but the only thing I’m a mom to is a 24lb dog that I don’t carry around all day).

If you only get one thing out of this post, get this…know what your customers are saying and do something about it because no voice on the Internet goes unheard.

“Things to Think About” for the Reference Professional

#crlp creating a customer reference program isn’t like “painting by numbers”

“Things to Think About” for the Reference Professional is a weekly blurb to get you thinking. You can find content here on this blog or at Twitter under the hashtag for Customer Reference and Loyalty Professionals #crlp.