Why Running a CRP Isn’t Like Starbucks – and That’s Okay

Go into a Starbucks any day of the week and you’re bound to hear someone order some crazy concoction…a grande no fat, extra hot, double shot, low fat whip, two pump….you get the idea. Starbucks prides itself in giving you the exact coffee you want – no matter if it’s a plain drip with room or a twenty five word description of you coffee.

Running a customer reference program is similar yet can be vastly different from Starbucks. Although in both cases the customer/prospect may make a very specific request, when running a reference program it’s okay to not give 100% what the prospect is looking for. Sounds pretty crazy huh? Here are some reasons:

Set expectations: Let your prospect and/or sales person (whoever comes to you with the request) know that although you will aim to get exactly what they’re looking for, it might not be possible. Many times I’ve received very granular requests – even down to the area code! Seriously. When it gets that granular, I go to my next step…

Find out what’s the most important thing(s): We’d like to give everyone exactly what they want but it might not happen. After you’ve set the expectation, find out what the most important things the prospect is looking for. Maybe it’s the same type of deployment or someone with the same vertical yet the deployment doesn’t matter. Still, it might be the product deployed that’s more important. Find out exactly what’s going to be the deal breaker and work from there.

Get timing: If you have 3 hours to get a very detailed reference, it might not work. However, if you have two weeks, you might have time to get exactly what’s being asked for. The timing of the reference can make all the difference.

I’ve said over and over, running a reference program is about finding the most appropriate customer for each opportunity. That doesn’t mean it’ll always be a 100% match, but you can get close enough that the reference will be a great match.

Know thy prospect?

The idea of my dad finding me a date scares me to death. My dad is 70 and from the old country…Ireland. What he would view as a compatible spouse for me is completely different than what I would. Either way, bless his heart, he’s thinking of his daughter’s future. He recently told me that he had a guy in mind.

I started asking my dad some basic questions about Mr. X and although I wasn’t totally turned off, I wasn’t super excited. Apparently this guy is really nice, drives a nice car, likes to garden and cook and goes to Church. My dad met him at a gardening club that they both belong to and the guy is going to join a Church group my dad also belongs to. Not so sure I want to be dating anyone that’s spending that much time with my dad (cough cough). When I asked about his age my dad said, “He’s younger than me”. “Me” as in my dad. Um, I’m 35 and not really into guys double my age! My mom piped in and said she thinks he’s either in his 40’s or 50’s. Getting better.

We discuss this a bit more and I asked how they know he’s single. Well, you would have thought that the Pope was standing beside Mother Teresa and my parents had to decide which one they wanted to have dinner with. They looked confused, thought for a minute and then said they had no idea if he was single or not. They didn’t even know if he is married.

Besides telling you too much about me, there actually is a point to this little story. You have to know who your customers are. They could be a Fortune 10 company with a gazillion dollars in revenue, using every single product you have and meet all the requirements of your “perfect” customer but are they happy with your products? Do you feel comfortable putting them in front of prospects? Is there something you don’t know that you should?

Just as my dad left out a key component to playing match maker, it’s critical that you know your customers and your prospects. A customer might be a good fit for a particular opportunity, but not for all prospects.

When asked by Sales to find a customer to be a reference, I always ask a few key questions…

1- does the vertical matter?

2- are there specific products that the prospect is looking at?

3- are there specific functionalities that the prospect is interested in?

4- is there a certain deployment type the prospect is looking at?

5- what’s the deadline?

What to take from this? Know what your prospect is looking for because you always want to find the most appropriate customer for each opportunity. There’s no one great customer for all opportunities.

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Why is a Customer Reference program important for a company?

There are many different groups within a company that benefit from a Customer Reference Program but generally there are two groups that have the most impact – Sales and Marketing. These are the teams that tend to raise the most amount of noise as it benefits them the most.

On the sales side there are two main reasons for a Customer Reference Program. The lesser of important reasons is to promote customers “like us”. Prospects generally want to speak to a customer who is in the boat as them – same IT budget, same network setup, same employee size, same industry. By giving them customers to speak with who are like them, they can better see the value of your solution.

But, by far the most important reason for a Customer Reference Program from a Sales perspective is to let Sales focus on selling. It’s not always easy finding a customer to fit the need of the prospect and sometimes it takes 5-10 emails and 5 calls – and that’s just for one reference request! Now figure out how much time it takes to do each of those tasks, multiply it by the amount of time it takes to actually find the correct person to send the emails to or make the calls to. That, over the course of a week or quarter or year, can add up to a lot of time. Now, if you were the VP of Sales would you want to be able to hand over that task to someone who is specializing in finding reference or would you want your Sales person to waste valuable selling time looking for customers? (I hope if you’re a VP of Sales that that wasn’t a difficult question.)

Marketing folks tend to like reference programs because it helps to build brand recognition. By announcing customer via press releases or case studies or media opportunities, people start to find out more about your company. And, there’s no better way to promote your company than through third party validation. Me saying that I’m the coolest person I know doesn’t really hold a ton of value. But if Joe Shmoe tells everyone that I’m the coolest person he knows, then there’s more credibility there.

Having a person focus solely on customer references also reduces the chance of a customer being overused. If Sales person 1 and Sales person 4 are using the same customer for a reference call and then the Public Relations team jumps in and asks for a press release and the Field Marketing team asks the customer to speak at a seminar, there’s a good chance that the customer will become tired or irate. It is easily forgotten that you are not the only vendor the customer is working with so you have to be mindful of his/her time.

A centralized Customer Reference Program also allows for the most appropriate customer to be used for the most appropriate opportunity. With one person, or a team, focused on references it’s easier to keep track of the critical details of the customer so that all references given are the best references for that specific opportunity.

At the end of the day, the benefit of a Customer Reference Program is increased brand awareness and sales which then lead to increased profits. Are you sold on it?