...Just finished a few-week-long U.S. and U.K. whirlwind tour during which I met with almost a dozen clients and a few prospects. Although it has meant eating more hotel meals than I prefer, I learned some very interesting things about reference programs that are doing well. Actually, it's what I would call best-practice characteristics of successful reference leaders. These characteristics are often hidden beneath the surface of a customer reference program, yet they're qualities that drive program success. Successful reference leaders: 1. Are adept at treating sales as a client and partner. In many cases, these reference pros have in place a systematic way to gauge sales satisfaction and alignment. In my mind, they do their best to implement a 100% YES policy that enables sales to be more effective, and they're very clear about what they need sales to contribute to ensure the greatest referenced output and to protect customer relationship. 2. Care about best practices but, in many ways, have built a highly-customized program; one that's sensitive to their company's market, customer base and sales environment. 3. Do the back-office stuff well. Even without reference management systems, these reference leaders know and track their investments and assets. They also have critical processes in place such as those for customer content approval, internal content reviews and collaboration, stakeholder management and integrated planning, customer relationship management and burnout avoidance. 4. Understand the need to measure impact, not just performance. 5. Are open-minded and interested in evolving the program versus continuing with "winning strategies" and standard approaches. They're sensitive to the fact that a reference program can quickly hit the point of diminishing returns. There are many companies out there that claim to be "doing fine" in respect to referencing. In most cases, however, I've noticed that it's those companies that refuse input and insight that often are those that also need the most support. 6. Put the customer in the center of the program... `nuf said! 7. Partner with strong vendors. In most cases, successful reference professionals - those with successful programs - work side by side with vendors that self-manage; vendors that keep up-to-date on technology and market changes; vendors that do their best to increase their clients' return on reference when and where possible; and do their best to offload many of the tactical, non-core activities so that the reference team full-time resources are maximized. Today, most reference pros I know are moving from favoring the one-man shops to favoring organizations with an international presence, broad experience and a team capable of building long-term partnerships. 8. Have a clear vision about the future of their program and their program's current charter; they can also articulate where their program's boundaries are - where it begins, where it ends and, most importantly, where the gaps lie. Promise Phelon, Partner promise.phelon@phelongroup.com