I wrote the other day (see my April 25 post) about seeing some very familiar issues coming up at the Customer Reference Forum. The top example: “How can I get sales reps to nominate their customers as references?”

My answer: “Delivering demonstrable value to your sales force.” Successful programs at the forum reinforced that solution, including two presenters. One, Stephanie Porter of Amdocs, told of a wonderful moment when an account manager emailed his peers to discuss the value the customer reference program had delivered to him and encourage them to nominate their customers and participate actively. The other, Wendy Wolfgram of Tomorrow Now, told a similar story in which her CMO asked how he could help her – he knew the program was wonderful, because she had measured her success in supporting sales, and now he wanted to know what she needed from him. Other reference program leaders I talked to there told similar stories.

Sound good? Could happen to you if you keep your focus on sales and how you can help them advance their deals and close business.

Another interesting moment at the forum came when speaker Jeremiah Owyang shared his views on how customer reference programs will evolve in response to social media. An April 25 post on his blog links to his presentation. Jeremiah had a lot of interesting things to say about how programs will change, but I question one of them. He says social media will expand the role of customer reference managers to include “turning negative references into positive references.” I think that’s off-base in some ways, but spot-on in others.

Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely think companies should take on that challenge. But turning nay-sayers into references is not a one-program job, and it requires insight and strategy that many companies lack. To do it, they need to take a holistic view of the factors that influence referability and bring all involved departments together, including sales, support, product development, consulting, pricing and contracts, and so on. Once you’re doing all of that, you’re not a customer reference manager anymore. It goes beyond expanding a role to transforming it completely.

I couldn’t agree more with Jeremiah, though, that social media provides a critical listening post for companies who want to know what their customers say about them. Tracking blogs, review sites, and other social media should have a place alongside surveys, focus groups, boards, and other feedback mechanisms. But for now, until companies evolve to the point where customer reference programs and voice of customer programs are tightly connected, don’t stick the (probably overburdened) reference program with that job without more resources and some serious executive backing.

Whitney Wood, Senior Consultant
whitney.wood@phelongroup.com