Local Reference Group

Are you interested in hearing about what your local reference professionals are doing?  Check out the new geographic sub-groups that have been created.  We have groups set up for the Bay Area, Boston, Denver, EMEA (non U.K.), Seattle and the U.K.  Check us out on LinkedIn to get hooked up.

CRKSN Committees

Interested in becoming more involved in the Customer Reference Knowledge Sharing Network?  We are forming committees that you can be part of.  Committees include:

• Community liaison
• Membership
• Programming
• Communications
• Social Media

Stay tuned for more information on the committees and if you’re interested in joining one, please email us at crksn@live.net.

Events

For all CRKSN members who are attending the Customer Reference Forum next week in California, let’s meet up for lunch on Tuesday, March 2^nd.

Our friends at the forum have reserved a table for us. We can also invite folks who are interested in joining our online community.

Not heard of the Customer Reference Forum? The CRF is a great place to meet some of the best in the business of customer reference and engagement! The CRF is especially significant for professionals who work in the fields of Marketing, Communications, Public Relations, Sales Enablement, Lead and Demand Generation, Customer Loyalty and related fields, who want to learn state of the art methods for leveraging customer references, advocates and promoters.

If you’re interested in joining us for lunch, let us know at crksn@live.net

You can find out more about the Customer Reference Forum by clicking on this link. You can also hear Bill Lee talking about the forum here.

Hope to see you there!

In the World of References

Evidence of the Month

Joe Heitzeberg recently wrote a blog post called “Avoid This Startup Mistake: Losing Customer Focus” For those of you working in an environment where you have other teams focused on customer loyalty, this is a great way to keep everyone motivated.

“Do You Have a Map For How You’d Like Your Program to Evolve?”is a good blog post by Boulder Logic around your customer reference program roadmap.

You’re sure you’ve just implemented a customer reference program that sales people will flock to. There’s now a team or an individual dedicated to solving the reference conundrum, freeing sales to be more productive. Who wouldn’t be thrilled? So why aren’t they coming? This paper discusses the typical barriers to program adoption and recommendations. Read the whitepaper by Point of Reference “A Guide to Increasing User Adoption of Customer Reference Programs”

After months of selling it to management, you’ve been able to get funding for and eventually launch a customer reference database that sales people can use 24×7. You’ve removed the hassle of quickly finding important customer assets to closing new business. So why aren’t they using your new baby? Written by Point of Reference, here are the 8 most common hurdles and how to overcome them. “User Adoption of Customer Reference Management Systems”

Although it’s a bit old, we thought we’d include this blog post by Chief Marketer called “Getting the Most Out of Your Customer References”.It’s a good article on the 4 Rs:  Reconnect, Repurpose, Recycle and Reward.

Podcasts

Interested in hearing how other reference professionals manage their programs? Check out Eric Larson and Lisa Hoesel’s podcasts with reference leaders at companies such as Bloomberg Marketing, Propadoo.com, Destination Marketing, Lockergnome and Reading Social Media. No matter the size of your company, your budget, or your program staff, something of value can be found in each one of these podcasts.
Check out the list of podcasts here.

Code of Conduct

Have you checked out the official CRKSN Code of Conduct? Worried that the CRKSN will become just another group for spammers or people to vent? Read it here.

Jobs

Looking for a reference job or for someone to hire? Let us know and we can post it here.

References and Social Media

What’s Being Said

What are we talking about at the CRKSN? Check out these hot topics and questions that members have posted. Do you have comments or a question? Let us know by posting to the LinkedIn or Facebook group or tweet us a question on Twitter.

Social Media

Customer reference professionals are seeing a growing need and therefore adoption of social media. Naturally, the CRKSN wants to be part of the movement.
Here are some of the great questions and discussions that have come in through our social networks.
- How do you get Fortune 100 companies be publicly referenceable? (Maeve Naughton)
- Video and Audio Testimonials – Recommendations on who I can outsource this to and what to budget for? (Stefanie Maragna)
- Call For Topics! 2010 CRKSN Webinar Series (Sean White)
- $1 Million for Customer Testimonials – True Story (David Sroka)
- Executive-to-Executive peer program experience? (Sugato Deb)

Are you following us on Twitter?  More than 290 folks are following us. Come and join us!

Welcome to our new members who have joined us on LinkedIn. We’re now more than 370 members strong!
Our Facebook group is also going strong with more than 160 members! Checkout our page and see what’s happening.

EMEA Reference Group

Are you based in EMEA and would like to participate in an EMEA Customer Reference Program Community where you can:

• share best practices
• set-up regular conference calls in order to get to know each other and build a stronger community
• exchange common challenges and ideas on how to overcome them
• get together for face-to-face meetings (plan is to also setup a conference later in 2010)
• exchange regional and local best practices on marketing initiatives
• share documents, etc.

Please email Claudia and let her know if you’d like to be added to the list of members! Claudia Koenig CKoenig-Consulting@gmx.de

Lessons from the Summit on Customer Engagement

Eric Larson and Anika Lehde from Projectline attended the 2009 Summit on Customer Engagement in Quincy, MA October 19-21. Below is a quick recap of the event. You can read the full write-up here.

It was exciting to hear from Citrix’s Chris Fleck (@chrisfleck)
about how customers’ voices can directly sway new product
development. In his presentation, he mentioned that Citrix
had intended to build a new Blackberry application. But,
suspecting they needed more info, he blogged the question,
“Do you want Citrix XenApp to run Windows apps on the
iPhone?” When his post got more than 500,000 views, he
used the interest to get resources assigned to building an
iPhone app. By tuning into customer needs, they were able to
prioritize the app that customer wanted most.

Early Registration is open for the 2010 Customer Reference Forum which will be held in Santa Clara, CA. More information can be found here.

References and Social Media

IN THE WORLD OF REFERENCES

Evidence of the Month

Have you read the new FTC rules on blogging? It’s a must read if you blog. Read “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising” in full or the press release.

Chris Kanaracus from IDG News Service just came out with an article this week called “Customers Can Gain From Being a Vendor Reference” The article appeared in PC World and can
be read here. Yeah for customer references getting publicity in tech trades!

Jeremiah Owyang posted on his blog “Web Strategy by Jeremiah” a post called “Checklist: Develop a Successful Advocacy Program“. Here’s a sample of what he wrote:

“Companies aren’t trusted, brands aren’t trusted, and nor are
your executives. People trust each other, and now they have
the tools to communicate with each other using social
technologies and mobile with or without brands involved. As a
result, trust has shifted to the participants. Many brands,
knowing their credibility has diminished, rely on advocacy
programs where trusted members of the community are given
a platform and encouraged to speak.”

Need a good whitepaper on the link between customer references and social networking? Read “Recalibrating Customer Reference Strategies to Embrace Social Media and Networking Tools and Trends“. The whitepaper is provided by References Online.

Boulder Logic and Big Sky Communication have joined forces to create “The Customer Reference Handbook”. This is a great guide for those just starting off their reference career and for those needing a refresher course. You can download it here.

Podcasts

Interested in hearing how other reference professionals manage their programs? Check out Eric Larson’s podcasts with reference leaders at companies such as Ford Motor Company, Comcast and Microsoft. No matter the size of your company, your budget or your program staff, something of value can be found in each one of these podcasts.

Check out the list of podcasts here.

Code of Conduct

Have you checked out the official CRKSN Code of Conduct? Worried that the CRKSN will become just another group for spammers or people to vent? Read it here.

Jobs

Looking for a reference job or for someone to hire? Let us know and we can post it here.

• @BayAreaJobsMkt: Public Relations and Customer References Mgr – Quantum Corporation – San Jose, CA

Social Media

What’s Being Said

What are we talking about at the CRKSN? Check out these hot topics and questions that members have posted. Do you have comments or a question? Let us know by posting to the LinkedIn or Facebook group or tweet us a question on Twitter.

Customer reference professionals are seeing a growing need and therefore adoption to social media. Naturally, the CRKSN wants to be part of the movement.

Here are some of the great questions and discussions that have come in through our social networks:

• Name ONE good thing that has come from reduced marketing program budgets by Robin Hamilton
• Customer-Centricity Online Audit by Lynn Hunsaker
• Starting a customer “knowledge bank” by Casey Hibbard
• @Ambal @CindyKing @Casey_Hibbard @MicheleLinn @globalcopywrite @StephanieTilton pick their favorite case study http://bit.ly/1g0L0N
• @jill4witz: What’s your definition of a customer reference? http://bit.ly/36IfOO
• @Akostic: Twelve best practices for online customer communities http://ow.ly/z8Ls

Are you following us on Twitter? More than 240 folks are following us. Come and join us!

Welcome to our new members who have joined us on LinkedIn. We’re now more than 260 members strong!

• Douglas Jiang, Intern, Business Development and International Trade at Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, Cincinnati Area
• Gary Gaessler, Rural Broadband & Internet Ventures, Greater Denver Area
• Eric Laughlin, CoFounder at Propadoo.com – Testimonials, Referrals, and Employee Recognition, Greater Denver Area

Our Facebook group is also going strong with more than 157 members! Check out our page and see what’s happening.

Boston CRKSN Kick-Off!

Attendees at the Boston CRKSN meeting converge at Alibi bar located within the Liberty Hotel. Below(left to right) Rick Villars of IDC, Barbara Myers of Oracle, Maeve Naughton of Fortinet, Sam Moulton of NetApp and Caroline Ahdab. Not pictured were Kerstin Barr and Amy Burnis.

Drinks, Story Swaps, and Networking at the Alibi!

References and Social Media

IN THE WORLD OF REFERENCES

Evidence of the Month

Have you run a very successful program and want to let others know what you did and how you did? If so, let us know what you did and how you did it.

This month’s highlight is “Reclaim Your Sanity and Win the Business: No more customer-reference fire drills” by Joshua Horwitz, President and Founder of Boulder Logic. Here is how this blog starts…

“In tough economic times, companies still willing to spend money need to ensure they are making a solid investment, and that means more due diligence. As a result, sales references are more important than ever. So now all the vendor has to do is match a happy customer with a prospect. Sounds easy, right? Wrong!”

Interested in reading more? Check it out here.

Podcasts

Interested in hearing how other reference professionals manage their programs? Check out Eric Larson’s podcasts with reference leaders at companies such as Ford Motor Company, Comcast and Microsoft. No matter the size of your company, your budget or your program staff, something of value can be found in each one of these podcasts.

The most recent BlogTalk Radio show is with Bill Lee, President of the Customer Reference Forum.

Check out the list of podcasts here.

Code of Conduct

Have you checked out the official CRKSN Code of Conduct? Worried that the CRKSN will become just another group for spammers or people to vent? Read it here.

Jobs

Looking for a reference job or for someone to hire? Let us know and we can post it here.

Social Media

What’s Being Said

What are we talking about at the CRKSN? Check out these hot topics and questions that members have posted. Do you have comments or a question? Let us know by posting to the LinkedIn or Facebook group or tweet us a question on Twitter.

Customer reference professionals are seeing a growing need and therefore adoption to social media. Naturally, the CRKSN wants to be part of the movement.

Here are some of the great questions and discussions that have come in through our social networks.

• Sample CRP Communications/PR Plans Needed! (Jamie Pachomski)
• Publicity Consent Forms (Geney Kook)
• Are stories dead in marketing? (Casey Hibbard)
• Ragan.com: Making the case for case studies to get press; http://tinyurl.com/n4wjcp (@PRSALANews)
• 25 Ways to Use Customer Success Stories to Grow Your Business: http://bit.ly/Mp3cZ (@smartict)

Are you following us on Twitter? More than 200 folks like @janiceking, @explainnation, @fgossieaux, @KevinUrie and @BarbaraKirk are following us.

Welcome to our new members who have joined us on LinkedIn. We’re now more than 230 members strong!

Jose Colucci, Mobile Technology Strategist. Hospital and Healthcare Operations Expert. Process Redesign Specialist, Research Analyst, Toronto, Canada Area

Judy Berck, Freelance writer, author, business owner, Portland, Oregon Area

Danielle Manter, Marketing Manager at EvolveIP, Greater Philadelphia Area

Brooke Novak, Marketing Consultant, Greater Seattle Area

Karen Newman (Bryant), Marketing Director, Global Customer Advocacy at Siemens PLM Software, Greater Detroit Area

Our Facebook group is also going strong with more than 150 members! Here are some of them…

Gary Katz in Silicon Valley

Goldie Jones in Seattle, WA

Honni Marks in San Francisco, CA

Mindy Singer Aronin in Atlanta, GA

Lori Fett Trosen in Fargo, ND

Bonnie Dz in Chicago, IL

Q&A with Tony Goodwin, Manager Customer Reference Program for BMC in England

How did you become a reference professional? Was it something that you always wanted to be?

I transitioned into this role comparatively recently after ten years in PreSales and Product Marketing roles. It was a role that I had wanted for a while, driven by three main motives:

1. Customer Touch – I enjoy the ‘real world’ customer contact that the role delivers – it is always refreshing and educational to hear customer experiences first hand. ‘Customer Touch’ also serves as a source validation of product directions and industry trends.
2. I have a Service Mentality – The opportunity to deliver a much needed service to our stakeholders [Sales, PR Teams, AR Teams and others] is satisfying.
3. An opportunity to ‘make a difference’ – I feel that customer reference programs are maturing and on a ‘power curve’ right now – driven by sales and marketing techniques that demand customer proof points. Now is a great time to be in this part of our industry.

How long have you been a reference professional and can you give us some background info on your experience?

Nearly two years – so still quite new in this area. I think my background may differ from many reference professionals – I come from a technical career path, with less track record on the marketing side. I feel this does give me a different view – and has added a much needed dimension to our team / program.

Our business is delivering Business Service Management software solutions, often involving sophisticated product requirements – my product knowledge can assist in clarifying the quite demanding reference requests that we receive from customers, prospects and also industry analysts.

Describe your daily responsibilities.

At the tactical level: fulfilling the many and varied reference requests from our stakeholders, recruiting new reference customers, keeping the production of customer artifacts moving forward [Customer Success Stories, Snapshots, Win Stories etc.] and of course keeping our reference database up to date [I use three words here: Quantity, Quality and Timeliness - our data must reflect all three].

And at the strategic level: investigating and developing virtual customer communities, developing strong interlocks with our stakeholders, rewarding our loyal reference customers, internal marketing – ensuring our stakeholders know the breadth of service we deliver – much more than case studies! And finally, thought leadership. This is where forums such as CRKSN are hugely valuable.

What’s the most rewarding part of your job?

There is great satisfaction in knowing when a reference our team has delivered has been influential in winning a major contract, or has resulted in a positive analyst report or press story. However, there are other rewards – recruiting a new reference creates a buzz, as does seeing one of our reference customers present at an industry event.

I was recently delighted when an introduction made via our reference program resulted in an on-going knowledge sharing relationship between two customers in UK – a true win/win outcome. Our program is called ‘Customer Connect’ – and this was a great real world endorsement of our approach.

What’s the toughest part of your job?

I would say that an obvious frustration is when we cannot furnish the ideal reference to fulfill a request. I am pleased to say that happens less often now than it did 18 months ago, due to our reference recruitment drive.

Actually the toughest part can be internal – ensuing our stakeholders properly understand the remit of our program – and also follow our processes. In business there will always be the occasional ‘fire-drill’ – but what is frustrating is when the fires are avoidable. It is tough to be asked to supply an enterprise level reference call in two days – but very tough when it is clear the request could have been foreseen and requested much earlier!

On the customer side – I am sure many people will share the frustration of how long it can take to get a customer artifact signed off and approved for publication. Often great stories sit at the ‘awaiting customer approval’ stage for ages – as the customer corporate communications [and sometimes legal] teams review and re-review the wording.

What is advice you’d give to a new reference professional?

One word – ‘RELATIONSHIPS’ – invest in building great relationships with internal stakeholders as well as the obvious need for good relationships with your reference customers. Important here is to understand the different agendas – sales teams want something very different from PR teams, and senior executives want something different again.

Do not hide behind email – get on the phone, even better, face to face, to build these relationships.

What’s your favorite movie and why?

I love film – so a great question – but please allow me more than one! If you love the cinema, I recommend Cinema Paradiso, Giuseppe Tornatore’s heart-warming, nostalgic look at our love affair with film. I also have Pulp Fiction and Fargo in my top ten. From older films – I always enjoy The Apartment. My number one – and I know I share this with many others – The Shawshank Redemption – quite simply superb.

I look forward to an active involvement with CRKSN – and in particular I am keen to hear from others in EMEA and APAC who work in our area. I am keen to set up some subgroups covering our geographies. Please get in touch – tony_goodwin@BMC.com

EVENTS

Official CRKSN Kick-off!

Join us on Thursday, July 30th for the CRKSN’s official kick-off. If you’re in the Seattle, WA area, join us at Projectline offices located at 562 1st. Ave. S. in Seattle. The program starts at 5:30 and will go until about 7:30. Listen to Greg Yatman, Global Customer Marketing Manager at Avanade talk about his experience integrating social media into his reference program. Free appetizers and beverages will be provided.

Another event on Thursday, July 30th will be in Boston at the Alibi Bar located within the Liberty Hotel in Beacon Hill. Join us at 6pm for a casual get together and meeting of other reference professionals.

CA Bay Area Customer Reference Forum is meeting on Thursday, July 30th at 11:30AM at Santana Row in San Jose, CA at Thea restaurant. Craig from Mainstay Partners will be our featured speaker.

The CRKSN is starting a Southeast group!  If you would like to join or want more information, please contact Molly Jones at Blackbaud (molly.jones@blackbaud.com) or 843-654-3051

If you have questions, feel free to email us at crksn@live.com.

References and Social Media

In the World of References…

Evidence of the Month

Have you run a very successful program and want to let others know what you did and how you did? If so, let us know what you did and how you did it.
This month’s highlight is an interview with Casey Hibbard of Compelling Cases and Author of “Stories That Sell”. Casey shares some best practices from 10 years of managing case studies and through research for her book.

Podcasts

Interested in hearing how other reference professionals manage their programs? Check out Eric Larson’s podcasts with reference leaders at companies such as Ford Motor Company, Comcast and Microsoft. No matter the size of your company, your budget or your program staff, something of value can be found in each one of these podcasts. Check out the list of podcasts here.

Code of Conduct

Have you checked out the official CRKSN Code of Conduct? Worried that the CRKSN will become just another group for spammers or people to vent? Read it here.

Jobs

Looking for a reference job or for someone to hire? Let us know and we can post it here.

What’s Being Said

What are we talking about at the CRKSN? Check out these hot topics and questions that members have posted. Do you have comments or a question? Let us know by posting to the LinkedIn or Facebook group or tweet us a question on Twitter.

Social Media

Customer reference professionals are seeing a growing need and therefore adoption to social media. Naturally, the CRKSN wants to be part of the movement.

What are we talking about at the CRKSN? Check out these hot topics and questions that members have posted. Do you have comments or a question? Let us know by posting to the LinkedIn or Facebook group or tweet us a question on Twitter.

Here are some of the great questions and discussions that have come in through our social networks:

• “Help! My case study got hijacked………” (Sean White, Customer Reference Marketing with Red Hat)
• Customer Reference Program Marketing Plan (Stefanie Maragna, Marketing Manager Asia Pacific at Mincom)
• Savvy B2B Marketing – Six Reasons Why Your Case Studies Need to Target a Specific Audience (savvyb2bmarketing.com posted by Anika Lehde, Co-Owner, Projectline Services, Inc.)
• Video Customer Case Studies – Empowering the Viewer (Casey Hibbard, Case Study Development, Compelling Cases, Inc.; Author of the book, “Stories That Sell”)
• What format of customer evidence do people find to be most effective? Written or video references? (@jameswbutler)
• Innovative way customer reference programs can reach unresponsive customers and help PR: http://bit.ly/85En6 (posted by @CRKSN)

Are you following us on Twitter?  More than 200 folks like @jameswbutler, @CustomerFeedbk, @StephanieTilton  and @zappos are following us.

Welcome to our new members who have joined us on LinkedIn. We’re now more than 220 members strong!

Richard Natoli, Call Center Manager at Stroll / Internet Order LLC, Greater Philadelphia Area;

Shweta Pandharipande, Assistant Manager – Client References, Sales Support at Computer Sciences Corporation, India;

Deaira Irons, PR & Marketing Specialist in Tech Industry, Greater Seattle Area;

Valerie Driessen, High Tech Marketing Services, Greater Los Angeles Area.

Our Facebook group is also going strong with more than 145 members! Here are some of them…Adam Nichols in San Francisco, James Butler in London, Ulrike Flugel in Germany, Karin Zabel in Seattle and Sara Maragos in New York.

NEWS

Your Advisory Board

Founded by Eric Larson of Projectline in 2008, the CRKSN has grown to include more than 200 reference professionals located throughout the world. To spearhead the network, Eric has created a board of advisors to lead CRKSN efforts. Each board member has an extensive customer reference background and are all working hard to make sure that the Customer Reference Knowledge Sharing Network becomes the go to networking group for worldwide reference professionals.

Here are your Customer Reference Knowledge Sharing Network officers:

Molly Jones: Blackbaud, Charleston, SC
Rhett Livengood: Intel, Silicon Valley, CA
Sam Moulton: NetApp, Boston, MA
Maeve Naughton: Fortinet, Silicon Valley, CA
Umang Shah: VMWare, Silicon Valley, CA
Tony Goodwin: BMC, London

EVENTS

Local Chapters Forming

Interested in meeting up with other reference professionals in your area? It’s easy. Just email crksn@live.com to let us know where you live and we’ll add you to the list.

July 30th will be the CRKSN’s official kick-off.  If you’re in the Bay Area, Seattle, Boston or the South East, stay tuned for details where you can meet up with us.

REFERENCES and SOCIAL MEDIA

IN THE WORLD OF REFERENCES

Evidence of the Month

Have you run a very successful program and want to let others know what you did and how you did? If so, let us know what you did and how you did it.

This month’s highlight is Sean White of Red Hat. In this Blog Talk Radio podcast, Sean explains how he has used Twitter to create a 2-way conversation with customers and even successfully used Twitter to recruit customer references.

Code of Conduct

Worried that the CRKSN will become just another group for spammers or people to vent? Check out the official CRKSN “Code of Conduct”.

Jobs

Looking for a reference job or for someone to hire?  Let us know and we can post it here.

Social Media

What’s Being Said

What are we talking about at the CRKSN? Check out these hot topics and questions that members have posted. Do you have comments or a question? Let us know by posting to the LinkedIn or Facebook group or tweet us a question on Twitter.

Here are some of the great questions and discussions that have come in through our social networks.

• “How long typically do people find it takes to establish a world-class CRP?” by Jamie Pachomski, Senior Public Relations Consultant at FM Global
• “Customer Loyalty Programs–seeking opinions on “points-based” approach versus so-called “value-based” approach or others ” by Grace Tiscareño-Sato, Sr.Global Marketing Manager for Unified Communications, Siemens Enterprise Communications
• “The impact of Social Media on Enterprise B2B customer reference programmes – an organic extension of what we do, or more Buzz than Business?” by Robin Hamilton, Director @ Insight Marketing & Communications

Are you following us on Twitter?  More than 150 folks like @LoyaltyCIO, @lbonnet, @gregyatman and @BenMcConnell are following us.

Welcome to our new members who have joined us on LinkedIn. We’re now more than 200 members strong!
Bryan Reid, President, Altitude Management Inc., Ottawa, Canada Area;

Jill Cleveland, Program Specialist, US Enterprise at Apple Inc., San Francisco Bay Area;

Jeff Johnson, VP Customer Relations at Bomgar Corporation, Jackson, Mississippi Area;

Joseph Vivinetto, Marketing Communications Manager at Xerox Corporation, Rochester, New York Area

Our Facebook group is also going strong with more than 140 members! Here are some of them…Harry Weiland in Germany, Tim Keelan in Illinois, Kristi White in Colorado, Heidi Schreifels in Washington, Leigh Grace in North Carolina, Zohar Kimhi in Israel, Michael Lee in the Netherlands, David Fontaine in Georgia, Natalia Latimer Carta in Venezuela and John Chattaway in Texas.