Making Your Customer the Hero of Your Story

Stories push us past numbers and into our feelings. Used for business, a good story beats a spreadsheet any day-Chris Brogan, author of Trust Agents

Has your sales team said to you that they need more referrals and better references? If you have heard this from your team, this is the article for you. The reference selling model was something I developed at NetApp and was a key part of my onboarding process and well as our team's regular selling motion. In 2008 our team represented 1/58 of the sales force and about 20% of the case studies. In fact, one customer enjoyed this process so much they gave us an award. The benefits of this model include:

Our sales people were productive in the first 30 days of joining the company.
Our sales teams knew how to sell value.
The quality of our references were exceptional.
We never had an issue with the quantity of our references.

74% of business buyers told Forrester they conduct more than half of their research online before making an offline purchase. Perspective customers will view company reviews and customer interviews. Perspective employers and employees frequently search for information online before making a commitment to start a new relationship.

My surveys and recent research indicates that in person references are best and online reviews on a 3rd party sites are also very valuable. Many customers enjoy the prestige associated with interviews in industry publications and well done video interviews. The least trusted evidence is vendor reference materials found in vendor produced formal case studies, as compared with industry articles, reference visits, or videos. Customers tend to bypass formal corporate approval processes if reviews are online or interviews are done at a conference or user group.

I once heard John Spence give a talk on how to get more referrals. He said that in order to get great referrals "you really need to understand your ideal customer." My reference selling model will help you become an expert on your ideal customer and get more referrals as a result. John said that many of your customers or friends would like to help by providing referrals, but you must be great at describing who you can help and who you can't help. This point was driven home when John told the story about a Mastercraft boat salesman who gives out cards for another salesperson who sells less expensive boats. He does this because those customers are not a fit for his product. Below are John's 5 keys and 5 don'ts for getting referrals.

5 Keys to Referrals

DWYSYWD-Do what you say you will do
SUOT-Show up on time
FWYS-Finish what you started
SPATY-Say please and thank you
GALMTTE-Give a little more than they expect

Don'ts for Referrals

Make them feel obligated
Manipulate them
Be aggressive when asking for referrals
Be fake
Be pushy

The reference selling model is a process that finds and develops passionate customer evangelists. In his book Co-Create, David Nour says that "passionate people need to be led by 1. Direction 2. Specificity 3. Outcome Focus." The reference selling model is a natural way to train customers to talk about specific quantifiable outcomes that were achieved when you worked together. It is not enough for the customer to evangelize the fact they like your brand or their sales rep.

David Nour estimates that more than "80% of his clients don't do any kind of a win/loss analysis. This means they don't understand why they win business and more importantly why they are losing business." The Reference Selling model tells you why you are winning. Interviewing customers after a loss tells you why you are losing. David refers to this process as "listening loud."

David Meerman Scott and his Daughter Reiko are in the process of writing a book entitled Fanocracy. Reiko is a huge fan of Harry Potter and David is a uber fan of The Grateful Dead. These interests drove them to research what drives people to become huge fan of brands. They feel that “fanocracy” is as a result of a human connection with a brand. David recommends that companies put their fans in the same room because physical proximity creates a close bond. Even better, he recommends getting them close enough to have a cocktail conversation. If your business is 100% online, he believes that video shot closer than normal can create a bond with your customers. David also believes that neuroscience supports the success of the selfie since a selfie is a picture shot at close range.

In the early days, FedEx struggled with high costs and too few customers. They almost went out of business and were saved by an employee. That employee made a decision to charter a plane in order to get a wedding dress to the daughter of Eastman Kodak overnight. The employee did this because Fred Smith, the founder of FedEx, created a culture where employees were empowered to serve the customer. At the time, Kodak was a Fortune 500 company, and many other Fortune 500 executives heard the story of how FedEx went above and beyond to save the wedding.

Before 2001 NetApp sold mostly to tech and internet companies. Fortune 1000 CIOs had little knowledge or interest in this company as they had sold mostly to engineers. After the tech bubble burst, the company was forced to sell with the IT departments of enterprise companies. Since NetApp did not have brand recognition, we relied on big, passionate, customer references such as Oracle and SAP us give the credibility to get a meeting with new customers. Passionate customers can create or save a brand!

For this reason, I have always been a fan of user conferences, holiday parties, or birds of a feather (customers with something in common) events. When I was at NetApp, we frequently held dinners with several customers and several prospects and allowed them to learn from each other. We also extensively used customer videos and arranged for prospects to visit customer data centers. At Xgility, we held open houses, organized meetups, and made extensive use of video.

There are six steps to the reference selling model. The first step involves having your sales team go out and interview their customers. The next step is to summarize the interview via email and gain the customer's agreement that your notes are accurate. The summary of your interview is a great outline for a case study or a pitch to a journalist. Your customers can also use your summary to quantify the benefits they have received when providing references to new potential customers. The cycle starts all over when you add value to the next customer. What is great about the model is that it is a never ending cycle of new sales.

Below are a few questions that can be used to interview customers.

Why did you buy our product?
When you evaluated our product, what were your other options?
Who else was involved in the evaluation and decision to purchase?
How did you justify buying our product over other solutions?
Did you produce a written justification or ROI spreadsheet?
Was our product more expensive or less expensive than the alternatives?
Who has been affected by the use of our products?
How would you quantify the return on investment your organization has received by using our product?
- Increase revenue
- Cost avoidance
- Time/Labor Saved
- Reduce Risk (compliance etc.)
Is there any way our company could be serving your organization that we are not today?
Would you be willing to share your success in a case study or article in an industry publication?

Drop me a note if the reference selling models works for you.

Train your team to do what it takes to provide value.
Interview your customers after delivery of value
Summarize the interview in writing for the customer's review and approval.
Publicize your customers success story.
Use your customer as a phone reference or site visit.
Provide value to the next customer.