The most frequent question relating to customer reference development involves getting customers to play ball. B2B technology companies often say:   
 
“We face all kinds of obstacles getting our customers to be references. Most of them just don’t want to do it.”
 
“Corporate Communications and/or Legal shuts us down every time.”
 
 “Our customers consider their use of our product a proprietary advantage and don’t want to talk about it publicly.”
 
“We only have a handful of customers and zero leverage at this stage getting them to be references.”
 
“They like us but can’t endorse us.”
 
“We have lots of great customers but only a finite group are references. These same customers are leveraged heavily by many different groups within our company, especially sales. PR is not often at the top of the list.”
 
When your company faces this reality, can anything be done to engage customers?
 
Thankfully, yes.
 
In our 15 years of Customer Goldmining® experience we’ve learned many lessons. While there certainly are instances where a given customer cannot be a reference, case closed, there are many proven techniques to engage reluctant customers:  
 
Think like your customer – the most helpful thing you can do is get out of your company’s skin and look at the world through your customer’s eyes. Forget about getting them to do anything for YOU. It’s not about you, it’s about them. Invest the time to understand your customer’s culture, challenges and needs. Drill down to discover the particular types of opportunities in which they may have interest.
 
Start small – one of the biggest faux pas? Going into a customer conversation with a laundry list of requests: quotes for news releases; speaking opportunities; case histories; annual report briefs; videos; podcasts, etc. Don’t do this. Instead, focus on one thing that appeals to the customer. Then work hard to make it a success in the customer’s eyes. Once you establish credibility via results, you can hopefully move onto a second activity.
 
Find the maverick – Some people are out to make a name for themselves and build their career. Being interviewed by reporters, getting quoted in articles and appearing on magazine covers appeals to these individuals. They are risk takers, have power within their organizations and agree to take responsibility for their own actions. Analyze your customers to find mavericks.
 
Talk trends and issues when road-blocked - If a customer is interested in media interviews but can’t overtly plug your company’s product or service (or they consider your product a proprietary competitive edge) explore trends, issues and thought leadership topics instead. For example, while SVP Sally can’t plug your company’s document management software, she can talk about bigger picture happenings within the market. Align these customer spokespersons around topical issues with which they are comfortable. This approach triggers positive connection points for your company.
 
In-person works best – E-mail and phone communication are okay, but if you want to build a relationship with a very strategic customer, do this in-person. Meet them face-to-face and build rapport. Your personal touch will pay dividends down the road.
 
Move PR up the food chain – While it’s critical to have customer references to close sales deals, it’s also important to have them validate your company with important media and analysts. Lobby persuasively to move PR up the critical list.
 
Bake referenceability into contracts – Work with your sales and legal departments to create custom testimonial language for new customer contracts. Be willing to give something back to your customer in exchange for their involvement. Remember to craft language that is as specific as possible, e.g. “agree to be a reference” is not as effective as “agree to participate with one new customer win news release and one media exclusive.”
 
Leverage prospects – If you don’t have any customers, or don’t have customers who can be references, cultivate prospects instead. Ponder the prospects your company met over the past year and identify those who were supportive of your product/service capability and “got it.”  If you tee-up a media opportunity that gives them and their company positive visibility, this will nurture the relationship.
 
Small and involved beats big and uninvolved – Any customer reference is better than zero customer references. While a brand name is nearly always preferable, your PR program will be better served by a smaller company eager for exposure and repeat media interviews.
 
Think micro, not macro – The highest impact customer references are strategically targeted and proactively nurtured. They are not random “dialing for dollars” occurrences. Analyze your customer base to target particular customers who provide a ‘great fit’ advantage for you and them. Sort your customers by reference objective. Then go after them individually in a thoughtful way.
 
Leverage C-Level execs – Don’t approach critical potential customer references with junior people. Instead, elevate this outreach to the highest levels of your company. Engage your CEO, President, Chairman, Board members, CMO and CIO to explore referenceability. Leverage any personal relationships that exist. This shifts conversational impact to a much higher – and more successful - level.
 
Create incentives for customers – Some customers need a trigger event to get them involved. While their immediate reaction may be to shut the door on any idea, you might be able to gain traction by dangling a meaningful carrot. Instead of saying “would you give us a quote for our news release?” (myopic and self-serving) you say “If I could orchestrate an exclusive interview for you with The Wall Street Journal, would you be interested (customer satisfaction focused)? Similarly, Best Practices programs are very effective because they offer public recognition and prizes that appeal to a customer’s ego, pride and perceived leadership.
 
Create incentives for your sales force and channels – Let’s face it, sales professionals care about one thing (as they should): closing deals. Getting customers to play ball with a media interview isn’t typically high on their list. Get them involved by developing an appealing ‘bounty program’ that gives sales/channels a reason to invest their limited time. Cash and cars are a good place to start.
 
Work with corporate PR – Instead of avoiding a customer’s Corporate PR department (or hoping they won’t discover your plot to get their CIO quoted), get them involved from the get-go. Engage in a thoughtful conversation and remember the principles previously discussed. Try to uncover one particular activity that might be green-lighted by Corporate PR.
 
- Andy Beaupre