6. Source: Jeanne Bliss, CCO & VIPCrowd
91% of B2B customers worldwide trust
recommendations from friends & peers
more than any form of advertising.
Up 74% from 10 Years ago.
7. Source: VIPCrowd
78% of buyers
have used case
studies to
research B2B
purchasing
decisions in the
past 12 months.
14. Customers – All of them
96%of buyers surveyed expressed a willingness
to participate in reference/advocacy activities
when satisfied with products & services
Source: Crowdvocate & Gartner
Fun fact: 2015 CS Summit Customer Hero Award
Facebook, twitter, CS, our families, our friends, we identify with communities that we are interested in and we know will help us get answers we need to be successful and to feel good about ourselves
You all need references & formal program in place
You have champions, referrals, advocates – these are all the same thing – champion network
Customers talking to customers lead to to new ways of using your platform, expansion, more adoption
How many have you called a former colleague or someone you respect to get insights on a platform or solution before going to the website and asking for a demo?
-You need customer stories to write case studies. You need customers who are willing to share their experience.
-Some aren’t allowed, others are afraid their competition will read it and then they won’t have a competitive edge.
-White Papers 76%
-eBooks 67%
-3rd Party Analysts -- > 67%
You need a champion network to create this content
58% of new opportunities @ Hubspot closed started with a referral.
Companies like Influitive have researched this topic and say trust is “the single most important motivator of consumer attention,” In fact, the author’s argue 80% of B2B sales is involve a referral of some type. Mark Organ and Deena Zenyk’s book - The Messenger is the Message
External Influence impacts B2B buying process.
Before they even land on your website do they have a formed opinion about your brand
A fun way to mobilize your champion network
Drive point: You need internal champs first
-Get a spiff program
-Quarterly customer champion hero
-Moderator for events
-Incentives for starting a conversation
<You can’t build a champion nextwork without your customers>
Mobilize them
Recruit them
It should be easy!
How do you even start?
-Wootric
-Satrix solutions
Medallia
-Qualtrics
Survey Monkey – share your story one what you used
-Ways to send it – Can be scrappy via your CRM, Mailchimp, inplatform,
So how do Identify them:
This is how I have done it before:
FIND A Screenshot:
-Section with surveys
-Section for customer referral requests
-NPS
-Sophisticated
-Prod usage
Hand-written notes by CEO & me
Events ===>>>
Content
Roadshows
With advocacy programs, you can in invite your customers to the platform, you can set up a challenge, and reward the customer.
Influitive, advocately, Crowdvocate,
Incentives
What are you telling them to do in response for this
A/B – product exclusivity
WHAT IS THE OUTPUT – what is
-Infl
-Crowdocate
-Advocately
-Vanilla (less expensive)
Compare - onboarding is critical – length,
-Jive, Lithium, Get Satisfaction
Newsletters – add videos
Monthly group power meetings
Validating your product
With the rise of Yelp, Trip Advisor, Airbnb and other, online reviews are not only addictive but fun and lead to rewards
CRM (contacts, surveys, customer foundation)
Customer Success Platform – Christine to provide a screenshot
Customer Advocacy via Gamification: Crowdvocate
Customer Communities: Vanilla, Jive
Certification Programs
Online Reviews: Many platforms – Trust Radius, G2Crowd, Google
Marketing Emails – yes they still work!
Ask Yourself:
Programs and process
Tech will you use
Who will you add
What is your network miss?
Why you haven’t started a program yet?
What do you need to start a program?
What are measurable goals you can set for this program?
-What is the purpose of this community?
-Who will champion the program & who are your advocates?
-: What will you include in your Advocacy Program & what steps will you take to make each part successful?
-What technology will you leverage to make your programs successful?