Hot Topic: Big brother!

Customer success stories - Part 2 - Getting the process right

In our last e-zine we looked at best practice in the area of customer success stories. This month we think about the process.

In our industry there are very few certainties. However, one thing that is dependable is your prospective purchaser's appetite for stories about the real experiences of other customers. This curiosity is deeply rooted in our very nature - after all, at an elemental level, it is basically a survival mechanism. For evidence to support this premise, you can point to the huge popularity of "fly-on-the-wall" documentaries and voyeuristic TV programmes like Big Brother. On a more serious note, you know that your customers and your prospects are particularly receptive to reference stories when they are engaged in any form of buying activity. So, if we're agreed, the opportunity requires no further explanation.

Capitalising on the opportunity requires four things:

1. Management recognition of the importance of the issue at the appropriate level. Make it a priority to identify or source the necessary resources and set in place the team or personal objectives to make sure it happens. Use metrics to measure the immediate outcomes and provide the basis for continuous improvement.
2. A formal process to identify and "recruit" existing customers who are willing to recount their experiences for whatever reason.
3. A resource to talk to the customer, research the story from the customer's perspective and write the copy so that it will be interesting and informative, and at the same time carries the vendor's key messages.
4. A resource to turn the copy into a finished document or web page.

I suppose you could argue that the first item on my list should be plenty of satisfied customers. If this isn't the case then you have much more serious things to worry about!

Actually none of this is rocket science, in fact, most of it is quite easy to do, and yet, as we've said before, it remains the case that while some companies perform consistently well in this area, there are others whose efforts are quite frankly disappointing, or worse!

We often read case studies that are really win stories "well known company A has just bought our new module B. They believed our marketing pitch on business benefits, thought we were nice guys and hope it will turn out all right." Customer successes should not be confused with news, a success can only be talked about after the pay back period.

There are plenty of best practice examples to follow, so what goes wrong? We've put together a simple self-assessment checklist with a scorecard which you can print off our website.

This month the exercise is internal but the criteria are objective. You can look at your immediate competitors to see how often they release customer reference stories in your market space. In our view, any score under 15 is cause for concern. Score less than ten and you should take urgent action.

Bob Brown

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Also in this issue . . . .

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