Most Advocacy Professionals are tasked with the fulfillment of customer reference requests from Sales that are guiding prospective customers through the final stages of a sales cycle.  Whether or not your team handles a large volume of incoming sales requests, there are numerous benefits to contacting opportunity owners ahead of them making reference requests. 

Sales professionals are extremely busy and often leave securing references to the last minute. By reaching out proactively – before they come to you – you’ve saved them a step and this action is often met with, “Wow, thank you! I could definitely use some help with references!” Even if opportunity owners don’t need help just yet, the offer reminds them about the existence of the advocacy program. 

In the proactive outreach you can remind them:

• Where to go for customer assets and/or other sales enablement materials

• When you’re holding “office hours” if they need 1:1 assistance with an advocacy database search

• Where to go for training on the reference management system

• About incentives for customers to join the advocacy program

Steps for successful Proactive Sales Outreach

1. Obtain a list of open sales opportunities that are closing in 6-8 weeks (or whatever the appropriate time frame is to supply references)

2. Sort the list for deals that are above a certain dollar value, thereby making it an impactful effort

3. Select sales opportunities that you know the program has ample references and/or content to supply

4. Send an email to the opportunity owner and offer assistance in identifying available customer content or suitable customer references

   • Optional: Include links to customer assets that could be a good match for this deal based on your regional, vertical and product knowledge

5. Track the total dollar value of the deals in your proactive outreach, used for reporting purposes

Proactive outreach can benefit you and your sales teams in ways you may not have considered:

• Salespeople are busy and often contact you at the 11th hour of a sales cycle! By proactively reaching out, you are saving them valuable time and saving yourself from rushed efforts in securing references

• You are promoting your services and raising awareness about the advocacy program: There is often high turnover in sales roles, so consistent program promotion is crucial

• The next time you reach out to that Sales rep for help connecting with a customer, he/she may be more responsive since you have proactively offered assistance in the past

Start with a small number, 5-10 deals per month to see what kind of a response you get.  It’s a win-win for you and your sales counterparts; I wager you’ll be met with many thanks!