Program justification has taken a vocal seat at the table, education across departmental silos and stakeholders has never been more important. Proving the value of what you do is now, perhaps more than ever before, a business imperative. The “so what?” for customer advocacy is a question ringing loudly in everyone’s ears. Luckily, across the industry both the tools in use, and the practitioners using them, can loudly answer this query.

Are you looking to build a database of active customer references but don’t know where to start? Are you having trouble determining the ‘what, which and how’ of metrics you should track? Are there more questions than answers? …Or are you looking for a real, in-depth refresher course to help polish your resume and knowledge base?

Have you ever dived into fulfilling an urgent reference request only to spend the next precious minutes hopping back and forth between your CRM and reference management systems, verifying that you’re using the most up-to-date customer data to identify the best-matching reference? Having easy, seamless access to current, real-time data – like account ownership, product usage, customer location and contact titles – can make a world of difference in how efficiently you can hone in on an ideal match for a reference request.

Though each of our consultants dedicate their time and focus to the programs of specific clients, our team regularly exchanges tips and best practices with one another. As a result, we’re constantly building on our collective knowledge and enhancing our ability to serve the needs of different clients.

We all know that every company has a different view and investment in their customer advocacy program (if they even have a program at all). When going through a merger and acquisition (M&A), these are some helpful considerations to keep in mind while adapting your customer advocacy program to the new business.

As Advocacy Consultants a lot of our time is spent reaching out to and learning about customers, either via email, phone, at events or through the internal support and sales teams associated with a customer. Each time we make a connection, we find out new information; customer insights that need to be added to our reference management systems (RMS) to ensure the most up-to-date details are available to use. Of course, over time, this information can become old and incorrect, or gaps may appear, but inaccurate data is of little use to its users!

As customer advocacy professionals, we’re all deeply cognizant of one simple fact: we trust our peers, the lessons they’ve learned and the advice they’re willing to share.

This recognition of customer advocacy as a business essential is the result of a thoughtful evolution in the concept of “customer references” and a concerted effort to recognize both the myriad of ways customers imbue value back into an organization and the opportunities companies have to provide more value back to their customers.