In today’s world, customers are driving companies to change the way they do business. Studies show that 52% of Fortune 500 companies that existed in 2000 have either gone bankrupt, been acquired or have ceased to exist since 2014. Companies that lost focus on doing what is best for their customers struggled to adapt, and likely will continue to do so. Buyer expectations have evolved; customers are focused on what matters to them. To thrive in this consumer-oriented market, strategic use of time and resources to actively listen to buyers and efficiently glean insights into the customer experience is essential, which is why customer advocacy is becoming more and more critical to the future success of all companies.

My personal career path has given me a wealth of exposure to customer advocacy through the eyes of working for a vendor of advocacy software, as well as being on the internal team that started the organization’s own advocacy program.

So, I asked myself, “Why would customer advocacy training be relevant for me? I already have a variety of experiences in the advocacy space. What could I learn that I don’t already know?” Little did I realize…there were a lot of ways for me to broaden my expertise and refine my practice. So, whether you are already in the advocacy space or are thinking about entering, Referential’s training is a great resource to help you elevate your knowledge and provide you with the tools for success.

I recently completed the Level 1 Introduction to Customer Advocacy training course offered by Referential. The program encompasses eight sessions, each one dedicated to fundamental advocacy topics such as recruitment, fulfillment, revalidation, asset creation, metrics and industry best practices. The curriculum is designed to prepare practitioners for the Institute of Certified Customer Advocacy Professional’s (ICCAP) certification exams. Ultimately, the purpose of my decision to take this course was to pass the Institute’s Level 1 Exam and become a Certified Customer Advocacy Professional (CCAP) I.

I was pleasantly surprised when starting the course and after finishing just two chapters, found that this was not going to be your typical boring, every day, run of the mill training course. First, the sessions are moderated by Helen Feber: the Managing Partner of Referential and a credentialed CCAP III (yes, that means she knows her stuff!). Secondly, the course offers the opportunity to answer sample questions throughout the sessions to test your knowledge. These quizzes help reinforce key learnings from the course and proved to be very helpful preparation for the certification exam. Finally, the metrics section covered the critical calculation of recruitment success rate and unlocked the math behind predicting how many reference leads need to be pursued in order to hit recruitment goals; this is essential for every advocacy program.

What really put the ‘icing on the cake’ for me were the hands-on discussions that are offered at the end of each session. These recorded round-table discussions feature advocacy professionals of all levels discussing their tips and strategies for managing customer advocacy programs. They share genuine nuggets of real-world experience that are invaluable.

Like many of you, I’ve amassed a great deal of knowledge about customer advocacy throughout my career but still found Referential’s training to be a helpful refresh of my skill set and valuable to my professional development. In addition to being loaded with actionable tips and best practices, the training presented knowledge in a practical manner that I was able to easily understand and grasped right from the beginning. What is even more exciting now that I have earned my CCAP I credentials (yes, I passed the Level 1 certification exam!), Referential’s training program offers courses to prepare for ICCAP’s Level 2 and 3 certification exams as well!