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Monthly newsletter (Current Issue) free to anyone interested in the latest news about Media Monitoring and Measurement. Information you provide is strictly confidential. We won't rent or sell your information.
Media Monitoring News, December 2008
A Customer Success Program Is Your Best PR Tool
by Richard BermanWho is your best possible salesperson? We all know the answer.
It's a happy customer who tells other people how great you are. He or she has the credibility that no professional salesperson can equal—IF your prospects are exposed to this enthusiasm. And that's the problem.
Every company knows it has happy customers with great testimonials. But they are quite useless if they are never used.
A customer success story can be used in so many ways:
It can be highlighted on your website.
It serves as a handout at conventions.
It is a perfect direct mail piece.
It is sales collateral for in person visits.
It is the basis for trade articles and publicity releases.
It can be the basis for videos and flash presentations.
It is a way to honor your customers and grow your relationship with them.
No matter how you look at it, customer references are your best Public Relations tool. They are so much better than traditional advertising because they provide a critical third party endorsement that gives your prospective customers peace of mind about choosing to work with you.
Why not give your happy customers a chance to express themselves?
Here are some hints and tips for a successful customer reference campaign.
Canvass your staff to identify the best customers to contact. Obviously it's the people who interface with your customers who will know which ones are likely to be willing to help.
When approaching a customer to participate in a reference story, emphasize that it is a "win-win" situation since it demonstrates how well your customer runs his or her business. Your customer can also use the story for marketing purposes since it puts him or her in such a good light. Some companies offer customers a small incentive to participate.
Always try to obtain a picture of the customer for your reference story. Readers are more likely to be drawn into the story when they see what the subject looks like.
Always assure your customers they will have first opportunity to edit your copy and to make changes.
Make your story conversational and interesting. Your readers will be turned off by typical "corporate-speak". Find something unusual about your customer that will draw readers into the story. Try to learn a bit about his or her hobbies and personal life. Adding these tidbits to the copy makes the story more appealing and interesting.
When you interview your customer for a success story always try, with the permission of your customer, to record the interview. That way you won't make any technical mistakes. You can provide the transcription to your customer and ask him or her to highlight the areas he or she would particularly like to be included the story. Make sure you use a professional interviewer and writer. You would not want an intern dealing with your best clients.
Here are a few key questions to ask in a customer reference interview:
Please tell us your title and a bit about your background and what you do in your job. How did you initially come to be working with us? How would you differentiate our product or service from that of the competition? How are our people to work with? Are there any anecdotes that come to mind in your dealings with us that might make this story more colorful or interesting? What would you like to see us add to our products and/or services in the future? Are there any questions you came prepared to answer that we have failed to ask? Do you have any additional thoughts or comments?
Once you have developed a series of customer success stories you can extract quotes from these stories to create brochures and other advertising pieces. When you reuse these quotes always get the permission of your customer.
Invite your happy customer to join you in your booth at conferences and conventions—then offer the press attending the opportunity to interview your customer. This can generate many positive articles.
There are also some less obvious benefits to marketing your customer success stories. Once you set the process in place of identifying your happiest customers you now know who to use as references in the future. And, as you are interviewing customers for stories, you are generating a wealth of information which may help you offer add-on products or services. You will learn, as well, if there is something the customer is unhappy about, of if there is something the competition is offering that you should be offering as well. This is also an opportunity to ask the customer if he or she can refer you to other companies that may benefit from your services.
"Solution Selling" is a much overused term in business today, but it does make the point that it's important to approach customers with clear solutions to their needs. A customer success program helps you identify those needs and tailor you sales and marketing approaches based on what you learn.
Customer references and case studies also help you identify the key customer contacts for you to be in touch with in the future. This is invaluable for creating user groups, company newsletters, surveys, convention notices and so on.
A word of caution, don't overuse your references or you will overuse your good will. Be judicious about how many times your contact the customer for references and about how many times you give their name out as a reference to others.
Don't forget also to consider instituting a program of internal success stories to motivate your staff. These stories help share best practices across the organization and they make the point that good work is recognized.
Please remember, in business communications, you are what you write. Thus, if your written material communicates effectively, and grabs the reader's attention, your message will be positively received.
Customer Success Stories are one of the most effective tools to get those messages across.
Richard Berman is a promotional writer specializing in the marketing of customer success stories. He can be reached at customersuccess@gmail.com or by phone at 914-572-2707.
