by William Walsh | Jun 2, 2022 | 2022
By Scott Gillum
Estimated read time: 3 Minutes
One of the biggest concerns for marketers is watching their hard work doing buyer research, positioning and messaging fall apart in the last mile….when the rep speaks with the prospect or customer.
In fact, I experienced this first hand last week.
A BDR for a PR firm reached out to me a few weeks ago after listening to a recent podcast I did on a well known show. Their email immediately captured my attention by stating they believed we had a story that would get the attention of national publications.
Not having a great experience using PR firms in the past, I was ready to hit delete until I read the next line that said, “we know that 85% of buyers that have used PR firms report not having a good experience, it’s why we have a pay for performance model.”
Now they had my interest, and I agreed to a meeting. In the weeks in between, I received nurturing emails containing links to testimonials, recent stories placed, and assurance that they could do the same for us, including this from their email;
“Our team has done extensive research on your project and is excited to guide you towards more success.”
Up to this point, all good work by the marketing team.
Last Tuesday at 2 PM, I had a call with the “Client Director.” He explained their unique model, working on the “buy” side with publishers which gives them insight into the stories publishers want ( a nice piece of positioning) which sold me, and I was excited to know what they heard in the podcast that was newsworthy.
And that is where it ALL fell apart. The rep hadn’t even listened to the podcast and apparently didn’t talk with the BDR to find out the details. He literally had no clue.
After the rep stumbled to make something up, and then called us a “tech company” I ended the conversation at 2:09 PM. All the previous great marketing was wasted by a rep that didn’t do his homework. The final steps of the last mile left untraveled because the rep thought the journey was over.
by William Walsh | May 24, 2022 | 2022
As previously published on 5/17/22 in The Drum
By Scott Gillum
Estimated read time: 5 Minutes
Fred Reicheld developed the Net Promoter Score in 2001 using a single survey question asking respondents to rate their likelihood to recommend a company, product, or service to a friend or colleague.
Since then, NPS has been adopted and widely used by corporations as a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) but, there is one key piece missing from many organizations that would make this important metric an even more powerful indicator of performance.
What’s Missing
Ironically, the answer to the question, “Would you recommend the company, product or service?” is rarely tracked. Organizations place a tremendous amount of focus on developing, interpreting and reviewing the results, yet spend little to no time tracking the measurable proof the referrals.
Depending on where one sits within the organization, there are various reasons as to why this happens. If you’re in marketing, referrals just aren’t a focus. CMO’s are more concerned with tracking the results of their team’s outbound activities and the return on their spend.
In sales, inbound referrals are often coded as rep generated leads, or no source is given. Why? Because reps have a quota to hit and want credit for creating and closing self generated leads. Inbound referrals (aka, “blue birds”) are high quality and the quickest opportunities to close.
For customer service, the focus is more aligned with efficiency metrics, and/or the team receives no credit for inbound referrals, even within accounts.
Regardless of what part of the organization reps are in, like everyone else, they capture the data relevant to how they are being measured, which often doesn’t include inbound referrals. There is no close loop, and as a result, it leaves a gap in the organization’s ability to link the real impact of NPS on performance. We only get half of the story.
Why It’s Important
The genius of NPS is that it’s a simple and straightforward one question survey that measures the performance of the entire organization (from marketing to product, sales and through customer service). It encompasses the entire customer experience and journey.
It’s also a great indicator of brand health. The customer feels a connection to your organization, strong enough to put their personal reputation on the line. Think about that for a minute… they’re willing to risk their credibility for a promise that your organization will fulfill or at least that’s the theory of net promoter.
This highlights why actual referrals are a more important performance indicator than NPS – the person making the referral (and we know who they are) is one of your most valuable customers. By making the referral, the customer is validating their connection to your brand. And according to the research, that connection means more than just a referral for at least two reasons beyond the obvious.
First, they are twice as likely to pay a premium for your product/services, and second, they are more likely to advocate for your brand (which they just demonstrated with the referral). Not only are they the source of potential new customers, they are also the key people to advocate for your solution or company within the account.
Referees are key to starting and moving the internal buying process…but only, if you know who they are by capturing that information, which too many organizations fail to do.
Tracking referrals should be a corporate KPI because it cuts across the organization, and as a result, has to be driving it from the top down to eliminate the gaps I pointed out earlier.
Keep in mind, you will also have to motivate reps to capture the information and give them an incentive for asking for a referral. Assign a higher value to referring customers given their importance, and then begin to estimate the amount of inbound revenue in your annual forecast.
Creating a goal in your forecast will drive the active management of referral tracking. As mentioned, these are your most valuable leads so be proactive versus just let the “bluebirds” leads come in.
For marketers, especially if you are in the tech sector, this presents an opportunity to track word of mouth. The top four most used and credible information sources for buyers are people oriented channels (peers, influencers, consultants, etc.).
Finally, reward customers who put their reputation on the line for you. They see something in your brand that connects to them at a personal level, find out what that is, and reinforce it because not only is it the reason they’ll advocate for you, it’s also key to their loyalty…but that’s the topic for another post.
