Here's the January issue. In case you experience formatting issues with the email version, or problems with links, here's a link and URL to the newsletter, click here: http://www.lee-communications.com/ci.htm
Best regards, Bill.

Reference Point is a Lee Communications newsletter about customer reference (CR) programs and how to improve them. To subscribe, please contact me (contact information is below or just respond to this email). To unsubscribe at any time, just reply to this email with "unsubscribe" in the subject line. This email list and your name will never be made available to anyone else, not even to others on the list, unless by mutual request and agreement.

In addition, we have a stellar group of presenters who run customer reference programs at Microsoft, Intel, Lucent, HP, Unisys, NetIQ and the IT Services Marketing Association.

And of course, we're holding the event in Phoenix at the lovely SunBurst Resort and Spa -- not a bad place to be for a couple of days in February.

In this month's issue of Reference Point, I thought I'd ask a few of our presenters to give you a sneak preview of what they'll be talking about.

Please note: Early registration ends on January 19. Register here to take advantage of fee and hotel discounts.

Previewing the Presentations

Elevating Customer References to a Key Corporate Strategy

Janice Burg-Levi, Global Strategic Marketing, Vice President at Unisys, is guiding her CR program to an increasingly strategic - and increasingly important - role at Unisys. She'll tell us how she's doing so.

"At Unisys, we're taking the Client Reference program beyond a focus just on references," says Burg-Levi. "We're focusing on the full client experience. Our group is fully responsible for customer satisfaction at Unisys. That brings an entirely new perspective to customer references. We don't go out and ask customers for the favor of being references. We're building value added relationships with customers in which referencability is a natural part "

Over the last year or so, Janice and her team have more than tripled the number of referencable customers at Unisys - from around 80 to 250, and growing.

Building the Business Case for CR Programs

Ken Darby, Director, Worldwide Customer Reference Program at HP, will present on this topic. His basic point: The need for a customer reference budget is NOT always obvious.

"We place very high importance on marketing ROI - on establishing the value of our marketing programs to HP's business," notes Darby. "That comes from the very top - from our CMO Mike Winkler. We're very aware that marketing budgets can be cut drastically during downturns, and that includes the customer reference program. The way to protect against that is to make sure you can establish the benefit of the program to the overall business. At HP, we do that for non-revenue generating initiatives like the customer reference program by focusing on usage: Is the sales force leveraging the program? Is marcom leveraging the program? I can tell you that, for the HP customer reference program, my answer to Mike Winkler would be yes."

Ken and his team have built one of the most comprehensive and innovative customer reference programs in the industry. It includes a global central repository of approximately 7000 HP wins, references and success stories; customized CR program intranet sites for HP sales and marketing communities; on-line customer reference education courses for HP Sales and marketing professionals; and, a single, consistent template for HP success stories and videos as well as CR program vendor consolidation and certification.

Motivating Sales and Customers to Participate in Your CR Program

This is one of the most requested topics from attendees at Customer Reference Forum 2005. Tami Andrews, who runs the CR program at NetIQ, will be leading a panel on this topic.

Tami helped build the CR program at Compaq and helped integrate Compaq's program with HP after their merger. In her first full year at NetIQ, she built the program from "0" to over 100 referenceable customers and helped close over $20M worth of Systems & Security business. She is also one of the great people persons in the profession (I'm speaking now from personal experience; I've known Tami for years.)

She shares a framework for thinking through what it will take to motivate your customers to become references. "Motivating customers to participate in your CR program requires a lot of attention. There are about five or six factors you need to address:

- Process: You need to take the time to fully explain the CR process to customers in order to get them onboard.
- The Value Proposition: it's all about the WIIFM (what's in it for me).
- Timing is critical: You need to understand that the opportunity may come along at a hectic or bad time for the customer. Learn to listen and reprioritize according to the customer's schedule rather than your own.
- Appreciation: It's amazing what people will do for a free T- shirt or coffee mug! Also, show sincere appreciation from an executive level.
- New Stuff: Keep customers in the loop on new products or versions. Show them the 'love' and they will show it back to you.
- Monitor: Log & track reference requests and ensure that the customer is not overused. Show them you value their time."

For more information on Customer Reference Forum 2005, including an Agenda, click here.

To register for the program, click here.

If you have additional questions, please give me a call at 800-329-0379.

Hope to see you in Phoenix!

Just click the specific issue that interests you:

March Issue
Success Stories: The Top Five Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)
Based on our research into success stories at 25 top technology and tech-related companies (no names mentioned:)

April Issue
Anticipating - and Improving - ROI from Customer Reference Collateral

Also, click here for to download an Excel-based ROI calculator based on the article.

May Issue
Everything Success Story Writers Should Know About Sales
Up to 90 percent of marketing collateral is never used by sales. Based on our own research, that may well include success stories. Article gives your marcom writers the information they need to write stories that sales will use and benefit from.

June Issue
Tips on Getting Customers to Disclose ROI
Article urges you to challenge the notion that customer references won't disclose this information -- after all, they're going public with the fact that they use your solution, and how they're using it. This article provides several tips, based on my own experience, in getting customers to "give it up."
Bonus: A Platform for Getting Customers to Take Reference Calls 24x7 -- and Like It

July Issue
The One Number That Drives Growth -- Customer References
July's featured article turns from tactical issues to broader strategy. What are new ways in which Customer Reference programs can add value to their companies? We look at one new way in which Customer Reference programs can do so and this one is potentially a biggie. Plus it is based on relatively recent research you should know about, on the (often untapped) importance of customer references to a firm.

August Issue
Persuading Customers to Become References
August's featured article examines the best ways to persuade a customer to become a reference. You start, of course, by providing great products, services and solutions. That said, even happy customers may require a touch of the persuasive arts to sign up for your program. People persuasion is actually a subject of serious scientific study-the most famous expert in the field is behavioral psychologist Robert Cialdini. August's featured article presents six tips from Cialdini's extensive research that will help improve your odds the next time you pop the big question to a customer: "Will you be my reference?" Indeed, if you have an extensive pipeline of potential customer references, it's a very good bet that these techniques will measurably improve you "close rates."

September Issue
Tips on Getting Sales People to Support Your Customer Reference Program
In September's issue, we interviewed Barbara Khait, Director of the Client Reference Program at Lucent. We continued the discussion she began in her well- received Web briefing hosted by ITSMA in August on Building an Effective Client Reference Program. Barbara's presentation sparked a great deal of interest - clearly customer reference professionals want to communicate with each other! Here we focus on one topic that seemed to generate a particularly large amount of interest: how to get sales people participating enthusiastically in your CR program

October Issue
Making the Business Case for Your Customer Reference Program
In October's issue, we reviewed a report from ITSMA (The IT Services Marketing Association) called "Best Practices in Reference Management: Presenting Evidence of Value Delivered," by Naomi Steinberg and Steve Hurley. One of my favorite things about this organization is that it performs very good research and it shows in this report. The report provides useful insights on building and improving Customer Reference programs and is especially useful if you need guidance in justifying budget dollars for your program.

November Issue
Thinking Things Over: Do Buyers Believe Your Success Stories?
We take on the issue of whether customer success stories are believable, in November's issue. Customer success stories are meant to serve as an antidote to excessively "hyped" marketing materials. They're supposed to be more credible. But far from reading like a new, more believable form of marketing communication, a lot of stories read like the same old hype.
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