Asking for referrals from end-users

Marijn Verdult

For our high-touch customers we onboard and manage our end-users in a tech-touch way. 

Does the community have any best-practices or email templates to ask the end-users to increase the impact on themselves and the company (and basically ask for more money). 

Either ask for a referral to a friend/colleague, or ask them if they want to expand their opportunities within the product?

Brian Hartley

Hey @Marijn Verdult I have usually used something like this in the past for references and/or other "favors".  This isn't asking for more money necessarily but more or less a "favor" that could lead to revenue.

Dear Customer,

I was speaking to a prospect today about our platform and couldn't help but think of your journey with us.  I know you had similar barriers when you first started but are now utilizing our tool incredibly well!  Would you mind sharing your story with this prospect?

In theory you could replace this text with "was speaking to marketing today about doing a case study about XYZ use case....thought of you...etc" or " we are partnering with TechCrunch on an article about our platform and thought your use case would be perfect - would you be willing to help"?

 

If it is money related...same approach slightly modified. Focus more on what you know about your customer from a public facing or platform adoption standpoint.

Dear Customer,

I noticed your organization acquired a new company recently.  Based on what I have read, I think this new business unit would be a great addition to the system.  Can you point me in the right direction of how we can make this happen?

 

Hope this helps.

Marijn Verdult

Thanks @Brian Hartley! The idea was more to implement something fo our end-users in a tech-touch approach but I do like your approach Definitely going to steal some bits and bobs from it

Brian Hartley

Ahh, ok, makes sense.  Let me know how it goes!

Paul Giovacchini

Let's take the customer's perspective to your question. If you have a vendor who only communicates with you by newsletters and general email updates, how likely are you to give them a referral or buy more products from them? Asking for a referral is a big ask because it puts the reputation of the customer on the line.

One approach you can take is linking similar customers (size, vertical, mission, etc.) to highlight the success using the product you're pitching. If your competitor is achieving success with XYZ, are you interested to see if we can deliver better results with you?

Great question and I'd be interested to hear how others are trying to expand their tech touch book. Thanks for asking!

Marijn Verdult

You're absolutely right, in the end it comes down to if the customer is getting "the job done" with the product? 

No matter how often they interact with the vendor, if the customer absolutely raves about the product and the product makes him a superhero, they will happily provide referrals if you aks them nicely. Even if it's the first time they hear from you (personally then of course).

The same is true the other way around so this needs to be something triggered and not just scheduled...