#announcements

After the call takes place, with advocacy not present, we plan to ask our customers how the call went, and within that, questions like - 'what are the top three valuable questions that we're asked?' In this way, we can gather information on what areas we can support our prospects in, if the calls arent recorded or advocacy is not present.

Thank you, Jaz!

nooo

it's the only candid space left

and they need to be able to communicate honestly in a safe environment w/o the vendor

(but there def is some great nuggets of gold in there so I get the temptation to record)

^^^^ completely agree @Evan Huck - we never record or attend to allow them the comfort to be candid and honest with each other without us there

Agree with Evan and Emily! While you're right in identifying those calls as good places to hear the customer story ... they aren't the right place. You want everyone to feel comfortable to share openly, without influence. I'd recommend learning about the story before you leverage them in a live reference environment (ie. informal call to get to know your advocate and learn about how they hope to engage in your advocacy program). But, realistically, those calls aren't always possible for small teams. Instead, with a lot of smaller teams, I see the relationship being built through the organization/admin process of setting up calls. You get to build relationship with those encounters and then it becomes a lot easier to pepper in questions that tell you a lot more about the story.

Also - a note that a lot of folks will simply refuse to participate if they think it's being recorded or if they hear someone from your company is attending. I would eliminate all possible points of attrition and not ask if you can record/attend up front. You don't want to lose someone who would be interested in doing it if those items weren't a factor.

100% agree with Evan

I use helping set up a reference call as an opportunity to build a relationship with an advocate and hopefully this is a first baby step into the realm of advocacy. With some customers, you already know they can't do anything public, so that's fine - they are still a huge part of the advocacy machine. They can talk to analysts off the record, etc. We should send them thank you swag, etc, and treat them like VIPs regardless of whether or not they can do external marketing.

For customers you'd like to do external marketing with, and you haven't approached yet for advocacy, meeting them on the prep call w/ the requesting account team and the reference customer's account team ahead of the actual 1:1 call is a great way to start cultivating the relationship authentically. Get to know them a bit, listen to what they say they'll be able to cover on the call, make notes, and do your use case research internally w/ their account team. Send the reference customer a thank you (a note is sufficient if you don't have gifting budget and most advocates do these calls w/out expecting anything in return if they truly love your company). And from there you can ask the account team - that went so well, etc. What do you think about them joining a future webinar on xyz topic, etc.

Agree with everyone else - a reference call is not the place to be opportunistic - and you don't want to erode a customer's trust right off the bat or the field's trust that you're taking good care of everyone on the call and providing a place for their prospect to network and learn from another customer. But, I see it as - this could be your first experience with our team - I want it to be a positive one. Who knows what we could do together next!