#8-references

About a year ago we implemented a form for AE's to fill out if they already had a reference in mind. That way we could check if they had been asked something too recently or had a case open etc. It didn't stop them from reaching out, it just allowed us to be able to at least track it and flag if there was anything they might have missed to help us all be on the same page. It's gone over pretty well! There are still some who don't follow it, but they like knowing they can still maintain the relationship so long as we can track the ask.

One of my fav plays is to reserve conference passes and speaking opportunities for accounts that are within the reference pool—that doesn't necessarily mean that the contact needs to do a sales reference call to "unlock" the freebies—they could have participated in a case study or analyst report, etc. This approach incentivizes AEs to ensure that their accounts are credited for their reference activities so they can offer their customers the ideal freebies.