#8-references

Deeto, SlapFive, and Orca are all viable for managing a reference program. It's clunky but I've also done this using Smartsheets using a form and their reporting/dashboards.

If you're already using a Salesforce native product, the easiest transition is to Orca. They're the only other native product on the market right now. Unlike RefEdge, their AI isn't tied to Salesforce's AI production so Orca's product is able to automate a lot of the tasks.

Orca is super, especially if you use Slack. But as someone who talks to a lot of people in the space, they have never had a complaint (that I've heard of).

They are also the CMAweekly official References partner 🙂

Champion and Deeto are sponsors too but are not native, they do work inside SFDC though.

Can you imagine this program expanding beyond References?

Appreciate the kind words @Alexie Glover and @Mary Green (Owner CMAweekly) - you are both incredible resources for our space. @Chris Wilcox happy to connect if I the time is right. Cheers!

And how could I leave out @Sarah McCoy - how has it been almost 4 years since our first meeting 🕐 !!!

Awesome, thank you all for the responses @Sarah McCoy @Alexie Glover @Mary Green (Owner CMAweekly)!

One of our major directives is to incorporate AI into all of our processes and I was building a reference gem in Gemini to help find customers since RefSearch can't show you account details which is frustrating. Appreciate all the recs!

@Andru Creighton will definitely take you up on that. Saw your LI request! I'll reach out shortly!

A reference gem??? Please continue on what you are doing with this, I'd love to think about it.

Yeah me too

I uploaded a few different datasets to Gemini - essentially our list of referenceable customers with a whole host of data:
• Size
• Segment
• Industry
• Product counts across our SKUs
• Integrations they have
I gave it the prompt essentially that "you're the reference expert at our company, please query this data to help me find the best references"

It can be a little clunky because sometimes the reference requests can get specific...especially if it's about the actual reference's company because Gemini seems to have a hard time also crawling website data in conjunction with the data I've provided

Then I give it a prompt based on what I'm looking for - I ask it to provide me the best x number of matches. I try and help prioritize what is most important for the rep whether it be size, or industry, or skus

Gemini is one of the approved data processors for us so got the go-ahead from our legal/infosec teams to do this

I have to put in a plug for Deeto! If you are looking for AI to be included - take a look at Deeto for sure! Especially if you are looking for quick client stories - we have been able to get some great material from clients as they join Deeto that our reps are LOVING.

That sounds so cool @Chris Wilcox and you’re lucky to have the ok from Legal for it!

I'm working with a client to implement Zealot and was impressed to see you're able to request references from Slack or directly within an opp from SFDC if preferred.

If you have a desire for a customer-facing experience, the reference request can also translate to a 'mission' that's worth points (can be redeemed for rewards) and scheduling functions for prospect and customer and in there too.

@Amy Ng that is extremely helpful, thank you for sharing.