Megan Donaldson at Zoom

#discussions - June 28, 2024 at 07:43 PM

We try for name/logo referencability in the contract although more often than not it gets redlined and we just do our job to earn their advocacy. We don't give discounts for case studies. Like others mentioned it usually isn't a great story or they're just not as excited about advocating because it's tied to a contract. We also can't give discounts because we'd have to disclose that they "received compensation in exchange for the testimonial" ... not a great look.

#discussions - June 24, 2024 at 08:53 PM

We used to do a formal contract, but now just make sure everyone has an NDA. I really like this 1-pager from Citrix that outlines the program without making it too formal. Too often the more formal contract got us stuck in legal reviews.

#discussions - June 24, 2024 at 08:52 PM

@Emily Smith at Zoom I'm a big fan of rolling over ~50% of CAB members and welcoming in 50% new members each year for our annual CAB summit. *Communicating Tenure:* I communicate the tenure when I invite someone to join the CAB. _We hold quarterly meetings over Zoom and hybrid meetings twice a year. We also host a group chat for all CAB members with Zoom executives. Tenure is one year with annual evaluation for a consecutive term based on member contribution and attendance._ *Here's an email I recently sent when cycling someone off - and followed up with a DM.* It can be really hard! But everyone has been 100% understanding. Alongside the CAB we have less formal "industry councils" so usually there is another group we can add them to which makes it easy. _We are so grateful for your many contributions to our CAB (Customer Advisory Board) that have helped Zoom become the company it is today._ _We rotate membership on the CAB, with a standard term of 1-2 years, to ensure diversity of thought and offer the opportunity to other customers. After 2 years on our CAB, we hope you can understand the difficult decision that we need to offer your seat to another customer for 2024._ _The good news is that we have other councils for Zoom customers to engage with a community of their peers, provide feedback, and help inform Zoom's product roadmap. I've CC'd [X], to provide more information on the opportunity to join Zoom's [industry] Customer Council._ _Please know we value the relationship, and that [exec sponsor] and I are always happy to connect with you outside of the CAB._

#general - June 20, 2024 at 09:31 PM

Thank you! I'm going to advise my team to go back to Gartner to make sure we're not misinterpreting the ask. Seems like you guys are scratching your heads as much as we are with this request.

#general - June 20, 2024 at 08:23 PM

@Emma Hanevelt in the case of forrester, infotech etc...do you broker that conversation and intro? Or are you asking customers to proactively reach out to the analyst?

#general - June 20, 2024 at 08:02 PM

@Alexie Glover is this something you've come across with your clients before? @Emma Hanevelt I saw that you work closely with AR at Grammarly in another post...have you come across this?

#general - June 20, 2024 at 03:23 PM

Thanks @Lacey Butler - as someone who crosses AR and CMA...have you received this advice from Gartner before? Any info on the "Gartner seat"?

#jobs - March 09, 2024 at 06:17 PM

@Jennifer Lyons looks like it. Hiring manager removed the hiring badge from LI too. Messaged her to find out what’s up

#jobs - March 06, 2024 at 07:08 PM

I've worked with the hiring manager in the past , she's wonderful!

#announcements - January 04, 2024 at 05:07 AM

@Ari Hoffman add me pls!

#announcements - December 20, 2023 at 11:52 PM

@Florian Engel really interesting diagram! Honestly, at first glance I was overwhelmed by the lines and subway view. I don't know folks outside of advocacy would be able to deliver the voiceover for this one...but I definitely could. thanks for sharing

#announcements - December 20, 2023 at 09:49 PM

Thanks @Tyler Johnson. Sounds like a great program! I should provide some more context on my ask. My team, and sometimes PMMs by proxy, frequently get ask (more like demands) by our internal sales and product owners to do case studies with customers who just closed. There’s a lot of internal excitement about the deal or new logo…and then they expect my team to turn around a case study immediately. We do a lot of explaining that a case study is traditionally challenge/solution/results…and a new customer has no results to speak to. They haven’t even deployed. Let’s check back in X months, and (depending on the deal or logo) look at other opportunities like an earnings mention, quote on why they bought, or thought leadership speaking opp. My boss wants me create a slide or something that my team can point to and enables the PMMs to get ahead of or combat the same question over and over. This group is amazing and I am awful at creating slides…so I thought I’d see if someone had one I could repurpose or use as a starting point!

#announcements - December 20, 2023 at 06:47 PM

Hi friends, this holiday season I'm hoping for the gift of a slide, or slides I can repurpose. I need something to help communicate: 1. when in the customer journey it's appropriate to ask a customer for a case study / success story. Like 1. Contract signed. 2. Product Implemented. 3. Success. 4. Then consider case study. 2. Communicate that *a case study is not the only medium* for customer content. There are name/logo approvals, quotes, new wins mentioned in earnings, speaking engagements (webinars, thought leadership, owned and 3rd party events), leaving reviews, interviews with analysts or media, etc. Anyone willing to share?

#welcome - November 20, 2023 at 10:29 PM

Hey @Mariah Lenahan! Love seeing you here and hearing about your journey at SVMK! Welcome!

#jobs - September 13, 2023 at 11:26 PM

Uuugh @Cara Peterson . Just sent you a message on LI

#announcements - August 31, 2023 at 05:43 PM

@Camille Shortridge you should ask Laura O. about her experience with incentivizing CSMs for GPI reviews ahead of Gartner MQ the last 2-3 years. She's tried a mix of a SPIFF/spot bonus, Snappy gifts, high value swag, and lower value swag just for participating and could speak to what worked the best. Some friendly competition between teams works well too. The CSMs don't get incentivized/rewarded as often as sales does because they're usually not SPIFF eligible...so they seemed extra appreciative of the rewards regardless of what it was

#announcements - August 11, 2023 at 04:42 AM

The best swag I received was a 1) really nice Tumi hanging toiletry bag 2) a box of very personalized Pokémon things after I sent them a love letter on behalf of my 5yo. We’re doing themed swag for summer: choice of an insulated cooler bag, travel hammock or travel neck pillow. The cooler bag has been the most popular, but the hammock actually got us 6 new online reviews after our original contact loved it SO much he asked if his whole team who had used the product could also leave reviews for swag. It was awesome. Now I need ideas for fall themed swag!

#random - August 08, 2023 at 04:54 PM

Thanks for following up with the clarification blog, @Joel Klettke 🙏

#announcements - July 31, 2023 at 06:21 PM

Similar to what @Alexie Glover is saying, at Zoom, we use our own AI assistant for meeting summaries of introductory calls and interviews for customer stories, specifically the "Meeting Summary with Zoom IQ" seen here <https://explore.zoom.us/en/ai-assistant/> - I also do what @Camille Shortridge suggested and use ChatGPT to improve my outreach emails, but I won't put any customer data (like an interview transcript) into ChatGPT.

#announcements - July 20, 2023 at 11:35 PM

These pics are amazing! And reminding me to renew my passport. The only trip I took this summer was to California to visit family (beach pic), but that’s OK because I live in Oregon and you don’t want to leave because summer is the most beautiful/non rainy time of year (kid fishing pic)!

#open-share - June 29, 2023 at 03:59 AM

@Laura O'Neill 👀

#announcements - May 24, 2023 at 03:37 PM

We have our own product, Zoom Whiteboard, which is part of the desktop app. Honestly, I should use it more, but the best use cases so far have been annual/quarterly planning with my team, or project retrospectives with cross-functional teams. I've also used it for space layout/room design with our AV and Events team for CAB meeting planning.

#announcements - May 24, 2023 at 03:29 PM

Talk to me about how you've leveraged user conferences to gather customer testimonials and/or reviews! Below is my experience, but I want to hear what's worked well (or not) for others? Reviews: Last year our social team had a booth where attendees could get a new headshot, and were asked to leave a G2 review at the same station. It was a bit of a flop (partially because the booth was very hard to find on the floor) Testimonials: Before my time, we had a little studio set up to shoot formal customer interviews that were then turned into videos. Permissions sorted out in advance and B-roll added later (mostly stock). The output was ooookay, but it was nice to capture interviews while customers were in person.

#jobs - May 03, 2023 at 08:41 PM

Yup! appears Jen Salazar is hiring manager

#jobs - May 03, 2023 at 06:18 PM

@Val Geisler unfortunately I don't know the hiring manager <https://www.linkedin.com/in/jencsalazar/> -- she came after me. I'm really glad to see they are prioritizing CABs though! That was not the case when I left. @Cara Peterson (also ex-Momentive) do you? I do see LI connections to Jen with Heather Pritchett @Leslie Barrett @Allison Hughes @Ari Hoffman

#jobs - April 28, 2023 at 12:27 AM

@Kevin Lau I have to ask...didn't F5 just have layoffs? How is it that you're get 4-5 roles? In other words...when so many of us are being asked to do more with less, what's your secret to doing more with more in this econ environment?

#announcements - April 26, 2023 at 02:44 PM

@Joe Kevens and @Brelynn Shantz I never properly thanked you for all this info. SUPER helpful! Apparently we haven’t paid them since 2020, but they seem to be knocking on a lot of doors lately.

#welcome - April 25, 2023 at 04:09 PM

woohooo! Love seeing you here @Camille Shortridge!

#announcements - April 24, 2023 at 06:30 PM

@Brelynn Shantz thanks for the perspective! Do you feel like you're getting any value other than SEO?

#announcements - April 24, 2023 at 05:24 PM

it's the terms that are scarier to me than the privacy policy! <https://www.featuredcustomers.com/terms> basically...we have no responsibility or liability

#announcements - April 24, 2023 at 05:14 PM

Here are some other "featured customers" of theirs (again, I don't actually think Zoom is a customer...but looking into it) -- anyone else in this group on the list?

#announcements - April 24, 2023 at 05:12 PM

What can people tell me about "[Featured Customers](https://www.featuredcustomers.com/)"? It hit my radar today and their business model seems to be to mine B2B vendor websites for case studies for testimonials, create profile pages, and then ask those vendors for money to have any control over the content displayed I don't love that they are pulling case studies from our website, featuring some that are almost a decade old and adding in logos we may not have explicit approval to use. It also looks like they marked us as a "premium customer" when I'm pretty sure no one at Zoom is paying them for that subscription (but looking into it). I don't think our customers and prospects are going here for decision-making and my gut response is to just let them do their thing and not associate, while we place our focus on review sites that carry more weight. Am I missing something though?

#announcements - April 21, 2023 at 05:34 PM

Congrats @Amanda Peacock! And yay for Kenneth taking so well to the role of big brother! There were MONTHS where my big kid called his baby bro "garbage baby" and asked if we could throw him in the trash or give him away 😂 (thankfully now they're best buds!)

#open-share - March 23, 2023 at 07:22 PM

@Melissa Brown Great quesiton! *Biggest success:* • Zoom's amazing event services team were really the masterminds behind the hybrid setup (they are for hire!) • Designed it so that we had presenters/session leads and execs joining both in person and virtually to create a more equitable experience. Also created a chat group that all attendees were encouraged to participate in. *Biggest challenge:* • Making sure people showed up in person…especially with short notice and there being a virtual option. We really played up the value of being there in person: exec access, camaraderie outside the meeting, and invited them to bring a +1 for meals, hotel, &amp; group activity (travel not covered). We also invited some new members last minute that we knew would be more likely to say yes because they were super strong advocates, lived locally, or had asked to join the CAB in the past.

#open-share - March 23, 2023 at 06:51 PM

Small victory share! I just came back from 3 days in California for the first real in-person CAB meeting that my company has had since 2019 (I took over the CAB in 2021), and I'm riding such a high! This event was thrown together in less than two months and there are over a dozen things we could improve, but we managed to get 16 customers to join in person and create an amazing hybrid experience for 8 more CAB members to join over Zoom. See snapshot of feedback rolling in. Thank you to this CMA community for helping along the way as I had questions (in or outside of this channel), including @Kristine Kukich @Kevin Lau @Leslie Barrett and the fabulous people and dot connector @Mary Green (Owner CMAweekly) !! If anyone is in the throes of planning their own CAB event, please consider me a resource.

#announcements - March 14, 2023 at 03:29 PM

Thanks! I had the same thoughts @Ciana Abdollahian...competitors can be nasty like that. This one wasn't a marquee story, but it was a video, so removing it stings a bit more.

#announcements - March 14, 2023 at 03:17 PM

Curious...what do y'all do with a case study when a customer churns? Do you proactively take it off your website? I've actually never come across this situation before.

#jobs - February 11, 2023 at 04:18 PM

Job at Notion if you’re local to SF or NY (in office required days). Great brand [https://boards.greenhouse.io/notion/jobs/5507105003](https://boards.greenhouse.io/notion/jobs/5507105003)

#jobs - February 08, 2023 at 06:30 PM

I know the head of customer advocacy at Frontify as well as their field marketer for the DACH region. Both great people, happy to chat or make introductions for folks interested in that job.

#announcements - January 26, 2023 at 08:24 PM

@Kristine Kukich we had a great convo about CABs back in Dec...any more wisdom to share?

#announcements - January 26, 2023 at 08:20 PM

Separate, but related, question on CABs. For those of you who have held an in person CAB in the last year, what attendance rate are you seeing? I.e. if you have 30 CAB members, are 15 showing up?

#announcements - January 26, 2023 at 08:17 PM

It's really the in-person, in 2 months time I'm struggling with. All my CAB meetings to date have been virtual, except a 1/2 hybrid CAB that was tied to our annual user conference. A lot of our CAB members are already at the C-level, so I really need to sell the value that it is worth the commute, why it's better to attend in person (we have to offer a virtual option because we're Zoom), and make sure it would pass a CFO/budget check if need be. My thoughts right now are to brand it as something more than a CAB meeting...i.e. annual CAB "summit", make a killer agenda focused on in-person collaborative activities and networking, and assign speaking or presentation roles to CAB members

#announcements - January 26, 2023 at 08:09 PM

I love this community. @Rachel Ward this resource of templates is ammmaaaaaazing!

#announcements - January 26, 2023 at 06:30 PM

Hi y'all! Megan at Zoom here. I'm rushing to plan an in-person CAB meeting late March. One of the foreseeable challenges is how to actually get CAB members to attend in person 🙂. Although we are offering to cover the travel costs for our CAB members, we know that budgets are constrained across the board, we're still asking for their time, and some will need to cover their own way due to compliance reasons. Would you be willing to share an example of invites you've sent to your CAB events? I'm curious about the language others use to get closer to that internal approval and doesn't look like a boondoggle event