Weeks ago, our children wrote carefully crafted letters to Santa, professing why they deserved to be on Santa’s “Nice List” and get all the things they have on their wish list under the tree. As the letters were popped in the mail, it made us start wondering – if a customer reference manager wrote a [...]
Tips for Managing Those High Maintenance References
Weeks ago, our children wrote carefully crafted letters to Santa, professing why they deserved to be on Santa’s “Nice List” and get all the things they have on their wish list under the tree. As the letters were popped in the mail, it made us start wondering – if a customer reference manager wrote a [...]
B2B Sales: How to Stay Relevant in the Age of the Internet
At a recent Selling Power event the keynote speaker, Gerhard Gschwandtner, posted slides with the following stats: By 2020, over 85% of the transactions between businesses will be completed without human intervention. (Source: Gartner Group) Buyers will have completed 60% of the info gathering prior to speaking with a salesperson (Source: Sales Executive Board) Of [...]
Customer Reference Solution: Build It, or Buy It?
Many mid-size and large organizations seek technology systems to help manage their customer reference programs with more efficiency. As such, it is common for these types of firms to think about or execute a build versus buy analysis at some point in their solution search. This is particularly true for technology or software firms who [...]
Giving Thanks to Our Customers
As is typical at many Thanksgiving dinners, friends and family often reflect upon or express what they are thankful for. At RO|Innovation, while we may not be at a table carving a turkey with them, we’d like to thank our loyal customers who helped make our company what it is today. Thank you for choosing [...]
Increasing Influence over Technology Buyers with Your Content
Today’s Internet-enabled and socially-empowered buyers have made it clear that end users – not marketers or sales executives – decide what good content looks like and how it should be distributed during the sales cycle. So how do you know what is going to “stick” with buyers and what won’t when they’re in the driver’s [...]
Customer Experience is a Top Executive Priority
Firms want a competitive edge and are looking to their customer experience metrics as a strategic way to get it. Providing a great customer experience creates a customer-centric environment where customers are not only satisfied – they are so pleased, they become a team of brand advocates who can help differentiate your company from your [...]
Trend Alert: Customer Reference Outsourcing on the Rise
Depending on who you talk to, the term “outsourced” can carry a negative connotation. But when it comes to customer reference programs, outsourcing should be seen as a good thing, because it can bring outstanding results. In fact, according to recent research from the 2011 Annual Customer Reference Program Benchmarking Report, outsourcing is a trend [...]
Why CRM Platforms are NOT for Customer Reference Management
There’s no doubt that customer relationship management (CRM) platforms, like Salesforce.com, are fantastic and comprehensive customer relationship management databases. Because of the versatility and power of these platforms, we’re seeing many companies trying to use their CRM for double duty as a customer reference management platform too. The problem with that strategy is CRM platforms [...]
Sales Professionals Getting Low Scores with Buyers
“Value selling” is becoming quite the buzz phrase these days, and with good reason. Over the past decade there has been a definite change in the way B2B buyers are approaching buying decisions and interactions with sales people. Today’s buyers are more empowered, skeptical and frugal than ever. But at the same time, their purchase [...]
