Official blog of Customer Reference Forum®. Learn from our community of reference pracitioners

2012 Summit Update: Early Registration is About to Expire

Posted by Bill Lee on January 26, 2012 at 11:09 AM
There is still time to take advantage of the $200 discount. http://conta.cc/xgAfuf We'll have your peers there from many of the world's great customer engagement programs--including Salesforce.com, Microsoft, VMware, Wells Fargo, Polycom, Adobe Systems, NetSuite, NetApp, Intel, Oracle, Citrix Systems,...

Summit Update: Oracle Presenting on Strategic Customer Referencing

Posted by Bill Lee on January 25, 2012 at 10:04 AM
Updates from the 2012 Summit on Customer Engagement: EARLY REGISTRATION IS STILL OPEN The early registration discount, is still open, so there is still time to take advantage of that. BREAKING NEWS: Oracle's Sr. Director of Global Customer Programs, Michael...

Video Update on 2012 Summit on Customer Engagement

Posted by Bill Lee on January 24, 2012 at 09:17 AM
Why I'm "busting a button" over the content we're providing to customer reference professionals at the 2012 Summit.

Guest Blog: Stuart Cross on the Key to Customer Advocacy

Posted by Bill Lee on January 23, 2012 at 01:25 PM
My colleague Stuart Cross, a highly respected management consultant from the UK, shares his thoughts on what robust customer advocacy requires of a company, from the perspective of the C-suite. For those who are running advocacy or other customer programs,...

How Customers Inspire Better Performance

Posted by Bill Lee on January 18, 2012 at 02:32 PM
We know about the value that customers can create in your marketing and sales efforts--through references, testimonials, co-marketing, participation in your customer communities, advocacy efforts, etc. We also about their value to your product development and launch efforts. And customers...

Customer Panel From Salesforce.com at the Summit

Posted by Bill Lee on January 16, 2012 at 06:22 AM
BREAKING NEWS from the 2012 SUMMIT ON CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT We're about to add a panel tentatively called Why We Advocate, with three MVP customers from Salesforce.com. Salesforce.com is, of course, justly famous for building a billion dollar business in a...

EMC plus Workshops on "Gamification" and "Finding Fanatics"

Posted by Bill Lee on January 11, 2012 at 04:45 PM
Updates from the 2012 Summit on Customer Engagement: THIS WEEK'S FEATURED PRESENTATIONS FIRESIDE CHAT: The Future of Social Media and Customer Reference Programs, A Conversation With Sean O'Driscoll and Bill Lee Sean is arguably the most knowledgeable expert in the...

7 Reasons Why Reference Pros Should Attend the Summit on Customer Engagement

Posted by Bill Lee on January 10, 2012 at 01:01 PM
Especially if The Summit on Customer Engagement is the only event you attend this year. Just chatted with Eric Larson at Projectline about this. To listen: http://bit.ly/wSqfBT ...or Read: -- We're established.We're in our 8th year (longest running conference for...

How Customers Are Making Referrals Without Even Knowing It

Posted by Bill Lee on January 9, 2012 at 10:33 AM
Schwan Foods (based in Minnesota) delivers frozen pizzas and other foods to homes in the Midwest using some 6,000 sales people driving vans. The firm's sales had been going nowhere over the last four years due to customer churn and...

Sean O'Driscoll and Deep Dive Workshops at the 2012 Summit

Posted by Bill Lee on January 5, 2012 at 10:07 PM
Breaking News from the 2012 Summit on Customer Engagement: - Sean O'Driscoll to present. Sean built Microsoft's vaunted customer MVP program, co-chairs the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, founded Ants Eye View, and is regarded as one of the world's...