Customer stories are indispensable for every B2B organisation. They can provide tangible proof of how their products or services solve real-life problems. By enhancing credibility, companies can build stronger connections with their audience. This will not only support their sales efforts, but it will help them to maintain a positive brand image.
When I had the chance to help the Energy Systems business area of independent assurance and risk management provider DNV to set up and organise their customer reference programme, I jumped at the opportunity. Anyone who knows anything about me, probably knows that customer advocacy is my passion.
DNV needed a clear process to develop, store and promote customer references and a strategy to help embed the production of customer references in marketing plans, campaigns and customer activities globally and locally.
I started by conducting interviews with relevant departments, from (product) marketing to internal communications, media, branding, sales, digital marketing, and innovation. I needed to fully understand their processes to get a clear insight into what was already in place. I worked closely with the global content strategy manager and kept the regional marketing teams involved.
In collaboration with the project team, we mapped out the process for developing customer references. The goal was to set up a standard template for all markets and businesses, with a 5-step approach from idea to the promotion of the customer story. The process was also embedded in a customer reference template in the workflows and project management tool, Monday.com.
As part of the project, I developed several assets, including:
- The “Customer reference guide” ‒ a step-by-step guide for sales and marketing colleagues explaining the process for planning and creating customer references
- A two-pager containing links to all relevant templates
- The customer references library in SharePoint, a dedicated internal storage location for references.
The templates ensure the uniform look and feel of the stories, making it easy for people to craft clear and consistent content. The dedicated storage location enables colleagues to download the assets they need, fully brand-approved and ready to use externally.
All stakeholders now know what to do, and what the process is. Colleagues now submit projects for references because they see the value this creates, both for the company and for themselves.
As for me, I truly enjoyed this project. I would like to thank Joyce Dalgarno and Andrea Berghall for their trust and support.
To summarize the stats:
- One clear process to develop the customer references embedded in a Monday.com template
- One “Customer reference guide” explaining the 5-step approach
- 7 customer references delivered in 10 weeks
- 9 practical templates to use when developing the customer reference
- 1 SharePoint library for storage
Feel free to reach out to discuss how I can support you with your Customer Advocacy Programs.