Episode #9 – Stephen Sweeney, COO at RSA Corp, differentiates broad based marketing from direct marketing and points out that most companies, including RSA Corp, would benefit the most by marketing directly to target individuals or niche.

There is no fool-proof way to find new clients. Any business development resource or salesperson will tell you that. There are, however, some approaches that work better than others. We at RSA Corp believe that referrals, which come in different forms, are the best way to find new customers for most B2B businesses.

There are three kinds of business referrals: customer referrals, personal referrals, and professional referrals. Let’s focus on customer referrals.

Customer referrals come from customers who are willing and able to make introductions to other potential buyers of your service. In order for a customer to refer you business, you must have earned the privilege.

WHAT Must You Deliver?

First and foremost, you must be delivering a quality product or service. If you are not, then most likely you know that you can’t ask for referrals and if you did, you wouldn’t receive any.

• Quality is the focus of many books and methodologies. Let it not be forgotten that quality has ramifications on business growth, and that business growth is limited by poor or substandard quality.

• You should be collecting customer satisfaction metrics and feedback on your service. You will stub your toe and catch an earful if you ask for referrals from a customer who is less than satisfied. Ideally, your customers should be raving fans. This is where you set the bar.

WHO Must You Ask?

Second, you must consider who you will ask. Will you ask the decision makers, or will you expand the referral program to end users? Will you offer something in return? Discounts towards future business? Referral fees?

• Different individuals within the customer’s organization have different motivations and can provide referrals at different levels. Not better … just different. The owner may know other owners. The procurement team may know procurement resources at other companies. End users may be able to provide leads that have to be pursued over a longer period of time.

HOW Must You Ask?

Third, you must consider how to ask for customer referrals. Like most things, you need to be specific about your request.

• Do not leave it open-ended or ambiguous. Provide examples of how customer referrals have worked in the past. Explain how the referral would benefit both the customer and the vendor. Base the request on their satisfaction, not your needs.

WHEN Must You Ask?

Fourth, consider the timeframe. While asking for referrals should be a standard practice, what is the schedule? Quarterly? Annually? At specific milestones in the relationship, such as delivery milestones or product shipment? Every business is different.

• I would caution you not ask for referrals at the same time as when you gather customer satisfaction feedback. This will make your quality assurance (QA) process seem disingenuous.

Most importantly, your approach should be soft and gracious.   Show how appreciative you would be for a referral, and that you will not be disappointed if they cannot provide a good referral.   No pressure!

• You do not want to turn a happy customer into a customer that avoids you because you pressure them for referrals.

In sum, asking for customer referral is not simple and should not be addressed haphazardly. Do not leave customer referrals up to chance and variation.

See the complexity and nuance? As such, business owners and managers should develop a well-thought-out customer referral program for their sales teams. Be sure to address product and/or service quality and customer satisfaction at the outset.

Over the next coming weeks I will be discussing five ways that the Agile methodology can be applied to the software development process to eliminate waste. We use Agile here at RSA Corp as part of our custom application development methodology.

Waste is defined as anything that does not add value to the final product or service, not from your perspective but from the perspective of your customer.  The opposite of waste would be something that adds value to the desired result, for example more functionality, faster delivery, and higher quality.

The whole idea of eliminating waste originated from lean manufacturing practices which are based on the elimination of the 7W’s (Defects, Over-production, Wait Time, Transportation, Movement, Inappropriate Processing and Inventory).  Agile is a lean process that works to eliminate waste by removing unnecessary steps from the project process. It removes steps, reduces risk and removes the potential blockages that might normally prevent the project team from reaching its goal.

Team Environment

Collocated teams help us to eliminate three of the 7W’s (wait time, transportation, and movement). The close proximity of the team reduces communication issues and the time it takes to resolve issues.  Questions are answered quickly.  This eliminates the waiting game; reducing the time it takes for us to get a response to questions or clarifications of User Stories. Issues can be discussed and addressed quickly.

• We eliminate the transportation or movement of knowledge information, reducing the risk of miscommunication. Paired programming allows for collaborative solutions and faster switching of resources, should that be required during the project life-cycle.
• The team works as whole toward the common goal of completing the iteration.  Everyone’s input is valued and the team decides how the work will be done in order to complete each planned iteration.
• Everyone is jointly responsible for the functionality that will be included in each iteration. Each team member takes responsibility for the deliverable process and works together to formulate how to best turn the Product Backlog into the functionality needed for each iteration.
• Eliminating waste reduces frustrations and enables greater productivity and creativity. Overtime, the team will also increase its speed and at the same time reduce defects.

Interested in learning more about Agile teams? “Agile Coaching”, by Rachel Davies and Liz Sedley, is an excellent book that covers how to coach your team to become more Agile.  Trust me … implemented correctly Agile works!

Episode #8 – Jason Kuhn, CIO of RSA Corp, explains possible difficulties in purchasing technology and what companies can do to avoid these problems and get the most out of their new technology.

Episode #6 – Stephen Sweeney, COO at RSA Corp, discusses how referrals are the most effective way to find potential clients and build new business relationships.

Episode #5 – Stephen Sweeney, COO at RSA Corp, explains ways to obtain new leads through client referrals and networking approaches. Never underestimate the value of happy clients.

Never underestimate the connections that your contacts may have. Whether you are currently unemployed or considering a job change, the best place to look when starting your job search is with the people you already know.