1) The document discusses advocacy and how it has moved from the backroom to the boardroom. It notes that advocacy programs should not just be about sales, support, or case studies. 2) Engaged customers through advocacy programs are more loyal, trusting of the company, buy more, and share their success with others. The document provides examples of advocacy program engagement activities. 3) It introduces the concept of measuring Customer Lifetime Revenue (CLTR) to quantify the impact of advocacy programs, using an example where advocacy program members generated 4x more revenue over the lifetime of their relationship.

1. David Feber & Helen
Feber
Referential Inc.
1

2. The Advocacy Advantage: San Francisco – July 2016
Advocacy:
From the Backroom to the Boardroom
Presenters:
David Feber
Managing Partner
Referential, Inc.
Abby Atkinson
Senior Manager
FireEye, Inc.
#advocacyadv

3. Things have changed:
• The traditional sales cycle no longer exists
• Advice is actively sought from peers and it
happens much earlier on mostly via social
media
• Resources are readily available to assist
research
• Buyers have done the majority of their research
– including talking to your customers – before
they even approach you
• Gen-X’ers and Millennials are rapidly becoming
very influential in the business world
• Advocacy is no longer a backroom function
#advocacyadv

4. What “advocacy” shouldn’t just be:
• A client success program purely designed for net-new or upsell/cross-sell
initiatives
• A bug-fix/self-help program or community
• A case study program
• And most importantly….It should never be an ASK!
Sales client success programCase study programSupport self-help program
Cost Center
#advocacyadv

5. Why advocacy?
Engaged customers are more loyal, trust you more, buy more…
and share their success with others more
Voice of
the
Customer
Sales
Marketing
Executive
programsSupport
Services
Value Center
#advocacyadv

6. The spectrum of advocates’ engagement
• We need to appeal to multiple types of buyers with multiple buying styles
• Understand the client journey and how to seed it with customer evidence
• Programs need to be holistic – coordinated across all activities
• Webinars
• CABs
• Success stories
• User groups
• Calls with prospects
• Social media
• Blogs
• Multi-media stories
• Vlogs
• Lunches/dinners
• PR placements
• Speaking engagements
• Awards nominations
• Communities
• Advocacy hubs
• Conferences
• User groups
• Newsletters
• Beta testing
• Analyst discussions
• Symposiums
• Calls for presentations
• Regional meetings
• Best practice sharing
• Networking
• Logo use
• Sound-bite quotes
• Referrals
• Journalist conversations
• And so on…………
#advocacyadv

7. How to measure impact?
Client Lifetime Value – CLTV – a true measurement of business health
CLTV = [( Revenue * Gross Margin ) / Churn] – Acquisition Costs
But there is an easier way…..

8. Client Lifetime Revenue
CLTR = Revenue per Month x Relationship Length (in months)
For example:
If a customer signs an annual contract for $12,000 this is equivalent to $1k per month
If they stay a client for 2 years:
CLTR = 1,000 x 24 = $24,000
This doesn’t include variables such as margin, acquisition costs or churn…
…..but it is a solid proxy for gauging the health of your business….
….and is significantly easier to calculate!!
#advocacyadv

9. CLTR….so
what?
We can now calculate the impact of being an advocate on our business:
Real life data:
Non-Program Members Advocacy Program
Members
Average Revenue per Month ($s) $6,242
Average Relationship Length (months) 13.9
CLTR $86,949
#advocacyadv

10. CLTR….so
what?
We can now calculate the impact of being an advocate on our business:
Real life data:
Non-Program Members Advocacy Program
Members
Average Revenue per Month ($s) $6,242 $20,625
Average Relationship Length (months) 13.9 16.7
CLTR $86,949 $345,045
This is an illustration of using CLTR; but also it’s a stunning example of the power of
advocacy and the impact of having a closer relationship with your clients!!
Over the duration of their relationship, clients actively engaged by the advocacy
program generate 4x as much revenue as those that aren’t engaged!
#advocacyadv

11. Lighthouse Program
Kara Wilson
Chief Marketing Officer
Abby Atkinson
Senior Manager
“The purpose of a business is to create a customer who creates customers.”
– Shiv Singh, SVP Global Head of Digital & Marketing Transformation, VISA
#advocacyadv

12. ‘Think strategically and execute tactically’
Strategic:
▪ Metrics, metrics, metrics!
▪ Communicate
▪ Be strategic
▪ Leverage the voice of the customer
▪ Make your advocates feel special
Tactical:
▪ Ensure positive relationship-building throughout the customer lifecycle
▪ Provide regular customer communication, education and check-ins
▪ Create a co-marketing plan versus making constant asks
▪ Leverage the voice of the customer by:
▪ Placing banners, posters, video clips of customers in the Executive Briefing Center & throughout offices
▪ Encouraging advocates to write and comment in blogs and social media – sharing, tweeting, liking, etc.
▪ Asking them to refer peers and people they’ve met that might benefit from a FireEye solution
▪ Inviting customers to attend birds-of-a-feather / prospect dinners
▪ Engaging them in industry initiatives that focus on their business success, not FireEye products!
▪ Nominating individuals for industry awards
▪ Having customers speak at events and user-groups
▪ Posting multi-media testimonials online in a variety of locations and formats
Folio of welcome
materials
Welcome gift item

13. Metrics by role for relevance
Program manager’s metrics – detailed ops report:
▪ Workload balance
▪ # days to fulfill requests
▪ # requests open, fulfilled, no matches found
▪ Month-over-month request volume fluctuations and trends
VP’s metrics – mid-level report
▪ $ deals assisted and won
▪ Request volumes
▪ # advocates by type, region, product
▪ # testimonials
C-suite metrics – executive dashboards
▪ $ deals assisted and won
▪ # testimonials available
#advocacyadv

14. Call to action:
• Incite advocacy! [Over the next decade, the companies that succeed will be the ones that
embrace the power of advocacy and give advocacy a seat at the C-suite table]
• Advocacy Programs - You need one!
• Create a client journey roadmap & begin to populate your own advocacy portfolio
• Define your own CLTR for engaged/non-engaged clients
• Plot your trajectory & see how you measure up
• Rome wasn’t built in a day…..but you need to start NOW!!! ☺