Customer advocacy: getting happy clients to speak for you

A prospect near a decision says, "Can I speak to someone who already uses you?" You realise you have no idea whom to name. Three customers are happy, but one is sensitive about being named, one has just had a late delivery, and one you have asked twice already this year. Customer advocacy is the habit of knowing, before the prospect asks, who has given you what, and asking each customer for only one thing at a time.

Three asks, ranked by effort

A review costs the customer a few lines on a page. An introduction costs a message to someone the customer knows. A reference call costs ten minutes with a stranger, and the customer puts their own judgement on the line. Match the ask to the relationship.

Ask for reviews the same way from every customer after a job, whatever their mood, and never screen out the unhappy ones; a review sample made only of happy voices misleads readers and may break platform rules. Introductions and reference calls are personal favours, so ask them only of customers who have already praised you without being asked. Keep the reference call for the prospect who requests one by name. A customer who has never said a word online and is suddenly asked to ring a stranger may feel pushed.

Keep a ledger, so you never ask blind

A plain sheet, one row per customer, is enough.

Customer / contact : Dahiya (administrator), Sunrise Public School (an invented example)
Why they might say yes: furniture delivered before term; thanked the fitters by name
Asked so far       : review (March) - done; introduction - not asked
Gave               : two lines on Google, link saved
Do not ask         : reference calls - the school trust prefers not to name suppliers
Next possible ask  : introduction to the school in the next town, after the next order

One rule makes the sheet work: only one open ask per customer. If you asked for an introduction and heard nothing, do not follow with a review request. Close the first, by thanking the customer or letting it go, before opening another. That limit is what keeps a good customer from turning into a tired one. It also tells a new salesperson whom not to ring, and why. Without the sheet, that knowledge leaves with whoever last spoke to the customer.

Wording each ask so it takes thirty seconds

For a review, give the link and a prompt about one thing. "Could you put two lines on our Google page about how the fitting went? The link is below." Offer an example the customer may edit, but never write the review for them.

For an introduction, name the kind of person, not "anyone you know". "You mentioned the school in your sister's town is changing its classroom furniture. Would you introduce us, or should I send a short note you can forward?" The forwardable note turns it into a half-minute job.

For a reference call, say who is calling, what they will ask and how long it takes. Brief the customer beforehand on what the prospect cares about, and say that honest comments are welcome. Ask them not to quote prices or other clients.

A case: a school furniture maker in Rohtak

Here is an invented case. A firm makes desks and benches for private schools around Rohtak. After a busy term it sent one message to all twenty-two school clients asking for reviews, introductions and reference calls together. Five replied. Two principals were irritated at being asked for something so large in a template, and one review read as if a salesman had drafted it.

The error was treating every client alike and putting the heaviest ask in the same message as the lightest. The firm built the ledger. All twenty-two schools got the same short review request, including the one that had complained about a late bench. Two principals who had already mentioned the firm to a neighbouring school were asked for an introduction, with a forwardable note. Only one, whom a prospect had asked about by name, was asked for a reference call, and was briefed first.

Nine schools posted reviews, one of them mixed. One introduction led to a quote that was lost on price. The ledger also recorded which principal asked not to be named, so the next salesperson would not repeat the mistake.

Keep an eye on the cost to the customer's own name. A principal who introduces your firm to a neighbouring school is vouching for you, so a late delivery to the friend lands back on them. Say that plainly when you ask, and tell the customer you will report back on how the introduction went, good or bad.

What to do after a yes

Thank the customer in a way that costs you something: a call from the owner, a handwritten note, or early word of a change that affects the customer. Then tell the customer what happened. If the introduction became a conversation, say so. People are more willing to repeat a favour when they see it land.

If a customer's name or words will be used publicly, get their agreement in writing and show them the final text. In regulated trades such as health, finance and education, check what your own regulator or council allows before quoting a customer, since rules differ by state and body and change.

When the answer should be silence

Do not ask for an introduction while a complaint is open. Do not ask for introductions when the contact who liked you has just left the customer's firm, because the new person may not know you. Do not ask for an introduction to someone who competes with the customer. And if you are unsure the work was good, do not ask at all, because advocacy amplifies what is already there. Our note on asking for referrals without discomfort goes further on the wording.

Build the ledger from your ten steadiest customers

List them, fill each row from what you actually know, and choose the first ask by the effort ranking. If you want a second view on whom to ask, tell us what you need; how customers feed new selling is covered under sales.