We get approached by a lot of companies that want to use video to create customer reference stories. The majority of these have been using more traditional methods like written case studies and infographics, they now want to take it a step further. The only hold up now is finding the right customer who is happy to talk about them in front of a camera. From this point there sometimes appear out of nowhere a series of blockers that hold up progress and part of our job is to help ease the situation and advise you and your customer on how to remove them.
One of the first problems that can arise is the request for a video testimonial coming from the wrong department. Quite often because the budget, idea and responsibility come from the marketing department, it is left to them to contact the customer. How many marketing departments do you know who have day to day face to face interactions with their customers? In a small business maybe, but when you enter a larger company that can be little and not often.
The key to success here is making it personal. Use the staff who already have a relationship in place with your customer. Don’t get a stranger to ask your favour, get someone who knows them to ask. This way it is not seen as a request from a corporate entity to talk about another corporate entity. it becomes a personal favour that may help the other person out in their job. It helps reinforce the relationship that has been built up over years.
In short, engage with the other stakeholders in the process. Salesmen are the obvious choice, it gives them a chance to spend the day with their customers during filming. A film set is a great place for a bit of relaxed banter between colleagues because it doesn’t feel like a work environment.
It may be that there are others with closer customer interaction like customer service people or shop front personnel. Think outside the box and you will find a way to succeed. For more hints and tips on creating a customer reference programme read this blog on a quick guide to building a customer reference programme.
There are many more ideas and we will continue to share them here. Thanks for reading, please give me a call to find out more.