Point of Reference Presents Reality-Based Sales Collaboration Vision at Customer Reference Forum 2006

The key to a highly functional customer reference program run by Marketing is not simply getting Sales' cooperation, but becoming an embedded member of the field.

Denver, CO (PRWEB) April 8, 2006 -- Point of Reference, global provider of customer reference solutions, has announced plans to release a white paper, following their highly successful presentation—“Herding Penguins Might Be Easier: What Works When It Comes to Sales”—to attendees of the Customer Reference Forum held in San Francisco last week.

The event included top customer reference professionals from leading technology companies including HP, Hyperion, IBM, Intel, Oracle, Lucent, SAP and others, and provided reference management professionals a focused forum for knowledge exchange on the use of customers for sales, marketing and other strategic corporate activities.

“It appears that we touched a nerve with our presentation,” said David Sroka, Point of Reference president. “The feedback we’ve received indicates that many customer reference managers recognize the need to better align with their sales colleagues, and that the ideas we shared at the forum need to be expanded upon.”

The presentation was delivered by Sroka and fellow co-founder Darren Smith. Sroka and Smith posed questions and shared insights about how to improve and bring business value to their relationships with field sales. They included real examples of ways in which Point of Reference clients are effectively immersing themselves in their respective sales organizations, thereby changing the perception of their role and creating a well-tuned relationship between the two functions.

“Salespeople are very focused on moving prospects through the sales cycle, typically ignoring anything or anyone perceived as inconsequential to that mission.” said Smith. “The majority of customer reference professionals, however, come from marketing with little or no experience as quota-carrying salespeople. We provided strategies for becoming embedded, indispensable resources within the sales team. There is an immense opportunity for these professionals to add value to each customer reference relationship, elevating their position from reference request fulfillment house to strategic customer advocate.”

“This is a topic that consistently ranks at the top of the list of issues faced by our attendees.” said Bill Lee, President of the Customer Reference Forum. “Point of Reference did a great job of challenging the status quo and pulling together realistic, actionable ideas that were well-received by our attendees. That’s what these events are all about.”

Based on the response received during and after their session at the forum, Sroka and Smith will publish a white paper that expands on the material they presented and provides more details on the strategies that work to link customer reference management with sales more productively.

About Point of Reference
Point of Reference provides a combination of processes, technology and focus to deliver customer reference management solutions for businesses. With an automated and self-service customer reference program, sales, marketing and public relations teams increase productivity and organizations can accelerate sales cycles. For more information visit: www.point-of-reference.com.

About The Customer Reference Forum
The Customer Reference Forum provides information and networking opportunities designed to help marketing professionals turn customers into sales people. It delivers these through live events, its newsletter Reference Point, teleconferences, and other media. For more information visit: www.customerreferenceforum.com.

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