The question often comes up: When is the best time to capture a success story on a particular customer?
Very simply, the answer is: when there’s a compelling story to tell. However, what makes a story compelling for one company versus another depends on their sales, marketing and PR objectives.
Here are a few guidelines for timing your stories:
If ROI is your primary goal…
ROI is the Holy Grail for most companies. But with many products and solutions, you need at least a full quarter, if not six months or a year, before you can measure real results.
Determine how long you need to truly measure valid ROI and contact customers that have reached that mark.
If you want to demonstrate short-term value/credibility or qualitative benefits…
Many companies move ahead before measurable ROI because there’s already a story to serve their needs. Earlier stories might be associated with some of the following themes or objectives:
- Featuring why a customer chose your solution over others
- Implementation speed or success
- To establish credibility by featuring a well-known name
- To demonstrate important capabilities the solution enables or problems it solves
- Show work in a key vertical or geographic market
- Highlight features of a new release
- Showcase custom integration—a unique and impressive mix of solutions working together seamlessly
If you talk to the customer early, it’s easy to go back later to collect ROI to enhance the existing story.
Other than these criteria, just make sure you time the story when the customer is exceptionally satisfied with your solution!
