The customer journey: reference, activist, advocate Over the past seven years, the Microsoft US Customer Reference & Advocate team discovered that deeper connections with select customers provided new opportunities to showcase the impact of Microsoft’s solutions. There are specific customers willing to act as a powerful ally and independent voice for your business. We have put into practice important learnings―such as closely listening to our customers’ visions and goals―so that we can strategically align these goals with Microsoft’s key initiatives. Throughout this process the team discovered the significance of customer appreciation. The most important lesson―every customer is unique. Our customers classify themselves in three scenarios―reference, activist or advocate and there are significant differences within each category. In this eBook, we will share insights of our customer program journey.

1. The proactive guide
to developing
customer advocates:
Lessons from Microsoft’s
US Customer Reference
& Advocate Leader

2. The proactive guide to developing customer advocates: Lessons from Microsoft’s US Customer Reference & Advocate team
1
Forward
The customer journey: reference, activist, advocate
Over the past seven years, the Microsoft US Customer Reference
& Advocate team discovered that deeper connections with select
customers provided new opportunities to showcase the impact of
Microsoft’s solutions. There are specific customers willing to act as a
powerful ally and independent voice for your business.
We have put into practice important learnings―such as closely
listening to our customers’ visions and goals―so that we can
strategically align these goals with Microsoft’s key initiatives.
Throughout this process the team discovered the significance
of customer appreciation. The most important lesson―every
customer is unique. Our customers classify themselves in three
scenarios―reference, activist or advocate and there are significant
differences within each category.
In this eBook, we will share insights of our customer program journey. We hope to assist your
organization in unlocking the power of customer references, activists and advocates. Fortunately,
the most valuable ideas we put into action cost little to no money. Your company, no matter the
size, can build and nurture strong relationships with customers, ultimately creating an incredibly
valuable resource throughout your sales and marketing organizations.
Welcome to the journey.
“There are specific
customers willing to
act as a powerful ally
and independent voice
for your business.”
Kimberly Gordon
Kimberly Gordon

3. The proactive guide to developing customer advocates: Lessons from Microsoft’s US Customer Reference & Advocate team
2
The proactive guide to developing customer advocates:
Lessons from Microsoft’s Customer Reference & Advocate team
Today, it’s more important than ever before to put the power of your customers to work.
Prospective buyers expect to be able to validate the truth of claims a company makes about
products or services. We’ve all checked the reviews of a restaurant before booking a reservation
or looked at the customer reviews before buying a pair of new shoes.
No matter what business you’re in today, prospects want to hear the independent voice of your
customers. Customer testimonials are a great place to start—but you can take it further. You can
cultivate a select few customers to become strong references, activists and ultimately advocates
for your business.
Customer advocates don’t happen by accident
The Microsoft US Customer Reference & Advocate team learned valuable lessons about how to
create and nurture customer evangelists. By taking proactive steps, you can develop the most
powerful sales and marketing asset in your arsenal―your customers. In this eBook, we’ll share
what we’ve learned over the years to help you purposefully build customer activists.
Contents
1. Lay the foundation: Identify your premium customers
2. From reference to activist to advocate: Plan the journey
3. Build the excitement: Keep customer advocates engaged
4. Build your pipeline: Scout for potential advocates
5. Recognize commitment: Show appreciation and value
“By taking proactive
steps, you can develop
the most powerful
sales and marketing
asset in your arsenal―
your customers.”

4. 3
The proactive guide to developing customer advocates: Lessons from Microsoft’s US Customer Reference & Advocate team
Advocate
Activist
Reference
Lay the foundation:
Identify your premium customers
If you already have a reference program, you have surely seen how different the level of
engagement with your customers can be. Not every reference will, or should, become a customer
advocate. Potential activists and advocates will stand out—and by paying attention to the signals,
you can develop their potential.
Recognize the characteristics
At Microsoft, we have learned to listen closely to the way our customer references interact with
us, looking for the signs that they want to have a deeper relationship. In brief, we characterize the
levels of engagement as:
• Customer references “like us” and are willing to say that publicly.
• Customer activists “believe in us” and talk about us proactively. They may be interested in
deepening the relationship.
• Customer advocates “defend us” even when things go wrong. They feel fully engaged as
part of the team, wanting to participate in making the brand stronger.
Know your customers
A little information can go a long way toward identifying your potential advocates. Take proactive
steps to listen and gather information, for example:
• Hold a quarterly sales meeting to review accounts, identifying customers who would like to
broaden their relationship.
• Monitor social media to identify customers who are promoting or defending your brand.
• Make it easy for customers to engage with you, and track those interactions through key
customer insights and tools.
Customer
“likes” us
Customer
“believes” in us
Customer
“defends” us
and our brand

5. 4
The proactive guide to developing customer advocates: Lessons from Microsoft’s US Customer Reference & Advocate team
Advocate
Activist
Reference
From reference to advocate:
Plan the journey
To make the most of your customer relationships, you need to take a programmatic approach.
Develop a Customer Engagement Program that defines how you categorize your customers, what
you will ask of each group and how you will reward them. Identify and empower a team that will be
responsible for nurturing customers.
Set expectations internally and with customers
A clear lesson learned at Microsoft is the importance of guidelines and open communication in the
Customer Engagement Program. Be ready to support the customer journey with:
• A system to accurately track all interactions with the customer, from references they provide to
special programs they join.
• An individualized customer success plan that maps out the preferred engagement channels,
activities and value, ensuring they are empowered to stay connected and available.
• Documented “rules of engagement” for how employees are to contact and work with references,
activists and advocates that protect each customer’s time.
Simplify the journey
Creating a program that supports each level of customer contributor doesn’t have to be complicated.
Steps you can take include:
• Create a cross-functional team to determine how you will identify, engage and reward customers.
• Consider adding specific roles such as a dedicated Recruitment Manager, CSM (Customer Success
Manager) and CCM (Customer Connection Manager) who will consistently keep track of aligning
the customer with the right engagement. These roles are dedicated to guiding the journey of your
customers at specific touch points.
• Communicate these key definitions, guidelines and successes to your entire team.

6. The proactive guide to developing customer advocates: Lessons from Microsoft’s US Customer Reference & Advocate team
5
Build the excitement:
Keep customer advocates engaged
Your customer references, activists and advocates want to participate in the evolution of your
organization. They identify with your brand and are looking to be more involved. Your Customer
Engagement Program should promote an active level of participation―at multiple levels of the
organization―with your advocates.
Advocates seek deeper connections
In general, advocates aspire to make a contribution to the brand. They feel a deep connection
and would like that to be recognized. At Microsoft, references, activists and advocates express
their interest in a variety of ways, including:
• Engaging with the experts, to dig deeper into a topic and share their own experiences.
• Providing input into product and service development.
• Sharing how Microsoft has transformed their business with their peers and competitors.
Programs to support your advocates
By creating focused activities for advocates, your business will have a unique opportunity to
deepen the relationship with customers at each level. Leaders, managers and users within your
customer organizations appreciate the opportunity to share ideas and dialog. Ideas include:
• Create a customer advisory board to provide advocates a forum to share their ideas.
• Hold executive connection forums for one-on-one time with your leadership.
• Sponsor peer to peer activities where activists and advocates can freely connect with one
another.
• Invite advocates to company meetings to share their enthusiasm and provide valuable ideas
and feedback to your team.
“A successful customer
reference and advocate
program is essential
to every business.
Customers drive a
company’s success. The
US Dynamics Customer
Reference & Advocate
Program provided
strategic opportunities
for my company to
align, engage and
evangelize our success
with Microsoft technology
solutions and lead within
my industry.”
Phillip R. Kennedy,
Pandora Jewelry

7. 6
The proactive guide to developing customer advocates: Lessons from Microsoft’s US Customer Reference & Advocate team
Advocate
Activist
Reference
Build your pipeline:
Scout for potential advocates
All customer relationships are dynamic and subject to change. The same holds true for activist and
advocate relationships―which are often driven by a single person in the customer’s organization.
Your Customer Engagement Program should be designed to motivate your team to seek out and
build deeper customer relationships.
Extend your reach and relationships
On the front line, your sales team can provide the personal touches and internal connections to
develop new advocates and keep existing ones engaged. At Microsoft, the sales team:
• Provides net new customer reference, activist and advocate opportunities.
• Offers deep insight into how the customer is currently, or will be using, products and
solutions.
• Sets expectations early in the sales cycle with customers that they can have a deeper
relationship with the brand.
• Represents advocates’ interests internally, suggesting opportunities for deeper engagement
and exposure.
A well-equipped sales force
As the first line of customer interaction, the sales team provides the strongest link to scout for
potential activists. You can help to support your sales team’s efforts with:
• Systems to collect and use customer data for deeper insights into each organization.
• Recognition and rewards for finding and promoting advocates.
• Providing programs that deliver real value and appreciation to advocates.
Functional relationship
Personal relationships
Active promotion

8. 7
The proactive guide to developing customer advocates: Lessons from Microsoft’s US Customer Reference & Advocate team
Recognize commitment:
Show appreciation and value
A key component of your Customer Engagement Program will be how you plan to reward those
customers that go the extra mile for your brand. Appreciation can come in many forms, and should
be personalized for your activists and advocates.
Be humble, be thankful. Customers are your success.
The importance of expressing gratitude for your customers’ loyalty and time can’t be overstated.
Being humble and thankful to customers should run through the culture of the organization. Build
programs that will be meaningful and personally rewarding, remembering:
• It’s the little things that count. For example, highlight a great activist or advocate who has shown
success with the solution through social media with tweets, blog posts or other mentions.
• Advocates appreciate a closer connection with executives and experts in the organization.
• Be proactive instead of reactive. Customer activists and advocates appreciate setting
expectations up front. For example, create a joint engagement plan of ideas and time lines,
scheduled ahead.
• Programs don’t have to be expensive to be effective.
Appreciation is paramount
Share the importance and value the customer activist or advocate is providing to the marketplace
by showcasing how they champion their brand with yours, demonstrating leadership within their
industry. Look for every opportunity to provide a win-win for advocates, like:
• Feature advocates in special presentations, on your website or in advertising.
• Visit their organization and create a video of how they are using your product or service.
• Provide exclusive social time with executives during a conference.
• Gather a group of advocates at a special venue to provide input into product development.
• Joint stage presence
& evangelism
• Exclusive forums
& events
• Positive
reinforcement
• Impactful
storytelling
• Welcome Package
• Social Promotion
Advocate
Activist
Reference

9. The proactive guide to developing customer advocates: Lessons from Microsoft’s US Customer Reference & Advocate team
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Start the journey:
Your future customers are waiting
A great customer advocate will evangelize and protect your brand throughout their lifecycle.
They are willing to engage in company early adopter programs, use their voice to showcase joint
success, provide constructive feedback and most importantly stay aligned with you every step of
the way in your journey.
The power of your customers to validate and promote the work you do is more important today
than at any other time. By going beyond references, to develop customers into advocates for
your business, you tap into a rich source of knowledge and exposure.
The Microsoft US Customer Reference & Advocate team was extremely fortunate to work closely
with many vibrant, successful companies across the years. Those customers have brought our
products to life for countless businesses, partners and individuals around the world. We could not
have accomplished so much without their help. We are forever grateful.
The first step
To start your journey, review your existing customer pipeline and segment those you believe will
be the best customers to engage with in each of the three categories―reference, activist and
advocate. As you connect with them to gauge interest, you’ll begin a wonderful journey that will
transform your business.
Microsoft US Customer
Reference Program
Principles and Success
Factors
• Use business insight
• Connect strategically
• Plan the engagement
and impact
• Continue to nurture
and cultivate customer
relationships
© 2016 This document is for information purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,
IN THIS SUMMARY.