As Steve mentioned I’m at the Customer Reference Forum this week and will be presenting later on for newcomers to reference management about the infrastructure required to manage an effective program.

This morning I was thinking about a theme to base my presentation around and thought of the film I watched on the plane on the way here – 3:10 to Yuma.

In it a poor rancher is tasked with getting an outlaw onto the jail train to Yuma which leaves Contention at 3:10, hence the name. Along the way there are many difficulties and when he does succeed the rancher finally gets shot by one of the outlaw’s gang even though the outlaw was allowing him to get on the train because he knew he’d be able to escape later on.

Now replace the rancher with a person who runs reference programs and the outlaw and his gang with sales teams and, I think, you get something like some corporate customer reference programs albeit without the guns.

The rancher / Reference Professional is doing a difficult job that they haven’t necessarily been trained for as there is no training, the Customer Reference Forum comes as close as anything, out there. They have an incredibly tight schedule to hit and if they don’t all is lost.

The outlaw / Sales Professional doesn’t really want to provide a reference and the others in that team see it as possibly limiting their potential. However once they see the light and understand the end goal they’re more than willing to help because they realise it’s much better for everybody.

Before anybody asks I’m not saying that all sales professionals are outlaws this kind of connection is what happens when you’re jetlagged and first look at your clock at 3:10am while trying to think of something to say to a room full of people having just watched a film with 3:10 in the title.

Tags: Customer Reference Forum, 3:10 to Yuma, Customer Advocacy