It has been evident in 2023 that customer advocacy has encountered many ups and downs. Within a year where program cutbacks, re-orgs, budget reviews and department shifts have featured heavily, the age-old question has come up time and time again: “can we do more for less?”

Referential held its annual All-Hands meetings at Bear Lake in Utah this year! A week together spent team building, going over best practices, customer challenges and wins, and forming a game plan for the next year.

This holiday season, from us to you, we hope it’s the best yet!

Recently, our partners at Crowdvocate initiated a nomination process and subsequent vote to establish within the customer advocacy community a list of the who’s who, or the more influential among us in the advocacy community. It’s with great pleasure that we at Referential are able to report: we have two of our own voted in to share the spotlight!

It’s never too late to act. Making time for planning and team building will set the foundation for a successful year ahead. Here are six things to think about that may help!

With so many years of experience in customer advocacy – founded in 1994 and renamed, Referential, in 2012 – our company upholds the sincere belief that putting customer needs first should be at the forefront of every organization’s gameplan: the success of one is directly linked to the success of the other…

With all the recent interest in advocacy programs and the growing availability of training and education resources for the profession, there’s never been a better time to be a customer advocacy manager.

Honestly, though, the most important part of working from home I’ve come across isn’t the ability to pop in a load of laundry or eat from your own refrigerator – it’s knowing the how and when of being done for the day.

Though each of our consultants dedicate their time and focus to the programs of specific clients, our team regularly exchanges tips and best practices with one another. As a result, we’re constantly building on our collective knowledge and enhancing our ability to serve the needs of different clients.

As customer advocacy professionals, we’re all deeply cognizant of one simple fact: we trust our peers, the lessons they’ve learned and the advice they’re willing to share.