What is your organizations name worth? Something, right? You’ve spent time, energy, effort and dollars to grow your organization while showcasing the great work it’s doing. This is the reason why SaaS/Cloud technology providers often include contract clauses that permit them to use your name as a reference, both internally (i.e. sales training etc.) as well as externally (i.e. to win business with new customers, analyst reports or even on earnings calls etc.). To the technology provider, there is value in being able to speak freely about the various customers that have purchased their solution. In certain cases, there can sometimes be an unwanted onus (real or imagined) put on the customer to fulfill requirements for reference calls. For those renewing an existing technology subscription; if you’re unhappy with the solution or a particular portion of it, this can make for an awkward discussion.
The point here is to be transparent and discuss clauses like this upfront. It doesn’t have to mean a discount of some kind to include your company as a potential reference. Think outside the box of pricing based levers alone. What about the technology provider’s annual conference? If you attend, can you get an enhanced experience with the understanding that you can be an on-site reference? What about some focused effort on resolving a backlog of high priority support cases, which will ultimately put you in a better position to provide said reference? Consider situations where you aren’t achieving the predetermined/agreed to level of success with their solution ? Are you still on the hook to be a reference? How does this change?
As you can see, there are various factors that you can raise in relation to (contractually) serving as a customer reference. If the provider sees value in having you on their “Our Logos” PowerPoint slide, there should be some form of mutual benefit. You don’t want to be surprised by how often you get tapped for a reference call or where/when you see your organizations logo pop up, if you don’t talk about this upfront. If nothing else, and you’re seeking to put some quantitative measures around this, inquire as to how many reference activities customers typically get involved in, and consider the time commitment from the various members of your team that would be best suited to handle such requests. This simple exercise leaves both provider and customer with clear expectations around what it means to serve as a reference, and the benefits to be gained by both sides
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