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Taking a holistic approach, there are three primary buckets where an advocacy program brings immense value to an organization.
For sales teams, we provide credible customer evidence and references that not only open doors to new prospects but also accelerate deal closure by building trust and confidence. For marketing teams, we showcase authentic customer insights in campaigns, events, and content—bringing real-world success stories into the spotlight to strengthen brand credibility and influence buying decisions.
When building this advocacy program from the ground up, we knew we needed a reliable solution—a single source of truth for all advocate records and activities.
We chose ReferenceEdge because it provides a centralized platform to organize advocate data, track activities, and improve accessibility for stakeholders, while scaling sales references through automation. Its Salesforce-native design was a key factor, enabling sellers and CSMs to nominate advocates, find references, and access content directly within the system they use every day.
Implementation was well managed by the Point of Reference team, allowing us to complete it on schedule with support from our IT team. In a rapidly changing environment, ReferenceEdge integrates seamlessly with existing workflows, driving efficiency without disrupting teams.
Delaney: Bringing in ReferenceEdge was a game changer for my role—and the entire team—because it gave us access to insights and capabilities we never had before.
Its configurability is a major advantage. As a Salesforce administrator, I can quickly update filters, content types, and tracking mechanisms on the fly. That agility lets us respond to changing needs and continuously improve the program without delay.
One of the most impactful customizations we implemented is Account Request Dispositions. These allow us to track the status of outreach for specific accounts, capture feedback from internal account owners, confirm advocacy fit, and record customer responses once a request is sent.
With ReferenceEdge, we can see if an account is in renewal, has cross-sell or upsell opportunities, or is dealing with an escalated support ticket. This visibility helps us tailor outreach and capture critical insights for both our team and the broader business.
Finally, the reporting tools are invaluable. They enable us to clearly demonstrate the impact of our advocacy efforts, share results with leadership, and show how the program contributes to business goals—reinforcing the strategic value of both our team and the advocacy system.
ReferenceEdge gives us a single system to manage everything—from bringing new advocates into the program to accurately tracking their activities and responses to requests. It also allows us to assign points to different types of advocacy activities, making it easy to reward them. Plus, it’s incredibly helpful for creating targeted lists of potential advocates, so we can prioritize and begin outreach efficiently.
What we value most about ReferenceEdge is that it’s Salesforce-native. This allows us to create an intuitive, connected experience—not just for program managers, but for our stakeholders as well. We can pull details directly from our CRM and leverage Salesforce capabilities like reporting, which simplifies processes that are often complex. Plus, ReferenceEdge makes it easy to manage nuanced advocacy activities efficiently.
The automation capabilities are a huge time saver! By automating routine tasks, we free up time to focus on more strategic, high-impact work—ultimately driving greater business value.
We measure and track a wide range of metrics in ReferenceEdge to monitor program health, advocacy activities, and understand the influence of sales references on ACV. The platform provides robust standard reporting along with the flexibility to create custom reports for specific objectives. This helps us manage the program effectively, demonstrate impact, and identify areas for optimization.
Some key aspects we report on include nominations by originating organizations to ensure a steady flow of new advocates, as well as monitoring the types of Acts of Advocacy (we call them AoAs) we fulfill. Currently, reference requests are our most impactful activity for influencing ACV, and expanding content usage is also a key goal.
We also track how many requests extended to account teams and customers it takes to fulfill an advocate request. This visibility allows us to work with stakeholders, monitor responses, and optimize when and why approvals are declined.
In addition, we manage a customer reward system that allocates points by activity type—recognizing and celebrating participation so advocates feel valued.
ReferenceEdge makes it easy to share insights. For example, our Customer Success team uses a custom dashboard we built to track nominations against agreed targets.
It’s essential to communicate the value of the program both internally and externally. Internally, my manager does an outstanding job of this—continuously educating various leaders and teams, helping others understand the full scope of our work and finding showcase opportunities for the team.
At the same time, our team builds meaningful connections with individual contributors, creating a true “sandwich approach.”
We also look for creative ways to demonstrate value, such as sharing new content and customer insights during stakeholder meetings or All Hands sessions.
Because direct revenue attribution for non–sales reference advocacy activities is less defined, communication becomes even more critical to consistently demonstrate value to the company and its diverse stakeholders.
Externally, we encourage showcasing activities through social media and participating in industry forums, events, and award programs. Partnering with internal thought leaders is also important to integrate advocate voices and content into their shared content.
We use a broad range of different programs or activities to identify new advocates:
We use ReferenceEdge as the single source of truth for advocate data and activities, giving full visibility into participation and opportunities while preventing duplicate requests. It streamlines engagement, ensures accurate information for all teams, and serves as the main repository for customer content—keeping everything current and accessible.
Consistent Internal Communication: We actively promote the value of our program across multiple internal channels to keep stakeholders informed, engaged, and aligned with our goals. A clear strategy for ongoing enablement is key.
Because everyone absorbs information differently, we provide multiple formats of support—on-demand training videos, concise one-pagers with basics like how to nominate an advocate or submit a request, and other resources tailored for quick reference.
Building strong relationships with the sales enablement team is also essential. We participate in new-hire training to ensure advocacy is embedded in the sales workflow from the very beginning.
Bottom line: We work constantly to deliver thorough, high-quality communication and resources for internal teams.
One of the most common misconceptions about customer advocacy is that only the perfect customer can be in the advocacy program and become a great advocate.
We keep advocate identification quick and simple by asking one key question: Are they in a positive state with Conga and using products or use cases where we need more coverage? Before activating any advocate, we confirm with stakeholders that the account / contact is in a good place. In fact, some of our strongest champions have come from accounts that previously voiced concerns and advocacy helped strengthen their relationship.
Also being able to show the monetary value attached to advocate accounts versus non-advocate accounts is compelling.
Another common misconception is that advocacy is simply a favor we ask of customers. We consistently emphasize that we always strive to create a mutually beneficial experience—always finding the “win” for the advocate as well. Our goal is to ensure every opportunity delivers value for both the customer and Conga.
