In this insightful video, customer marketing and advocacy expert Asha May walks us through how she achieved a truly seamless customer advocacy workflow by leveraging ReferenceEdge, the 100% Salesforce-native advocacy platform from Point of Reference. From simplifying processes to automating deeply integrated workflows, she shows how your advocacy program can move from tactical to strategic.
Why This Matters
Organizations often struggle with:
- pulling advocates into a central system
- keeping reference information current and actionable
- enabling sales, marketing and customer success teams to self-serve references
- tracking and proving the revenue impact of advocacy efforts
Asha’s example demonstrates how a streamlined platform plus intentional process can solve these challenges.
Key Takeaways
1. Centralize advocate data
A big win with ReferenceEdge is that advocate profiles, content (case studies, video testimonials, logos) and reference requests all live in one place. No more scattered spreadsheets or one-off workflows.
2. Embed into sales-workflow
Because the platform is native to Salesforce, sales teams don’t need to navigate to a separate tool—reference requests, nominations and advocate searches happen where they already work. This drives adoption and speeds response.
3. Measure impact and avoid advocate fatigue
Dashboards provide visibility into how many deals were influenced by advocacy, how often advocates are used, and where bottlenecks exist. Also, tracking usage helps prevent over-using your most persuasive advocates.
4. Change management is critical
A seamless workflow isn’t just about the tech—it’s about enabling change: internal education, leadership buy-in, workflow adjustments, and continuous process iteration. Asha emphasizes that program success depends on both people and systems.
Implementation Tips
- Start small with core workflows: Get nominations, reference requests and advocate data in the system first.
- Train the tool where users live: Embed the platform in Salesforce so that users don’t perceive it as an “extra” system.
- Use metrics to tell the story: Show leadership how advocacy drives revenue or accelerates deals.
- Manage advocate supply and demand: Ensure you have enough advocates, track usage, and avoid burning out your top advocates.
- Iterate the process: Advocacy workflows evolve—review quarterly, refine your processes and update training.
Benefits You’ll See
By aligning people, process and technology, you can expect:
- Faster reference fulfilment and deal-acceleration
- Higher adoption of your advocacy program across sales, marketing and CS
- Better visibility into ROI of advocacy and references
- More engaged advocates who feel part of a managed program rather than ad-hoc requests
- Reduced administrative burden on advocacy teams (fewer spreadsheets, less manual work)
Why ReferenceEdge (via Point of Reference) Works
- 100% Salesforce-native: Because it lives inside the CRM it reduces tool-switch friction.
- Designed for advocacy: Built for customer reference & advocacy workflows rather than generic CRM add-ons.
- Metrics & dashboards: Enables you to link advocacy efforts directly to revenue and program health.
- Support & best-practice advisory: As one user said, implementation was smooth and payback was fast.
Conclusion
If your advocacy program feels scattered—disparate advocates, manual workflows, difficult measurement—then Asha May’s approach offers a model worth following. Centralize your advocate data, embed the workflow in the tools your teams use, track everything, and treat change management as equally important to the technology. When done right, your advocacy program becomes a strategic engine, not just marketing support.
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