When building out a global customer evidence or advocacy program, there are many pitfalls to avoid. Especially when you want to scale globally.
Ask yourself: what do I need to do to ensure we deliver – while staying relevant to local and regional partners and subsidiaries?
Risk
Large organizations tend to have lots of policies and rules. This helps them get organized when operating a massive structure. Yet it can also mean that sometimes it’s not clear what is the single source of truth for determining what aligns or does not align with the current central strategy.
Mitigation
When rolling out your program globally, ensure that local policy implementation tactics won’t put a roadblock in your path. Explain if, and how, policies support your program. Be especially mindful in regions where rules are held in high regard.
Risk
Most program strategies rolled out globally take time to gain momentum. It will take a while before you see results, and things won’t be perfect right from the start. This has a high chance of demotivating your team.
Mitigation
Plan incremental steps and create opportunities to review, improve and recognize small progress. This will keep everyone motivated and involved.
Risk
Executive attention will shift to other problems after kick-off. But don’t interpret this as disinterest: “hands-off” should not mean “don’t care”!
Mitigation
Create opportunities for regional teams to showcase progress and results to the executive team. This helps keep people’s attention and deepens support. Create quarterly workshops to brainstorm further improvements across regional and executive
Risk
Customer nominations come from different sources when a program rolls out globally. This can be a bit confusing. You may need to use different job titles across teams in different countries.
Mitigation
Embrace the chaos - but organize it! When you open up a program globally, your nomination pipeline may get hectic. Instead of letting yourself get overwhelmed, learn to collaborate with different partners. Then evangelize the process but accept that some colleagues will not want to embrace it right away.
Risk
Customer evidence can often be perceived purely as a marketing activity. This means colleagues in sales, PR, and social may not feel direct responsibility or accountability.
Mitigation
Establish the program’s value outside of direct ROI. Explore the value of impact, influence, and respect. Make it super-easy for other teams to use evidence materials, while also cultivating evangelists from among early adopters. They can spread the message of excellence within their own departments.
