Existing Customers: Untapped Marketing Assets

What value do you place on your customer references? The answer to the question should be that they're priceless. While most VARs claim to be the best and use marketing terms such as "fastest" and "cheapest," how can you qualify those statements presale? One way is to use your existing customers as references. Most VARs probably already do this, but to what extent?

In the November 2007 issue of Business Solutions, I spoke to Chuck Twesten, the owner of VAR Hospitality Data Systems, who takes the value of his reference list seriously enough to include every client on the list. He acknowledges that not every installation his company performed went flawlessly, but he's reassured that his company has done everything it could to satisfy the customer. By providing a list of every customer — and touting that fact — he's able to remove much doubt regarding the quality of his work and head off any negative word of mouth his competition might be spreading.