In this episode, Kirsty talks through the gap between customers who say they'd recommend a product and customers who actually do, why referral programs feel harder to launch than they are, and what separates the programs that generate consistent leads from the ones that never get off the ground.

She also makes the case for why customer marketers — not growth teams, not product — are best placed to own this channel.

• How Kirsty went from building Africa's largest influencer platform to launching Referral Factory
• Why most businesses leave word of mouth to chance — and how to stop
• How to launch a referral program in 30 days
• The double-sided referral: why giving customers something to share beats asking them to sell
• What rewards actually work (and the B2B mistake that kills participation)
• How to make the business case to leadership — including the one question Kirsty uses every time
• Why referral programs don't create word of mouth. They capture it.

• Referral Factory: https://www.referral-factory.com
• Referral Factory case studies: https://www.referral-factory.com/case-studies
• Kirsty on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirstysharman

• Keeping in the loop with your other departments, especially with product leaders.
• Make sure to stay in touch with your advocates - if they don't know about the feature, chances are the rest of your customer base don't know about it either.
• How to cross-sell and upsell to advocates
• Getting involved in thought leadership
• Future of customer marketing

• Aunalisa Arellano is currently the Head of Customer Marketing at Filevine. She has a strong practice in B2B SaaS marketing and thrives in customer-focused roles. Some exciting career accomplishments so far include:
• Diversity and Inclusion Board Member at Shareworks by Morgan Stanley
• First-Generation College Student Mentor (Legacy Program) at Westminster College
• Drove the launch of an inaugural client advisory board at Filevine
• Created the first-ever equity compensation by gender and race report at Shareworks by Morgan Stanley
• Currently building the core customer marketing and advocacy strategy at Filevine