🤝 5 ways frontline teams can assist marketing (with little effort)

Hey it’s Mica,

Your frontline team members are hands down, the best connection to your customers.

Sales and services team work with customers 1 on 1 and establish a rapport that makes a lasting impression far greater than most businesses realize.

If you look at any of our reviews, it’s our frontline team that shines through. Yes, we think the product and pricing have to be right, but without a great customer experience throughout the lifecycle we’d have a much harder time as a business.

Today, we’re exploring 5 simple ways a business can take all the real person to person experiences they are providing (AI can’t do that), and turn that into marketing wins.

(There is also a bonus section at the bottom on how you can automate lots of these as well)

Now, let's dive in.

-Mica
Head of Operations

1. Collect External Reviews and Testimonials

Identify key moments where you often delight your customers. Then teach your team how to ask for external reviews on sites like Google Reviews, Yelp, Capterra, etc., or collect testimonials for your website.

It’s important to establish a repeatable process that your team can follow.

1. What are your key moments to ask for a review or testimonial?

2. How should your team ask (what is the script, email template, etc.)?

3. How can you make it easy to provide a review or testimonial (links to external review sites, examples of what to say, etc.)?

Focus on one initiative at a time to keep it easy for your customers (then reprioritize as needed).

Here’s how we do it:

After a successful launch, we reach out asking for a review. We do this live during the launch call and then follow up with an email from the Onboarding Specialist. 

2. Promote Company Initiatives via Email Signatures

Every email your team sends is a personal touchpoint that strengthens your brand.

Your team likely sends hundreds, if not thousands, of weekly emails. Use your team’s email signature to promote important initiatives that interest your customers.

Common examples include: 

• Get a quote/consultation

• Leave a review

• Join the referral program

• Promote an upcoming event

• Follow the company on social media

• Subscribe to the company newsletter

Here’s how we do it:

There are several initiatives we currently promote through our sales and customer service teams (and honestly, we could do more here).

3. Engage with Company Content on Social Media

When team members share and interact with your company's social posts, two things happen: expanded reach (more people see it) and enhanced credibility (has higher value).

Algorithms favor content with high engagement (likes, comments, reposts, etc.). Seeing real employees actively supporting their company signals authenticity to potential customers. 

Here’s how we do it:

We’re still figuring out what works for our audience and brand on social media. Carina (our unhinged marketer) is having fun with it. She shares new posts on our internal Slack channel and we love to support her.

4. Gather Customer Feedback and Requests

Live, off-the-cuff, customer comments are the best source of feedback. Whether it’s frustrations about how something works (or doesn’t work), excitement about a new product/service, appreciation for a job well done, or complaints about a job not done. 

Nothing beats the unfiltered insights you get straight from your customers. 

Here’s how we do it:

Our internal feedback system allows anyone at Referral Rock to log a UX observation. The sales and service teams log the most based on customer conversations. That feedback is then reviewed and acted on by our product team.

5. Asking for Referrals

One of the best (yet often overlooked) ways your frontline team can help marketing is by asking for referrals. 

Unlike reviews/testimonials, referrals are tracked to the team member bringing in the referral. This creates internal recognition of a job well done and opens options to reward the team members directly (further motivating them to ask for referrals). 

We work with companies to help train their teams to ask for referral programs. Here’s our approach to training frontline teams to ask for referrals.

Bonus: Automation

Don’t get scared by all these initiatives, there is a lot of software out there (including Referral Rock) to help automate these tasks.

• Automated review requests by setting up triggers in your CRM or email marketing software to ask for reviews after key milestones

• Dynamic email signatures let you manage and update employee email signatures at scale

• Social media advocacy platforms make it easy for teams to share company content

• Centralize customer feedback in a project management tool or shared spreadsheet

With the right tools and processes, you can scale these initiatives without extra work.