Sarah McCoy

For marketing: Jasper

http://comms-unity.slack.com

The only method I know of is to train someone on the team to cover for me. Or using a reference tool that allows the requester to self-serve. (Deeto.... I think it's a setting in almost every tool I've used - "managed" vs. "unmanaged") Obviously they all take time to set up! OR maybe setting something up for vacation where folks have to do references on their own during your PTO?

(Oh and we settled for some pretty big GOV customers to do anonymous case studies - no one's favorite, but Gov prospects totally get it, of course.)

I have experience with this and I'll just say it's a challenge no matter what! But totally agree that Daniel's ideas are spot on. I've been fortunate to work for companies where Pub Sector is a big priority so they actually have an event similar to the main US event but its a Gov version so it was a lot easier to convince them to speak and be engaged. Def speaking is a great way to build the relationship and eventually get permission for a case study, video, etc. At the end of the day, some just won't be able to get permission, but we had a lot of success w/ SLED because of relationships and having advocates who had enough clout within their org they could get it through. They really saw us as a technology partner, not just a vendor, which made all the difference.

Melissa DiBernardo

A little late to respond I suppose, and you’ve probably already arrived at this conclusion on your own, but I would suggest looking at a couple of examples of recent stories you’ve created and working backwards about how long it took you to get through the story development from start to finish and note the differences. For example, if someone is requesting a reference for a product that hasn’t even launched yet and there’s no beta (personal favorite 😏 ) vs a reference that squarely lines up with a popular use case/solution etc (bread & butter). Maybe create some tiering based on business segments, solutions, and types of requests. Another idea is to ask requesters to show what the business impact is so you can help prioritize and have a sanity check. If your team is hyper focused on 3specific products or company goals, for example, creat SLAs for requests that are in line with them and an explanation for timeframes for requests outside of those. I love working cross functionally - it’s one of the best parts about advocacy but it’s easy to get drained by the volume and urgency!

Lotus Pictures based in NY In Las Vegas Five Six Productions