Key Questions for Cross-Functional Stakeholders in New Roles

Emily Coleman · 2025-08-01 22:00:11.487832+00

I started a new job this week :partying_face:! My first priority is meeting with a LOT of people across product, marketing, sales, customer success, etc. I'd like to have a standard 3-5 questions I ask everyone, and I was curious what you all would ask your cross-functional stakeholders during your first 30 days. Here's what I have so far: • What role should customer advocacy play in the organization? Does it serve that function today? Why not? • What are the biggest pain points on your team related or unrelated to customer advocacy? What questions or problems come up most frequently? • How do you normally interact with customer marketing and advocacy? What worked well and what needs improvement?

Key Questions for Cross-Functional Stakeholders in New Roles | CMAweekly Customer Marketing and Advocacy Slack

10 comments

· Sorted by Oldest

Alexie Glover
·
Jeanne Nitschke (Talbot) has just run a pretty cool campaign on her LI with quick video interviews with her stakeholders about how customer marketing impacts their role. Might be a good reference point for you!
👍1
Emily Coleman
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Oh, that's a great idea!
Amy
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I like to find out what their expectations are for customer references, when they need customers for upcoming campaigns, webinars, speaking opportunities, *speaker abstracts* with tight deadlines, etc. And find out when you can participate on their team calls to share a quick update on the customer activity pipeline (as an example, I typically attend PR calls once a month)
👍1
Angela Ferrante
·
I once heard “how could customer evidence/proof help close deals or drive sales, in your opinion?” and liked this a lot!
👍1
Jeanne Nitschke (Talbot)
·
Emily Coleman Happy to chat! I used a tool called ShoutOut. (There are others like it. Some have free versions too.)
👍1
Emily Coleman
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I did a demo with ShoutOut at SolarWinds, and wanted to do a trial, but we couldn't make it happen. Definitely looking forward to continuing the conversation in this new role. I'll send you a message!
Lauren Turner
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"How would you like to participate in this program's success?" All the other functions need to have skin in the game in order for customer advocacy to be successful. Ideally, they will have KPIs directly related to it (e.g. each CSM needs to have 10% of their accounts be active members of an advocacy program). You will need to talk to the leaders of each function to get that alignment.
👍2
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Emily Coleman
·
Great question. I like that.
Cara Peterson
·
One I added last time that got good feedback was starting out with asking them what their main goals with their position / team and if there was anyway advocacy could help. Another one that really helped me was there preferred method of communication for collaborating.
👍1
❤️2
Cecilia Wainio
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If there are any key targets/objectives you've been given for the first 6 months or so sharing that can be a helpful level-set as well. Customer marketing is so broad that every person you speak to could potentially create a new priority for you! If they know what your initial mission is, they could offer good insights into what inputs you need to be successful, what roadblocks you may face AND how their part of the organization could be impacted. If they don't see your initial goals/projects as meaningful to their team that's useful information to have.
💯1
❤️1

Alexie Glover
·
Jeanne Nitschke (Talbot) has just run a pretty cool campaign on her LI with quick video interviews with her stakeholders about how customer marketing impacts their role. Might be a good reference point for you!
👍1
Emily Coleman
·
Oh, that's a great idea!
Amy
·
I like to find out what their expectations are for customer references, when they need customers for upcoming campaigns, webinars, speaking opportunities, *speaker abstracts* with tight deadlines, etc. And find out when you can participate on their team calls to share a quick update on the customer activity pipeline (as an example, I typically attend PR calls once a month)
👍1
Angela Ferrante
·
I once heard “how could customer evidence/proof help close deals or drive sales, in your opinion?” and liked this a lot!
👍1
Jeanne Nitschke (Talbot)
·
Emily Coleman Happy to chat! I used a tool called ShoutOut. (There are others like it. Some have free versions too.)
👍1
Emily Coleman
·
I did a demo with ShoutOut at SolarWinds, and wanted to do a trial, but we couldn't make it happen. Definitely looking forward to continuing the conversation in this new role. I'll send you a message!
Lauren Turner
·
"How would you like to participate in this program's success?" All the other functions need to have skin in the game in order for customer advocacy to be successful. Ideally, they will have KPIs directly related to it (e.g. each CSM needs to have 10% of their accounts be active members of an advocacy program). You will need to talk to the leaders of each function to get that alignment.
👍2
👀1
Emily Coleman
·
Great question. I like that.
Cara Peterson
·
One I added last time that got good feedback was starting out with asking them what their main goals with their position / team and if there was anyway advocacy could help. Another one that really helped me was there preferred method of communication for collaborating.
👍1
❤️2
Cecilia Wainio
·
If there are any key targets/objectives you've been given for the first 6 months or so sharing that can be a helpful level-set as well. Customer marketing is so broad that every person you speak to could potentially create a new priority for you! If they know what your initial mission is, they could offer good insights into what inputs you need to be successful, what roadblocks you may face AND how their part of the organization could be impacted. If they don't see your initial goals/projects as meaningful to their team that's useful information to have.
💯1
❤️1