Setting Targets for Reference Calls and Referrals This Year

Maria Braune · 2025-08-01 22:33:38.825616+00

:wave:! I’m setting targets for this year’s Reference Calls and Referrals. Does anyone have standard goals they’re aiming for? I’d love to chat if you do! Are you basing your targets on the projected number of closed sales deals, or do you maintain a set number of available clients for reference calls? Similarly, for referrals, are you setting quarterly averages for how many you aim to provide?

Setting Targets for Reference Calls and Referrals This Year | CMAweekly Customer Marketing and Advocacy Slack

6 comments

· Sorted by Oldest

Shannon Howard
·
I set mine based on percentage of expected closed won deals.
Lauren Turner
·
This is what I use: TR=(L×CW×PR) Where:
TR = Total reference calls needed per quarter
L = Number of new leads or opportunities per quarter
CW = Expected close-won percentage (conversion rate from lead to customer)
PR = Percentage of deals that require a reference
So, for example:
L = 100 new opportunities per quarter
CW = 20% close-won rate (20 deals expected to close)
PR = 30% of deals need a reference
Calculation: TR=100×0.20×0.30=6 reference calls needed per quarter
❤️6
1
Maria Braune
·
Lauren Turner - that is MAGIC! Thank you! And thank you Shannon Howard! Quick follow up - do you split/ segment any of this on deal size or industry to just straight sales goals?
Emily G.
·
This is super helpful, thanks so much for sharing your rationale here Lauren Turner! How did you land on 30% in your example as the percentage of deals that need a reference? We are going to be building ours from scratch, so we don't really know how many deals will need a reference — I'm going back and forth around just picking a number out of thin air, or running the program with a super low-stakes goal (i.e. 1x reference call per month)
Lauren Turner
·
As your sales team what they think a reasonable percentage would be that needs a reference, and use your best judgment to validate what they say (or use historical precedent as a baseline). You can also give parameters to them like “we should only use references if the deal is worth more than X, or is a marquee brand, new industry/use case, etc” to guide them towards what they think a reasonable percent is. I just came up with 30% as an example number to plug in.
❤️3
🙏2
Shannon Howard
·
Lauren Turner love the formula! That’s what we did with our sales team: set criteria for when and how a reference is used. Maria Braune to keep it simple, we didn’t split based on industry or deal size (although I would ask our team not to use a reference on a smaller deal).

Shannon Howard
·
I set mine based on percentage of expected closed won deals.
Lauren Turner
·
This is what I use: TR=(L×CW×PR) Where:
TR = Total reference calls needed per quarter
L = Number of new leads or opportunities per quarter
CW = Expected close-won percentage (conversion rate from lead to customer)
PR = Percentage of deals that require a reference
So, for example:
L = 100 new opportunities per quarter
CW = 20% close-won rate (20 deals expected to close)
PR = 30% of deals need a reference
Calculation: TR=100×0.20×0.30=6 reference calls needed per quarter
❤️6
1
Maria Braune
·
Lauren Turner - that is MAGIC! Thank you! And thank you Shannon Howard! Quick follow up - do you split/ segment any of this on deal size or industry to just straight sales goals?
Emily G.
·
This is super helpful, thanks so much for sharing your rationale here Lauren Turner! How did you land on 30% in your example as the percentage of deals that need a reference? We are going to be building ours from scratch, so we don't really know how many deals will need a reference — I'm going back and forth around just picking a number out of thin air, or running the program with a super low-stakes goal (i.e. 1x reference call per month)
Lauren Turner
·
As your sales team what they think a reasonable percentage would be that needs a reference, and use your best judgment to validate what they say (or use historical precedent as a baseline). You can also give parameters to them like “we should only use references if the deal is worth more than X, or is a marquee brand, new industry/use case, etc” to guide them towards what they think a reasonable percent is. I just came up with 30% as an example number to plug in.
❤️3
🙏2
Shannon Howard
·
Lauren Turner love the formula! That’s what we did with our sales team: set criteria for when and how a reference is used. Maria Braune to keep it simple, we didn’t split based on industry or deal size (although I would ask our team not to use a reference on a smaller deal).