Then you want to bargain a discount, a faster delivery, a whatever, for being a public reference.
In other words, if they want something, and want it badly, instead of monetizing it with $$, monetize it with a case study.
Personal favor also. You go the extra mile for one user/infleluencer/decision maker in a customer company. Then ask to return the favor: "could you spend 15 minutes talking to this prospect of mine, it would help me a lot".
They can say no, find an excuse. But it will hurt them because they know you helped them unreasonably in the past, it was valuable to them, and you may be less willing to do so in the future.
We also encountered some customers like that - true evangelists but refuse to partake in public endorsement for fear of losing competitive advantage. We even offered discounts, but to no avail.
On the contrary, we found the European and Australian customers to be completely different; competing companies in the same local markets seem to be quite chummy and will share such information freely.
Obviously not to be generalized. We have North American evangelists too.
I have tried to do this quite a bit, but they are all reluctant to be that person. Interestingly social proof seems to be unimportant in my industry, but it is a pain I can’t do case studies on my customers.
One of the more amusing things is different divisions of the conglomerate that owns my main competitor are among of my largest customers. I am always amazed how little internal communication there is within large companies.
In other words, if they want something, and want it badly, instead of monetizing it with $$, monetize it with a case study.
Personal favor also. You go the extra mile for one user/infleluencer/decision maker in a customer company. Then ask to return the favor: "could you spend 15 minutes talking to this prospect of mine, it would help me a lot".
They can say no, find an excuse. But it will hurt them because they know you helped them unreasonably in the past, it was valuable to them, and you may be less willing to do so in the future.
Some will say yes. You just need one or two.