4 Ways to Convince Your Manager to Send You to the 2018 Customer Love Summit

Trying to convince your boss to give you a promotion, to let you try a new tool, or to send you to a conference can be intimidating. But a little preparation goes a long way.

As our 2018 Customer Love Summit approaches, we want to make the attendance process as easy as possible for you—and that includes giving you the tools to help your boss understand the business value of attending.

Make your manager’s decision to send you to the Customer Love Summit a no-brainer by following our advice below!

1. Proactively map conference learnings to your business goals

The main reason to attend the Customer Love Summit is to learn. Map out how your business goals directly align with what you’ll learn at the summit to provide a clear picture of the value your company will receive from sending you to the summit.

Our speakers will cover a variety of topics including how to measure customer experience, how to drive loyalty, implementing listening mechanisms, how to make sense of all your customer data, the rise of the CXO/CCO, changing team structures, and of course how to earn, value, and measure customer love. Check out our current speaker lineup for more (additional speakers will be added soon!).

You’ll leave the Customer Love Summit with tactical advice that you can implement as soon as you get back to the office. In fact, we’re confident you’ll come back with so much new knowledge, your boss might just thank you!

2. Show value in peer to peer networking opportunities

Another benefit of attending the Customer Love Summit are the connections you’ll make. One of the biggest hits from last year’s event was the intimate peer to peer networking opportunities attendees had throughout the day. Like last year, this year’s event offers two designated times for peer connectivity, as well as countless chances to mingle throughout the day. To get a sense of who you’ll meet, here are some of the companies who attended last year’s event.

During lunch hour, you’ll participate in a peer matchmaking session where we’ll seat you at a table with other attendees who have a similar role. You’ll have the full hour to get to know one another and learn about what’s working and what’s not for your respective teams. You can share tactical advice and tips to learn how you can elevate your mobile experience. But it doesn’t end there…

After the summit wraps up, we’re hosting our biggest Appy Hour of the year. During Appy Hour, you’ll have the opportunity to chat with all attendees, speakers, and the Apptentive team. Take advantage of this time to learn how others are making the most of mobile!

The summit will end, but that doesn’t mean the relationships you formed at the summit have to. Once the summit is over, don’t be afraid to keep in touch! The network of your peers will come in handy when you want a surge of creativity, new ideas, and advice.

3. Early access to Apptentive news

As part of the Customer Love Summit, you’ll hear exciting Apptentive announcements before anyone else. Robi Ganguly, our CEO, will take the stage to present on exciting enhancements to the Apptentive product, along with what’s coming up for Apptentive customers.

What does this mean for you? You’ll get a heads-up about what’s coming so that you can get a leg up on strategizing with your team. Plus, you’ll get a chance to pick Robi’s brain directly about how the announcement will impact your mobile customer experience.

Another perk of attending the Customer Love Summit? The ability to meet your Customer Success Manager! Schedule time with your CSM while you’re in Seattle to get to know them and get your mobile best practice questions answered. Our Customer Success team cannot wait to meet you all in person.

4. Formalize your request to attend

Now that you’ve got all the ammo you need to convince your boss you should go to the Customer Love Summit, it’s time to formalize your ask. Being vague about what you’re asking for rarely works out. Formalizing your ask will help you put the best foot forward and maximize your chances of getting the thumbs up.

How do you formalize your ask? Follow the four steps below.

1. Pick the right time to ask. You learned this as a kid: don’t ask your parents to buy you a shiny new toy when they’re super busy and stressed out. The same goes for your boss. If you wait until the latest deadline has been hit or the finish line has been crossed, your boss will be more likely to clearly see the value in sending you to the Customer Love Summit. Choose your time wisely.
2. Put together a proposal, including the 10 biggest takeaways you’ll bring back to your team. Again, highlighting the fact that you’ll learn from leading experts from major brands in your field, meet your peers, and get to know the Apptentive team will be appealing not only to your boss, but your entire team. Make it clear you’ll share the biggest learnings with them and let them know you’ll outline how the takeaways impact your strategy. Once your boss understands that you won’t just come back with new ideas, but that you’re committed to implementing them, the value will become more real.
3. Estimate cost in order to have a real conversation about attending. Do your research; price out the total cost of your attendance, including your transportation, hotel (or airbnb), registration, meals, etc. If the monetary cost is laid out transparently, the decision will be easier for your boss.
4. Be enthusiastic—it’s contagious! If you don’t seem excited about what you’re asking for (regardless of what it is), the person you’re asking won’t be excited about it either. The more enthusiasm you show, the more convincing you’ll be because your excitement will spread to your boss and, eventually, to the rest of your team.

Buy your ticket now—at a discount!

The Customer Love Summit will take place on July 18th, 2018, and early bird registration is now open. Act quickly as space is limited, and early bird ticket pricing (the lowest ticket price available!) ends on April 30th.

Stay tuned for additional posts on how to make the most of your time in Seattle (especially on a budget).

We hope you can join us for an intimate, actionable day of insight into all things mobile strategy. See you in Seattle!