Success factors of a reference visit – a single case study

Reference visits to the plants of suppliers’ present customers are an important practice in industrial marketing. Yet, studies regarding how to conduct reference visits do not seem to exist. The purpose of the article is first to describe the total process of a reference visit and then to develop success factors from that description. A single case study was conducted to describe that process. The decision systems analysis (DSA) was used as the analysis method that resulted in a flowchart description of the total process of a reference visit. Through eight key considerations seven success factors were then developed. It is concluded that managers should follow these success factors in their marketing practices, managers could use the DSA as an aid to improve their current marketing practices, and managers should take into account the value the visit creates for the parties when planning and managing a reference visit.