Use Cases: Revenue and Business Development

An alumni program for business development teams

People like to buy from people they know. Alumni are no different.

79% of alumni would refer new business to a former employer. EnterpriseAlumni turns that intent into a repeatable channel – a live view of where alumni work now, who they buy from, and what they are responsible for.

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Header Revenue

Consider this: alumni understand your business better than anyone else.

They are the best advocates for your brand that you could find. By keeping them involved through an alumni network, you’re setting the groundwork for a lifetime of business opportunities.

3 ways an engaged alumni program drives revenue

A customer for life

Alumni are 83% likely to buy from a former employer and 45% more likely than people outside the network (EnterpriseAlumni research). A channel of known buyers who already understand how you work – ones you pay nothing to acquire and can re-engage indefinitely.

Warm referrals

Alumni referrals arrive pre-vetted on capability, fit and trust. 79% of alumni would refer business to a former employer – a standing intent that paid channels cannot manufacture. Systematic activation turns opportunistic contact into a reliable source of pipeline.

Market signal and intelligence 

Alumni are a live view of the market you sell into – who buys what, from whom, and why. Industry intermediaries and regulators, former competitors, customers-turned-prospects. That network is an intelligence channel no CRM touches and no ABM tool replicates.

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Customer perspective

“In professional services, relationships are everything. Our alumni are a key place to start because they know us, they know our strengths, they know our culture. We recognized early on that this holds so much real value in business opportunities, which is why the Alumni Program sits within the Business Development team.” 

Raya Blakely-Glover Bird & Bird

Building an alumni program to drive revenue

Keep up your connections

Keep track of where alumni work now and who they work for – organizations that could become your clients. Detailed search across the network surfaces the opportunities you need, when you need them.

Extend your reach

Your alumni often work for industry bodies, intermediaries and regulators – networks your sales team rarely reaches directly. They help you stay informed and share your value proposition in rooms paid outreach cannot enter.

Events and community

From exclusive in-person dinners to global webinars, the platform provides the tools to create events your alumni want to attend. Events are where alumni relationships deepen – and where BD teams meet the people most likely to refer business.

Data and insight

Detailed search and segmentation on alumni data lets you target precise prospects. Automated campaigns with engagement reporting show which messages drive conversations and, over time, which conversations drive sales.

EnterpriseAlumni | Revenue

More for Business Development teams 

Why Have an Alumni Program?

Why Have an Alumni Program?

The former Managing Director in Citibank’s Corporate and Investment Bank shares his experiences building the company’s EMEA alumni program.

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Your Alumni Network Is Your Net Worth

Your Alumni Network Is Your Net Worth

Do companies actively recognize the value of a strong alumni network? Your employees - past, current, and future - are the core of your company's network.

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5 Ways To Use Your Corporate Alumni Community As a Strategic Business Resource

5 Ways To Use Your Corporate Alumni Community As a Strategic Business Resource

Weaving your corporate alumni community into your company strategy as a business resource represents an opportunity to bolster the business from within.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Your alumni are now sitting in buying seats at the organizations you most want to win. They already understand your capabilities, your people and how you work — which makes them the warmest route to new business you have.

A structured alumni program turns those relationships into a repeatable source of referrals, warm introductions and repeat revenue, rather than leaving them to chance and individual memory.

A platform gives your business development team live visibility of where alumni now work, who they buy from and what they are responsible for – so outreach is targeted, not speculative. It manages segmented communications, tracks engagement against commercial outcomes, and makes introductions systematic across the firm instead of dependent on any one Partner’s network.

Making your community alumni-centric is key to growing and engaging it successfully!

Offer a personalized newsfeed, exclusive perks, and actively support their careers with networking events, learning opportunities, targeted job listings, and tools to help them grow professionally.

Three layers. Visibility: a live view of where alumni now work, who they buy from, and what they are responsible for. Activity: segmented outreach, event attendance and introductions logged against accounts. Attribution: pipeline and closed-won deals tagged to alumni touchpoints, reportable alongside your other source-of-business metrics.

Alumni data complements your CRM rather than duplicating it. EnterpriseAlumni captures alumni profiles, employment updates and engagement signals – the context your BD team brings into every conversation. Integrations keep that signal flowing into the revenue tools your team already uses.

Paid outreach buys attention; alumni-led business development buys credibility. The cost to re-engage an alumnus is a fraction of a paid lead, and the conversion rate is materially higher because the relationship already exists. Customers typically track ROI through pipeline influence, close rates, and customer LTV.

We prioritize security and data privacy with a dedicated team ensuring compliance with the highest standards, including SOC 2 Type 2, CyberEssentials+, and ISO/IEC 27001. Our robust Information Security Management System (ISMS) protects your data and reinforces our commitment to unparalleled security.

A dedicated alumni community manager makes a big difference to program success. They can drive engagement, foster relationships and significantly enhance the user experience. They can also actively identify opportunities and connect your alumni with relevant resources.

Perhaps you don’t have the time or internal resource? Our Managed Services brings together the most experienced alumni managers in the industry to grow, engage and run your network for you.