Why Customer Advisory Boards are a Business Imperative Today
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The document discusses the importance and benefits of Customer Advisory Boards (CABs) for businesses, highlighting their role in guiding strategy and addressing industry challenges through collaboration. It outlines the different levels of board engagement and maturity, along with the advantages for both members and companies, including product direction and customer satisfaction. The presentation also details innovative approaches like gamification to enhance insights during advisory sessions, providing a follow-up for further training and consultations.
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Why Customer Advisory Boards are a Business Imperative Today
- 1. 1 Why Customer Advisory Boards are a Business Imperative Today February 26, 2015
- 2. 2 Today’s Speakers Gavin Nathan, VP Client Engagement, Ignite Advisory Group Extensive experience designing, managing & facilitating customer advisory boards in US, Europe, Asia. Consulted on programs at HP, Brocade, Akamai, Dell, Silicon Valley Bank, Adobe, Equifax, FICO Luke Hohmann, Founder and CEO, Conteneo and Inventor of Innovation Games® The author of three books, diverse background has prepared him to design and produce serious games. Luke’s work has been covered in Businessweek and The Financial Times. Facilitator: Rob Jensen, VP Marketing, Ignite Advisory Group Over 20 years in marketing, communications and business development leadership positions with enterprise B2B technology companies. Specialized in initiating, managing and facilitating customer and partner advisory board programs
- 3. 3 About Ignite Advisory Group World’s leading consultancy focused exclusively on helping companies manage their customer and partner advisory board programs Founded: 2007 200 engagements to date Consultants: experienced CAB practitioners from leading B2B companies Ignite Leadership Team
- 4. 4 About Conteneo Conteneo provides software and services collectively known as the Conteneo Collaboration Cloud, helping organizations build roadmaps, develop strategy, prioritize portfolios and connect with customers. Customers include Adobe, Transamerica, Yahoo! Platforms: Innovation Games, Strategy Engine & Knowsy
- 5. 5 Proven Experience: Sample Ignite & Conteneo Clients
- 6. 6 Today’s Agenda Why Customer Advisory Boards Top 5 Benefits Gathering Insights Through Collaboration & Serious Games What Next
- 7. 7 Housekeeping Slide deck & recording made available to all Questions / comments welcomed anytime • Submit via chat feature Q&A at end of webinar
- 9. 9 What is a Customer Advisory Board? Panel of leaders from customer organizations who work with host company’s senior leadership team to guide strategy and offerings, and address shared industry challenges CABs are NOT • Sales pitches • Focus groups • Boondoggles
- 10. 10 Types of Customer Advisory Managers Administrators Users
- 11. 11 CAB Stakeholders A professionally run, world-class customer or partner advisory board can address all of these challenges, and more
- 12. 12 LEVEL 1: The vendor presents 80% of the time. This is a poorly executed advisory board that has been convened without the necessary research into top of mind topics for members, in advance. The vendor is left to do all the talking due to a lack of insight into the board members’ challenges in advance. The vendor struggles to get 12 people to attend a meeting, and the members typically delegate their attendance to more junior colleagues. LEVEL 3: The board views the vendor as a partner. The partner presents 20% of the time while board members are talking 80% of the time. This represents a well-designed advisory board. The company has selected hot topics that are top of mind for members. The focus is on peer exchange and actionable insights. There is a clear sense of accountability and direction. LEVEL 2: The vendor presents 50% of the time. The board has yet to develop trust, member engagement is relatively low, board objectives are not clear and the vendor doesn’t create the platform for in-depth discussion between members and between meetings. Three Levels of CAB MaturityThree Levels of CAB Maturity…
- 13. 13 Top 10 MEMBER Benefits of Participating on Client Advisory Panels 1. Influence Host Company Product or Solutions Roadmap 2. Acquire Best Practices from Peers and Benchmark against Peers 3. Obtain Insight Into Host Company’ Strategic Initiatives 4. Opportunity to Beta Test New Products 5. Interact with Executive Management Teams 6. Improve Customer Service and Support 7. Learn About Industry Trends 8. Help Solve a Business Issue Impacting Everyone on the Panel 9. Opportunity for Thought Leadership 10.Network for Potential Personal and Professional Growth
- 14. 14 TOP 5 COMPANY BENEFITS
- 15. 15
- 16. 16 Benefit #1: Strategic Business Direction New customer segments Emerging industry trends New product/service categories Competitive opportunities Companies to merge or acquire Viable partnerships to pursue Potential reseller channels
- 17. 17 Benefit #2: Product Roadmap Direction Advisory board members are your existing buyers • Targets for new offerings Product direction • Most pressing customer challenges, pain points and needs • Specific functionality requirements desired • Gaps in the market that you can serve Beta testers and sounding boards
- 18. 18 Customer Advisory Board enabled New Product Development Process DISCOVERY Asking each CAB member to bring 3 ideas to each CAB meeting on new business problems they need solved LAUNCH Ask each member to suggest 3 companies that could use the product in their industry. Ask the CAB what marketing channels they find most effective in their industry. TESTING CAB members are ideal beta program candidates BUSINESS CASE Collect CAB member data on internal costs & time estimate to understand ROI CO-DEVELOPMENT Ask CAB members to contribute code/technical skills to development IDEA SCREEN Review & rank ideas to gain consensus on which ideas are most valuable and why… SCOPING Gather and shape requirements into mutually agreed document
- 19. 19 Benefit #3: Incremental Revenue Customers that participate in Customer Advisory Panels add more value: According to Ignite AG research (n=85) B2B companies that have active and successful Customer Advisory Panels enjoy: • A retention rate of 95% among program participants • 9% increase in new business, starting in year 2 Continue Purchasing 18% Willing to Recommend 24% Overall Satisfaction Rating 25%
- 20. 20 Benefit #4: Engender Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty Bringing members into your company’s “inner circle” you are transforming them into even bigger raving fans Become professionally and emotionally invested in your success, and their enthusiasm and passion tends to permeate their immediate team and beyond Group of highly loyal customers who have a vested interest in sticking around – and not defecting to your competition. Members will likely refer other prospects to you
- 21. 21 Benefit #5: Marketing Platform Nurture influential clients into advocates and references Create & publish joint research, examples: • Benchmarks • Dashboards • Case studies • White Papers • Best Practices Guides • Letter to industry regulators
- 23. 23 ‘Gamification’ of Advisory Board sessions = Need to get Higher Quality Insights Faster!!! Problem: “We are not hearing anything new from our advisory board members” Problem: “How do we make it easy for our members to share critical feedback?”
- 24. 24 Collaborative Serious Games Innovative approach to engaging executives in meaningful discovery dialogue Research shows that people are hard-wired to express themselves and interact with each other through games Engaging your advisory board members through Innovation Games delivers deeper, more actionable insight than is available through those stodgy brainstorming sessions, online surveys, focus groups or other tools. Playing Innovation Games helps you: • Understand your customers needs • Make better product & strategy decisions • Improve the effectiveness of sales and services • Identify the most effective marketing messages and sellable features • Uncover breakthrough opportunities
- 25. 25 Collaborative Serious Games Innovation Games Online – collaborate with your CAB members before your in-person event as a way to engage around key topics Use online games as a way to continue the conversation with members post-event and in-between events.
- 26. 26 NEXT STEPS
- 27. 27 Follow-Up Webinar! HOW to Run Customer Advisory Boards: Top 10 Tips for Creating a World-Class CAB Program When: April 2; 9:00 AM PST / 12:00 noon EST HOW TO: • Design a board – target members, goals, topics • Effectively recruit members • Build a advisory board charter document • Onboard members – discovery interviews on top-of-mind topics • Build a meeting agenda • Sustain board momentum between calls and meetings Watch for follow-up eMail to register
- 28. 28 CAB Manager Training June 16-17, San Jose Successfully design, manage and optimize a world-class customer or partner advisory board Industry’s only CAB Manager training curriculum Guest speaker: David Coates, Iron Mountain Registration: http://igniteag.com/CustomerAdvisoryBoard/ManagerTraining.aspx
- 29. 29 Special Offer for Webinar Participants! FREE 30 Minute Consultation With experienced Ignite CAB Professional Discuss • Your current CAB program or needs • Immediate suggestions for improvement • Next steps to begin maximizing benefits Register: http://info.igniteag.com/schedule- consultation-with-ignite-advisory-group
- 30. 30 Special Offer for Webinar Participants! 2 Months Free Innovation Games Online with Training Register for an online class: http://www.innovationgames.com/training/upco ming-courses/ and use Code CAB15 Get your license: https://innovationgames.com/user_mgt/sign_up and use Discount Code: CAB15
- 31. 31 Q & A
- 32. 32 Thank You!