• Done right, an Advisory Board is synonymous with continuous improvement and can be transformational.
• An Advisory Board implies that change is about to happen. After all, that’s why you are investing in it! You see the need for change (a new direction, increased sales, improved relationships, etc.) and realize that your customers can provide you with the guidance you need to make it happen.
• Stakeholders inherently resist change, so communicate progress early and often.
• Culture impacts an organization’s ability to change, so build a tolerance for ongoing change into your corporate strategy. 
• Change doesn’t just happen overnight. It takes time and requires a certain set of skills, so designate a change agent/architect to manage the process.    

Have you ever experienced a “moment of fame” when everything you need for your business to succeed comes together perfectly?   It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it’s “golden!” 
What if you were able to take those “moments of fame” and make them a consistent practice within your organization?  Customer Engagement Programs provide the opportunity to do just that.

Recently, my client experienced one of those moments.  After conducting an Advisory Council meeting with the decision makers of his most strategic customers, he gained invaluable insight into the market, learning what his customers need, and what they are looking for from his organization.

As a member of the executive team, he walked into a strategic planning meeting with the CEO and his peers, armed with information no one else had—even better, it was validated by his most strategic customers:

• Sunset a core product in mid-term development – a savings of $8 dollars in future development, marketing, sales, and service, not to mention resources that can be devoted to high impact products.
• Eliminate a new solution from the product roadmap – a total savings of $3 dollars, six months in development and valuable resources.
• Get positioned to make an acquisition – of an innovative services company.

Gaining insight from your top customers provides a tremendous amount of confidence to participate in your organization’s planning process.  Sharing this information among the leadership team was a “moment of fame” for my client.  His CEO responded, “I’m so impressed by your knowledge this early in our planning process.  You are months ahead of your peers.”

When it comes to internal planning make no mistake—you are competing with your peers for resources and dollars to make the best decisions for the organization.  As you prepare for 2012, part of your plan should include gaining market insight at a decision maker level with your most strategic customers. 

In Sean Geehan’s book, The B2B Executive Playbook, he explains in detail how the market can provide insight, and help validate the following four areas (see diagram below):

• Your “Exploit Solutions” – those areas that align to your business model and for which you have a core competency – in other words, what you do well.
• Where you should “Evolve” – the market is telling you they want something that is in your core competency, but it is not part of your business model today. 
• What you should “Acquire” – the market is telling you they want something that would fit into your business model, but you don’t have a core competency for it.  This is an opportunity to gain additional insight for potential companies to acquire.
• Areas to “Evaluate” – this is something that is part of your business model and it is a core competency, but the market is not willing or interested in buying it.  This is an area you should look to eliminate or sunset the solution or product.

Validate Your Plan with Your Most Important Customers

My client learned that the best way to capture the areas outlined above was through his Advisory Council.  The value of a well-managed Advisory Council is that they can help you capture strategy, marketing, sales, service, product, and merger/acquisition information all at the same time.   

At their inaugural Council meeting, members were presented three specific initiatives for feedback.  The first was a legacy product they had for years—a “me too” in the market. The second was a new product they were getting pressure from sales to develop.  And finally, the third was to look at potential acquisition targets that would fit their business model, but for which they did not currently have a core competency.

The result of the feedback is what my client shared with his leadership team outlined in the beginning of this article.  And it saved his company over $10 million … all from listening to his customers.

Make 2012 a great year by seizing your Golden Opportunity.  Engage the decision makers of your most strategic customers to gain valuable market insight to help drive your strategic planning.

1. The opportunity for Sean to present the principles of his new book, The B2B Executive Playbook
2. The chance to witness one of our customers receive the ITSMA Diamond Award for Marketing Excellence in the category of Building Client Loyalty and Trust.

B2B companies require a different playbook than their B2C counterparts. Please join Sean Geehan, Author of The B2B Executive Playbook and Anubhav Saxena, HCL Technologies in the upcoming Norcal BMA session November 30, 2011. As a recognized expert in B2B leadership, Sean will discuss executive programs that explore innovative ideas to drive business transformation and growth in the B2B environment.

• Increase Marketing’s credibility among Leadership teams
• Align organizations to the market
• Engage companies’ most valuable customers, and generate powerful results through sales and marketing collaboration