Hello.
I am very excited to start this blog. One of my favorite things is talking business with anyone interested in listening, so this blog will provide a great opportunity for me to do that with people I know and people I look forward to getting to know.
As an Account Manager at Geehan Group, I am privileged to participate in meetings where executive relationships are formed with key customers, consistently leading to tremendous results in regard to strategic direction for our clients. It's a very rewarding process to participate in, and I look forward to sharing some input from our clients on how valuable it is for them.
I hope that if you have an interest in discussing customer retention, marketing ROI, executive relationships or any other topic related to accelerating sales through customer initiatives, you will become an active participant in our Geehan Group blogs.
~ Betsy
As excited as I get when we start working with a new client on a Customer Advisory Council, Executive Sponsor Program or Executive Summit, I must admit that even more, I love the long-term relationships we have established. And to add to that, I
REALLY get pumped when I see the results of a long-term plan successfully play out.
One of my clients has literally done things by the book (and by "book" I mean
The B2B Executive Playbook by Sean Geehan). This particular organization has successfully implemented global Customer Advisory Counicls that are second to none and which have resulted in market alignment that has them emerging as an industry leader in an industry undergoing major transformation.
After the foundation of their customer engagement program was solidified via their Councils, they then began a series of Summits, leveraging some of their customer advocates through relationships which were built through the Councils. These customers not only agreed to,
but actually
volunteered to speak on behalf of our client at industry functions and educational forums. Their circle of influencers has grown significantly as a result of these customer engagement initiatives.
In this day of layoffs, reduced budgets and travel allotments that have all but been eliminated, I find this next comment to be phenomenal. The Summit they are conducting as we speak is
SOLD OUT! Industry leaders from all over the United States have gathered in California to hear what our client and their customers have to say, and they actually had to cut off the attendance more than a week prior to the event.
It's often tempting to look at customer engagement initiatives as one-off events rather than a roadmap to long-term success for sustainable growth. But for those companies which take a long-term, strategic approach, and then facilitate the engagement of their senior leaders with the senior leaders of their top customers, the rewards can be exponential with each passing year.
So every now and then, I like to mix it up a bit. Rather than writing another blog post in my traditional format, I thought I would offer up a bit of Christmas cheer via the sounds of the holidays. You will need to work with me a bit, however. Since our blog comes to you sans sound, you will have to let the lyrics to "
Let it Snow" dance through your head as you read the "customer-focused version" as presented by yours truly.
"Oh, the market is ever changing,
And the players are re-arranging.
Deciding which way to go . . .
Let us know, let us know, let us know."
"We're the ones you should be trusting,
It's the difference 'tween boom or busting.
We're always your friend not foe,
Let us know, let us know, let us know."
"We're on our way to innovate,
We need to hear what you have to say.
With your comments and clear insight,
There's no doubt we'll be getting it right."
"So thank you for being honest,
As year-end is quickly upon us.
We value your input so,
Let us know, let us know, let us know."
I wish everyone a safe and joyous Christmas season,
Betsy
I couldn't be more excited about the customer advisory board meeting I am about to attend!
Over the last few years, I have helped to deliver over 25 Customer Advisory Boards. While they have all been great and offered a lot of value to the executive teams and their respective board members, I have a funny feeling that this one will do that and then a little bit more.
This one will be unique in its format. This one will take advantage of emerging technology that will ultimately lead everyone to a better understanding of the generation known as "The Millennials." This one will leverage customer advocates in new and exciting ways. This one will take people out of their comfort zones. This one will change the way people are asked to think.
At Geehan Group we take great pride in having a tried and true methodology for delivering world-class advisory board meetings. The formula for success is an established Customer Advisory Board process that includes injecting creative and innovative ways to dig deep into areas such as collaboration, business models and distribution. For example:
- We generally ask members to report back any significant insights gained through small (breakout) group discussions. Rather than reading back a few key highlights off flip chart notes, this time members will be given video cameras to record their report backs. These videos will then be uploaded to YouTube and viewed by the group via the host organization's YouTube channel.
- Alumni members (having previously served roughly three years on the board) have been invited back to present to their peers as well as to facilitate breakout discussions. Can you imagine the benefit of that for the host organization? Here you have customers offering to take three days out of their schedules to help the host organization gain deeper strategic insights from their peers. Not only does it solidify the relationship with the alums, but think about the message it sends to new and existing members of the board.
- Members will be given hand-held keypads on which they can engage in real-time voting exercises. Through the magic of a PowerPoint plug in, polls will be presented and members will instantly see the results as they and their fellow members answer questions regarding their challenges, their opportunities, their visions for the future, etc. It will be very interactive, dynamic, time-efficient and insightful.
- Industry experts will be brought in to give perspective and third-party insight (remember, CABs are not sales events) with regard to session topics that have long-term impacts for the host organization as well as the member participants.
- And finally, members will have the opportunity to work with the host organization on a philanthropic activity. There's not a lot to add here - it's just a good thing to do.
So as you can see, this will be a meeting that will meet the overall customer engagement objectives in a way that will be exciting, cutting-edge and fun.
No smoke-filled, windowless board room boredom for this gang; only the opportunity to engage the customer in a way that will pay big dividends well into the future.
I recently attended an advisory board meeting in an observational capacity. What I saw was not only unfortunate, it was downright dangerous.
To provide context to this story, allow me to provide a bit of historical information. This board has been together for five years. New members have been added throughout the years, and they have become solid contributors. Meeting after meeting, the feedback has always been that these meetings are productive, fun, insightful and valuable to both the host team as well as the members who have agreed to take three days out of the schedules to attend. However, due to a change in the process of planning and managing these meetings, the positive feedback came to a screeching halt.
Although there were a lot of issues brought to the forefront as a result of member feedback, the most notable, and by far the most dangerous, was the fact that the members felt that their time had been wasted.
But even more important was that members felt the relevance of the discussions was not up to par, with one member even commenting that perhaps this meeting was his "swan song," and that he was only invited as a matter of politely sending him on his way (which by the way, could not have been further from the intent). Another member commented that he felt the meeting didn't really start until the end of the first full day, as the opening sessions were more "rah rah" and resulted in a feeling of "being sold to." This, combined with the fact that no agenda was provided in advance, had members commenting that the conversations had evolved to more of a User Group or Focus Group level rather than that of strategic advisory level.
These are advisers, giving up precious time and coming to the meeting to make a valuable contribution, not to get good meals and a luxury hotel. Counting on them to provide strategic market insight is key to moving an organization forward, and missing the mark on this opportunity not only stings for the moment, it can cause long-term ill will and a reluctance to engage further. Add to that, some members may have left with less confidence in an organization that lacked the ability to successfully engage them at a strategic level, especially when the bar had previously been set extremely high.
Bottom line: Never underestimate the importance of putting in the time and resources up front to assure that your executive engagement is meaningful and relevant to ALL those in attendance.
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