Within the last couple of weeks, I’ve seen a few LinkedIn discussions about customer reference programs and they got me thinking. I know from previous research by the Geehan Group that 94% of executives who participate on advisory boards are willing to recommend their hosts to peers, but I wonder if our clients, or others who utilize Advisory Boards, are really leveraging that willingness. Are you?

It seems to me, that you’re nuts if you aren’t! After all, customers selling and/or bringing other customers up to their same perceptions are two of the most powerful sales tools available. And yes, I believe your Advisory Board members are likely to do this better than your other customers! Here’s why.

Three years ago, at the conclusion of my client’s inaugural Advisory Board meeting, we asked members if their meeting experience had impacted their perception of their host, and; if it had, how? Seven of the ten members present (70%) said their experience had a positive impact on their perception of their host. Four of them offered the following commentary (which is pretty typical), and the other three said their perceptions hadn’t changed; they already knew how great they were!

• Yes, they really seem to care about what their customers think and want.
• Yes, their business depth gives me confidence in their abilities.
• Yes, they are driven to provide practical solutions much more than I suspected.
• Yes, it’s good to see they want to reach a deeper understanding of my company.

Now remember, the executives who offered these comments were hand-picked to serve on the Advisory Board. They were already top customers and 70% of them left their first Advisory Board meeting with a more positive perception of their host! Today, each of these customers is willing to help their host beyond their participation on the Advisory Board. 90% are willing to serve as a reference. 80% are willing to participate in a case study. Others are willing to serve as panelists, write articles and white papers, and speak on my client’s behalf. A couple of them said they would do “anything” they were asked!

So I ask you. Will these customers make better references? I can almost guarantee it! Is my client leveraging their willingness to help? I certainly hope so!

Let’s face it. Spending time with customers strengthens relationships and strong relationships lead to loyalty. And there’s no better way to add value to the time you spend with your clients than during an Advisory Board meeting. 

An article by Andrew Sobel, Value for Time, recently came across my computer screen. In it, he points out that for customers, value can be seen in both giving and getting something in return for their time. He goes on to list ten ways you can increase the value of time spent with clients. I see it as the yin-yang of customer relationships!

What struck me is that nearly every suggestion can be done during an Advisory Board meeting. And better yet, it can be done with your top 15-20 clients all at the same time!

1.  Conduct a pre-meeting survey. Allow members to provide you with their most important issues and priorities, then include them on the meeting agenda.

2.  In the opening session, ask members the following questions:  “What key initiatives are you working on?” or “What’s top-of-mind?” or “What are you losing sleep over?” Acknowledge that priorities change and allow them to vent for a moment.

3,  Make a list of non-agenda topics that members want to talk about. If time allows conduct a “hot topic” brainstorming session at the end of the day.

4.  Pique their interest early on. Share what’s keeping you up at night and/or include a strategic/industry update from your CEO. Give them something concrete to take back to their own organizations. 

5.  Share a secret or something new that hasn’t yet been announced to the general public. Reward them for meeting with you.

6.  Stretch their thinking and ask a thought-provoking question about the industry. Allow them to give you their perspectives and make an impact to your organization.

7.  Make a personal connection with each member during refreshment breaks and meal events.

8.  Discuss a common problem in an open forum. Allow members to share their own best practices whether or not it pertains to you!

9.  Provide members with a pre-meeting reading assignment so they are prepared for discussions. Allow them to learn something new too. 

10. Focus on client needs, not your own agenda during the meeting. Remember, it’s not about you. It’s all about them!

Relationships of any kind are all about the give and take, the yin and the yang. We feel valued when we are able to give a little of ourselves, our time and our perspectives to help someone else. And that value increases exponentially when we get something in return.

Is Sustainability Gaining Momentum in Your Industry? 

Last month Harvard Business Review (HBR) and McKinsey Quarterly both published substantial articles on sustainability. McKinsey’s, The Business of Sustainability: McKinsey Global Survey results, shares highlights of the results from their recent survey that explored how and why companies are addressing sustainability today and over the next five years. HBR’s , The Big Idea:  The Sustainable Economy suggests that with developments in three areas, it is inevitable that “successful business will become synonymous with sustainable business.” It appears that it is no longer of question of if, but when.

Do you know the answer? My client didn’t, so they took the question to their Advisory Board members to find out! 

My client knew their industry was being impacted by environmental concerns. They knew some regulations were already in place and that some companies were already operating with some type of environmental policy. They knew they needed to stay ahead of their customers, but what they didn’t know was how far ahead they needed to be. They did not know what their own top customers (their Advisory Board members) were thinking in regard to sustainability. Was it a strategic initiative for the current year or have they not yet begun thinking about it? Where are they in writing policies? Where are they in implementing initiatives? How are their policies impacting procurement?

My client wanted to understand just how quickly they needed to make sustainability a strategic initiative within their own organization. If their customers were moving “full-steam ahead,” perhaps they need all hands on-deck to move forward as quickly as possible. If their customers had plans to include it in their RFPs next year, my client needs to be ready to respond. If their customers are already evaluating vendors based on their carbon footprint, perhaps my client needs to promote themselves differently. And what about marketing? Are their customers aware of their efforts to improve energy productivity? Are they aware of their recent awards?  Could their own initiatives be a differentiator? If so, perhaps my client needs to enhance their marketing strategies to include an emphasis on sustainability.

My client got some answers that day. They learned what their top customers were thinking and doing about sustainability. They learned that their customers are in various implementation stages and that some regions of the globe are moving much more slowly than others. They learned that their own initiatives could be a differentiator and that their own strategies need to be somewhat revised. More importantly, they learned just how far ahead of their customers they need to be!  

So I ask you… are HBR and McKinsey right? Assuming they are, just how soon will “successful business become synonymous with sustainable business?” How quickly are your customers moving in that direction? If you don’t know, you need to be asking!

Earlier this year, Booz & Co. published the results from their web-based survey of over 1800 global executives (Coherence Profiler Results Summary) on the topics of strategy development, decision making and priority setting, capabilities, growth, and cost cutting. In subsequent blogs, one of which I referenced in a previous blog on Strategic Planning, co-authors of the study, Paul Leinwand and Cesare Mainardi, discussed some of the more interesting and thought-provoking issues they discovered. 

One such blog, Stop Chasing Too Many Priorities really struck home with me. In it, they highlighted a couple of their discoveries… that most executives (64%) report they have too many conflicting priorities and that respondents from firms with fewer firm-wide strategic priorities report higher revenue growth. They go on in their blog to say:  

The real question executives should be asking is:

"How can I get focused on the right initiatives for my company?”

The answer:

Seek input from your Advisory Board members.

Let them prioritize your initiatives so you can focus on the right ones!

At a recent Customer Advisory Board meeting, my client did just that.  At the time of the meeting, they were in the midst of their strategic planning process. They had completed their market research and industry analysis, and identified a significant number of potential initiatives. They knew they had the capabilities to do each of them well and that each had the potential to help increase revenues and help them grow. They believed they were all viable options.

Fortunately, they also knew they had way too many initiatives to pursue and that sufficient resources simply could not be allocated in so many different ways!  They decided to seek guidance from their Advisory Board. They shared their research and highlights of the initiatives they were considering. They then asked the following questions:

• Which solutions provide the most value to your organization?
• Which solutions are you most likely to buy?
• In which solutions should we invest?

My client learned a lot from their customers that day. They learned what was important to them. They learned what they would be willing to pay for. They learned what to pursue and what not to waste their money on. They learned that just because they could pursue lots of different things, doesn’t mean they should because their customers may not buy them!  And most importantly for their longer-term growth, they learned which initiatives to focus on!