Page 2 - Organizational Planning

Beyond NPS: Ways to Elevate Customer Relationships

Tuesday, July 27, 2010 by Kelly Jones

When clients come to us asking how to take their customer relationship programs to the next level they are typically asking how they can increase the level of relationship within the account. In other words, how do they move from vendor-type relationships with procurement to C-suite trusted partner status?

The answer: Customer Advisory Councils and Executive Sponsor Programs.

A Customer Advisory Council is the first step in our B2B playbook. This forum of 20-30 decision makers represents your best accounts. A typical program includes facilitated, face-to-face discussions twice per year with sustaining activities, such as subcommittees, between meetings to keep members engaged.

Unlike other marketing activities that are focused on lead generation or measurement, Customer Advisory Councils are solely focused on building relationships and generating the market insight necessary to keep your business ahead of the curve.

Clients who have implemented Councils have seen, on average:

6% increase in customer retention
22% increase in new sales
10 additional customer references

The second tool is an Executive Sponsor Program (ESP). This formal approach to one-on-one relationships is best implemented following a Customer Advisory Council.

An ESP aligns an executive within your company with an executive in the customer account. The program exists outside of the sales cycle and outside of any particular deal or transaction. The intention is, over time, to create interdependency.

In interdependency, you become co-creators with your customers. Together, you and your customer create something that neither of you could do on your own. You become part of your customer’s long-term strategy.

Used in tandem, Customer Advisory Councils and Executive Sponsor Programs strengthen customer relationships and create sustainable, predictable, profitable growth. In doing so, they require the commitment and resourcing of any major corporate initiative.

So, if you truly want to take your customer relationships to the next level, start with a Customer Advisory Council. Integrate the insights gained from the Council into your organizational planning process. As your company becomes more market focused, move to programs like ESP. Along the way, use your referral process and NPS programs to gauge how well you are moving the needle.

Are You on Track to Meet Your 2010 Sales Goals?

Monday, July 12, 2010 by Karen Penney

For those of us on a January-December fiscal year, Q3 is NOW – and it is the time when we are very aware of exactly where we stand for meeting our year-end sales goals. If you're concerned about reaching your goal, you might want to consider forming a Customer Advisory Council (CAC).

Over my six years with Geehan Group, I’ve worked with many CACs. I've seen our clients bring together decision makers from their top customers ... and it's a powerful thing! Listening to what those customers have to say is even more powerful, and I’ve witnessed the incredible insights uncovered as well as the positive benefits as a result of our client taking action based on their customers' feedback.

Learning from Your Top Customers
What happens when you engage key customer decision makers directly with the leadership team? You gain an intimate understanding of their needs, aspirations, and the direction of the market. Those learnings then become the foundation from which your strategy, planning, marketing, innovation, acquisitions, sales and service will be designed, executed, and altered to maximize organizational success.

Your leadership team listens as your customers discuss their biggest issues, challenges, aspirations and priorities. You learn how they think, how they manage, lead, and make key decisions; how their environment is changing, and what they are doing to address it. You have the opportunity to understand their world through the eyes of the decision makers who will ultimately decide how their resources and dollars will be allocated.

Driving Predictable, Sustainable, Profitable Growth
All of this gives you an edge … an edge your competitors don’t have. Your strategic direction is guided by those top customers - and they see the value of their role on the Council. Their feedback becomes instrumental in both business and product planning. They become personally and emotionally invested in your success; they become advocates for you in the market. In addition, they help identify new prospects, drive market awareness, accelerate sales cycles and close deals.

By listening and investi

ng resources in areas that are viable and important to the decision makers of your most important customers and markets, you will consistently drive your firm’s revenue. It will also cut out the time, energy and money investing where there is little or no business value.

If you’re not currently gaining the insight from your top customers through a Customer Advisory Council, perhaps now is the time to take action. Engaging your top customers will drive revenue for your company – I’ve witnessed the results firsthand! Make the last two quarters of this year a success – build a powerful link to your customers and ensure you meet – or better yet, exceed – your year-end sales goals!

The Executive Sponsor Program - What it is

Thursday, January 29, 2009 by Misty Strawser

An Executive Sponsor Program (ESP) is designed to leverage customer relationships to penetrate accounts and retain clients. Executives are assigned to specific accounts, setting the stage for further development of the relationship. Essentially, these account "sponsors," assume responsibility for listening to their customer and striving to become their strategic service and solution partner.

The ESP provides opportunities for executives to meet one-on-one with their customers. These meetings focus on customer-specific issues, challenges and opportunities, and allow for the identification of service and operational improvements, all of which drive customer retention and loyalty. Through round-table discussions, industry trends are explored and organizational priorities and opportunities are discovered. This focused dialogue allows for collaborative thinking, which helps to guide the prioritization of corporate strategies.

ESPs that are well-planned and facilitated are valuable tools for account retention and development of executive relationships that drive customer loyalty.

~ Misty

Meet Rob Urbanowicz, the journey to enable customer driven strategies

Saturday, January 17, 2009 by Rob Urbanowicz

Let me introduce myself. I’m Rob Urbanowicz, a principal with the Geehan Group, joining in 2006. I’ve spent my career working with clients and focused on customer relationship management: developing CRM strategies, implementing supporting technologies, managing organizational change in sales and marketing, and now, in the most intimate environment and highest level service a consultant can deliver, working directly with the strategic customers of our clients, some of the best known companies in the world.

Here at the Geehan Group, our team delivers the strategies, plans, programs, environments and events that enable leading companies to extend their relationships with customers, increasing revenues, building customer loyalty and developing market driven strategies. We deliver customer advisory boards, customer advisory councils, executive sponsor programs, major account programs, executive summits, customer program planning, and other strategies that enable customer relationships.

Early in my career, working on an account project for Deloitte & Touche, I realized the only way to sell more services was to know your clients by keeping on top of their outbound market communications and leverage opportunities to develop customer relationships by connecting with decision makers and talking about their business challenges. I’m passionate about helping clients achieve success with their customers, and personally, I'm looking forward to my continued journey transforming businesses to become more focused on their customers.

- Rob Urbanowicz