Recently a client asked, “What are some common mistakes that vendors make when running partner or customer advisory boards?” They wanted to improve their advisory board experience and were looking for tactical help. Amy Bills and I collaborated to produce a list of common operational missteps, grouped into three categories. Advisory board programs fall short when B2B marketers:
Skimp On Planning
- Neglect to agree upon a specific purpose for the advisory board; to give it a specific goal to accomplish.
- Fail to build a business case or secure resources to support an ongoing program.
- Omit setting expectations and rules from the outset (such as only one member from an account or no substitutes, please!)
- Overlook ways to secure an upfront commitment from the customer to attend regularly and participate fully.
- Don’t anticipate logistical issues (such as travel issues, trying to accommodate different time zones, etc.).
- Fail to engage an executive sponsor who can elevate the board’s visibility and remove roadblocks.
Assume The Meeting Will Run Itself
7. Neglect to appoint a neutral facilitator who can maintain an open, accepting forum to share ideas and concerns.
8. Emphasize the in-person meeting hospitality more than the agenda and outcomes.
9. Ask executives and operational attendees to participate on the same board.
10. Cover too broad a range of topics or allow the attendees to dictate too much of the agenda.
11. Allow account executives/managers to insist on being in the room with attendees for their accounts. Conversely, they leave customer success managers out of the loop on topics account attendees discuss.
Neglect The Attendee Experience
12. Fail to facilitate networking and relationship-building between attendees.
13. Equate in-person activity with strengthening a relationship and then fail to build on the relationship changes the board fosters.
14. Lack follow-up on action items taken during meetings or on showing specific progress from advisory board recommendations.
15. Overlook ways to keep attendees involved pre- and post-meeting (such as dedicated community, Slack channels, online mini-CABs, etc.)
Raise your hand if you have you been “guilty as charged” for any of these practices when planning or managing an advisory board.
Advisory Boards Can Flounder Even When You Address These Mistakes
This list – and more advice we could have added (subscription required) – overlooks the key reasons why customer/partner advisory boards often deliver less-than-valuable results:
- B2B marketers fail to design advisory boards as part of an overall customer advocacy program. Advisory participation should be a reward or something that customers aspire to join. Too often advisory boards become standalone activities — as do reference programs, peer reviews, speaker bureaus, and so on — that lack a connection across the different participation opportunities. Even if you are not yet ready for a customer advocacy program, ensuring individual programs work toward common objectives makes integrating them into a holistic program easier down the road.
- B2B marketers fail to make enhancing the customer’s experience the foremost goal. Customers must FIRST get value from the advisory activity. Achieving your goals as a vendor (such as gathering feedback, helping make decisions, building relationships, etc.) should rank second in priority. When asked for advice about advisory boards, we always start with the question “What’s the value FOR the customer should they join this board? What’s in it for them?” Answering these questions requires knowing two things: 1) How do attendees perceive value and 2) What motivates different people to participate as advocates according to their preferences?
Customer Advisory Boards Create Unique Symbolic Value
Forrester defines “value for customers” as a customer’s perception of what they get versus give up as they pursue a goal. People perceive value across four dimensions: functional, economic, experiential, and symbolic. While offering much experiential value, advisory boards uniquely create symbolic value — but only when marketers concentrate on creating a relevant, exclusive, appreciative, and personalized experience.
Successful advisory boards should sit at the pinnacle of the advocate customer’s experience (subscription required). Customers who have yet to share their knowledge, experiences, and advice are not great candidates for advisory board participation. Earning a seat on an advisory board should be a reward, not an incentive for renewing or expanding a contract.
Match Advocate Personalities To Advisory Board Purpose
Individuals have natural tendencies to participate in different ways. Forrester refers to this as their advocate personality. Advisory boards that focus on sharing experiences and best practices appeal to the Educator personality. Boards appeal to the Validator personality that wants to contribute to product roadmaps or have exclusive access to the product designers. A Status Seeker profile will want to participate on advisory boards with a high PR quotient — where participation helps them to network, find new ways to enhance their career, or boost their personal brand. Executives are often Collaborators who are attracted to advisory boards where they get to shape an industry direction more as well as a vendor’s future.
After you answer the two key questions about your desired attendees, then it’s time to establish a specific purpose for the advisory board, the program scope, and a timeframe for accomplishing that purpose. Before planning the first engagement, determine exactly how you will measure that the purpose and objectives were achieved. SMART goals that address the different levels of the Metrics Spectrum are the best type to apply here.
Customer advisory boards are an essential program for both growing and mature companies. Interested in taking your board to the next level? Reach out to your Forrester account manager or CSM who can set up a guidance session or inquiry with me or Amy for further help.
