organizations—in a vacuum. Companies in all industries can fall into the trap of evaluating themselves based on often hollow, purely internal information, like a SWOT analysis, which can lead to inaccurate planning.
When it comes to understanding the impact of your product or service, the answers lie in curious, courageous discussions with external stakeholders that start with a willingness to be uncomfortable. As leaders, we know that the most effective strategy for sustainable growth is opening the channels of communication with your customers—setting a standard for open, honest, clear feedback and insight into the impact of your offering.
Enter customer advisory boards . CABs are a tool for companies to deepen their understanding of customer needs and align their strategies accordingly. They’re imperative to allowing businesses to receive feedback from customers about how to improve the customer experience and the overall products or services. CABs offer organizations a chance to relationship-build on a deeper level without the hard sell, opening the door for closer alignment with decision makers and end users.
Effective CABs that extract true value and perspective are consistent, relatively brief and comprised of customers in varying functions . Meetings should be conducted approximately twice a year, in person if possible, and completed in one day or less to not only respect everyone’s time but also allow for focus and action., there was a"52% increase globally in organizations utilizing advisory boards as part of their governance structure" between 2019 and 2021.