The New World of Customer Advisory Programs

by Sherri Dorfman

Published on October 10, 2006

Tags: Collaboration, Customer Advisory Programs, Customer Engagement, Segmentation

Over the past few years, companies of all sizes and across all industries have put a Customer Advisory Program into place with a defined process for gathering and evaluating customer insight and injecting that insight into their business strategies.

While these companies are putting their voice-of-the-customer infrastructure into place, other customer-centric organizations are building on existing programs to support changes in their businesses. These more mature customer focused organizations are now reevaluating their Customer Advisory Programs and identifying program extensions that will take them into desired new directions.

Customer Advisory Program Changes

Most companies begin offering an Advisory Program with a small group of customers in focus-group-like meetings, usually with the same set of customers each time. As their business and competitive landscapes change, the more forward-thinking companies change their Advisory Program by creating new councils focused on priority customer segments and expanding their program to encompass additional selected participants and research activities.

Key changes:

New Councils

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Sherri Dorfman is the CEO of Stepping Stone Partners (www.stepping-stone.net).

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