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Why Customer Advisory

Boards are a Business

Imperative Today

February 26, 2015

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Today’s Speakers

Gavin Nathan, VP Client Engagement, Ignite Advisory Group

Extensive experience designing, managing & facilitating customer

advisory boards in US, Europe, Asia.

Consulted on programs at HP, Brocade, Akamai, Dell, Silicon Valley

Bank, Adobe, Equifax, FICO

Luke Hohmann, Founder and CEO, Conteneo and Inventor of

Innovation Games®

The author of three books, diverse background has prepared him to

design and produce serious games.

Luke’s work has been covered in Businessweek and The Financial

Times.

Facilitator: Rob Jensen, VP Marketing, Ignite Advisory Group

Over 20 years in marketing, communications and business

development leadership positions with enterprise B2B technology

companies.

Specialized in initiating, managing and facilitating customer and

partner advisory board programs

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About Ignite Advisory Group

World’s leading consultancy focused exclusively on helping

companies manage their customer and partner advisory board

programs

Founded: 2007

200 engagements to date

Consultants: experienced CAB practitioners from leading B2B

companies

Ignite Leadership Team

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About Conteneo

Conteneo provides software and services collectively known as

the Conteneo Collaboration Cloud, helping organizations build

roadmaps, develop strategy, prioritize portfolios and connect

with customers.

Customers include Adobe, Transamerica, Yahoo!

Platforms: Innovation Games, Strategy Engine & Knowsy

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Proven Experience: Sample Ignite & Conteneo Clients

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Today’s Agenda

Why Customer Advisory Boards

Top 5 Benefits

Gathering Insights Through Collaboration &

Serious Games

What Next

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Housekeeping

Slide deck & recording made

available to all

Questions / comments

welcomed anytime

• Submit via chat feature

Q&A at end of webinar

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WHY CUSTOMER ADVISORY

BOARDS

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What is a Customer Advisory Board?

Panel of leaders from

customer organizations who

work with host company’s

senior leadership team to

guide strategy and offerings,

and address shared industry

challenges

CABs are NOT• Sales pitches

• Focus groups

• Boondoggles

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Types of Customer Advisory

Managers

Administrators

Users

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CAB Stakeholders

A professionally run, world-class customer or partner advisory

board can address all of these challenges, and more

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LEVEL 1: The vendor presents 80% of the time. This is a poorly executed advisory board that has been convened without the necessary research into top of mind topics for members, in advance. The vendor is left to do all the talking due to a lack of insight into the board members’ challenges in advance. The vendor struggles to get 12 people to attend a meeting, and the members typically delegate their attendance to more junior colleagues.

LEVEL 3: The board views the vendor as a partner. The partner presents 20% of the time while board members are talking 80% of the time. This represents a well-designed advisory board. The company has selected hot topics that are top of mind for members. The focus is on peer exchange and actionable insights. There is a clear sense of accountability and direction.

LEVEL 2: The vendor presents 50% of the time. The board has yet to develop trust, member engagement is relatively low, board objectives are not clear and the vendor doesn’t create the platform for in-depth discussion between members and between meetings.

Three Levels of CAB MaturityThree Levels of CAB Maturity…

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Top 10 MEMBER Benefits of Participating on

Client Advisory Panels

1. Influence Host Company Product or Solutions Roadmap

2. Acquire Best Practices from Peers and Benchmark against Peers

3. Obtain Insight Into Host Company’ Strategic Initiatives

4. Opportunity to Beta Test New Products

5. Interact with Executive Management Teams

6. Improve Customer Service and Support

7. Learn About Industry Trends

8. Help Solve a Business Issue Impacting Everyone on the Panel

9. Opportunity for Thought Leadership

10.Network for Potential Personal and Professional Growth

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TOP 5 COMPANY BENEFITS

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Benefit #1: Strategic Business Direction

New customer segments

Emerging industry trends

New product/service categories

Competitive opportunities

Companies to merge or acquire

Viable partnerships to pursue

Potential reseller channels

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Benefit #2: Product Roadmap Direction

Advisory board members are

your existing buyers

• Targets for new offerings

Product direction

• Most pressing customer

challenges, pain points and needs

• Specific functionality requirements

desired

• Gaps in the market that you can

serve

Beta testers and sounding

boards

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Customer Advisory Board enabled New Product

Development Process

DISCOVERY

Asking each CAB

member to bring 3

ideas to each CAB

meeting on new

business problems

they need solved

LAUNCH

Ask each member to

suggest 3 companies

that could use the

product in their industry.

Ask the CAB what

marketing channels they

find most effective in

their industry.

TESTING

CAB members are

ideal beta program

candidates

BUSINESS CASE

Collect CAB member

data on internal costs

& time estimate to

understand ROI

CO-DEVELOPMENT

Ask CAB members to

contribute

code/technical skills

to development

IDEA SCREEN

Review & rank ideas

to gain consensus on

which ideas are most

valuable and why…

SCOPING

Gather and shape

requirements into

mutually agreed

document

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Benefit #3: Incremental Revenue

Customers that participate in Customer Advisory Panels add more value:

According to Ignite AG research (n=85) B2B companies that have active and

successful Customer Advisory Panels enjoy:

• A retention rate of 95% among program participants

• 9% increase in new business, starting in year 2

Continue Purchasing 18%

Willing to Recommend 24%

Overall Satisfaction Rating 25%

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Benefit #4: Engender Customer Satisfaction and

Loyalty

Bringing members into your company’s “inner circle” you are transforming

them into even bigger raving fans

Become professionally and emotionally invested in your success, and their

enthusiasm and passion tends to permeate their immediate team and

beyond

Group of highly loyal customers who have a vested interest in sticking

around – and not defecting to your competition.

Members will likely refer other prospects to you

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Benefit #5: Marketing Platform

Nurture influential clients into advocates and references

Create & publish joint research, examples:• Benchmarks

• Dashboards

• Case studies

• White Papers

• Best Practices Guides

• Letter to industry regulators

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GATHERING INSIGHTS

THROUGH INNOVATION

GAMES®

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‘Gamification’ of Advisory Board sessions

= Need to get Higher Quality

Insights Faster!!!

Problem: “We are not hearing anything new

from our advisory board members”

Problem: “How do we make it easy for our

members to share critical feedback?”

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Collaborative Serious Games

Innovative approach to engaging executives in meaningful discovery

dialogue

Research shows that people are hard-wired to express themselves and

interact with each other through games

Engaging your advisory board members through Innovation Games

delivers deeper, more actionable insight than is available through those

stodgy brainstorming sessions, online surveys, focus groups or other tools.

Playing Innovation Games helps you:• Understand your customers needs

• Make better product & strategy decisions

• Improve the effectiveness of sales and services

• Identify the most effective marketing messages and sellable features

• Uncover breakthrough opportunities

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Collaborative Serious Games

Innovation Games Online – collaborate with your CAB members before

your in-person event as a way to engage around key topics

Use online games as a way to continue the conversation with members

post-event and in-between events.

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NEXT STEPS

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Follow-Up Webinar!

HOW to Run Customer Advisory Boards: Top 10 Tips

for Creating a World-Class CAB Program

When: April 2; 9:00 AM PST / 12:00 noon EST

HOW TO:

• Design a board – target members, goals, topics

• Effectively recruit members

• Build a advisory board charter document

• Onboard members – discovery interviews on top-of-mind topics

• Build a meeting agenda

• Sustain board momentum between calls and meetings

Watch for follow-up eMail to register

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CAB Manager Training

June 16-17, San Jose

Successfully design, manage and optimize a world-class customer or

partner advisory board

Industry’s only CAB Manager training curriculum

Guest speaker: David Coates, Iron Mountain

Registration:

http://igniteag.com/CustomerAdvisoryBoard/ManagerTraining.aspx

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Special Offer for Webinar Participants!

FREE 30 Minute Consultation

With experienced Ignite CAB Professional

Discuss

• Your current CAB program or needs

• Immediate suggestions for improvement

• Next steps to begin maximizing benefits

Register: http://info.igniteag.com/schedule-

consultation-with-ignite-advisory-group

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Special Offer for Webinar Participants!

2 Months Free Innovation Games

Online with Training

Register for an online class:

http://www.innovationgames.com/training/upco

ming-courses/ and use Code CAB15

Get your license:

https://innovationgames.com/user_mgt/sign_up

and use Discount Code: CAB15

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Q & A

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Thank You!