I came across this idea by accident when I was marketing and sales director for Schwarzkopf, but I developed it very deliberately, over 10 years! This strategy has the capability to empower organisations and their managers to behave as real leaders, and to form the basis for remarkable improvement in service and profit results.
The specific aim of creating ‘the
board of clients’ is to provide management with a
window to the entire market, offering insights into the wants (product and service) and needs (improved productivity) of customers. Gradually accomplished, this aim will assist management to improve products and service, stay ahead of the competition and control company growth. The medical profession does not learn about the anatomy and physiology of humans by ‘talking to patients’, and neither will companies learn about critical market facts by just ‘talking to customers’. The
board will give itself to the systematic, deliberate and consistent study of customers and markets.
The strategy is to create a group of about 8, comprising mostly customers with perhaps two prospects. The members should not be competitive with each other, they should all be progressive and it won’t matter if they are small or large. It shouldn’t be necessary to involve people from interstate, unless your business varies dramatically across the nation. The
board should meet about 3 times each year, perhaps for a half to one day (ours went for one and half days), and the management team should not be too great in number. The topics for discussion should include the following:
- Feedback on company activities that impact on the customers (marketing, sales, service, phone, etc.), and discussion on how improvements can be achieved.
- Discussion about which supplying industries and companies (other than your own) perform best in the service and business development areas, including the strategies they employ.
- Analysis of results achieved by customers with your products/services, and examination of their activities that create the results.
- Discussion of how customer results with your products or services can be improved, followed by agreement to ‘test’ new strategies.
- Discussion to determine ‘general’ areas of future customer need concerning business development, to determine new product or marketing opportunities.
- Presentation of upcoming company activities (service, sales, promotion) and discussion on customer reaction, for the purposes of improving the activities.
This concept is not to be confused with ‘focus groups’. Focus groups are fine but they rarely meet more than once. The
board of clients does not change, unless you or they feel a strong need to do so. And aside from the
board meetings, or because of them, you may wish to organise separate focus group sessions, etc. And because the
board of clients does not change, it represents external accountability that matches the internal accountability that management has with its board of directors. It is not necessary to call the group a ‘board’ until two or three meetings have taken place and everyone is happy to formalise the process.
Please note that the client
board members must gain more benefit from the meetings than the company! This will be possible if you invite guest speakers to contribute, and if you provide the members with information before the market at large receives it. Additionally, the
board members will derive much strength and many ideas from each other, and they will benefit from the general discussions about service and business development.
The obvious gains for management and the company are these:
- You will hear comments on your company’s service and other activities that the entire market is experiencing but not reporting!
- You will have the perfect format for creating improved company activities that impact on customers.
- You will learn how to help improve the market’s performance with your products, through just a few customers.
- You will learn how the best suppliers from other industries perform, which should prompt further investigation, and positive change in your company’s performance.
- You will learn much about the language, direction, fears, hopes and problems of customers.
And there is a critical benefit for management too, as individuals. The
board concept will enable managers to influence markets and industries, which means if managers lose their jobs they will not lose their power!