Representing Customers through Customer Advocacy Boards

Creating a Customer Advocacy Board is a great place to initiate your listening prowess.

It’s not only a powerful idea for an inside listening post, it’s also a way to empower your employees to act on behalf of your customers. This select team should consist of front-line (or near-line) employees throughout your organization, working together in representing your customer’s voice.

This isn’t a committee – it’s a Board.

As a Board, it’s enabled to take action. Your board members act as a major driving force during customer experience improvements across silos in your company. They should have the authority to advocate in any situation and without repercussion.

Because of this, your Customer Advocacy Board can be one of your most politically persuasive tools in your arsenal. Their mission – to collect feedback, wear the hat of your customer, take the customer seat in meetings and when making decisions, and invoke change.
Your Customer Advocacy Board will need significant political weight to be successful. You’ll want to ensure that their efforts are as trouble-free and uncomplicated as possible. Make sure the right executive is the “owner” of this team in order to remove any roadblocks.

Once you gather the right team, kick off the first meeting by having your President or CEO introduce the Board’s importance to your company’s strategy. This team’s duties won’t stop at the monthly meetings. These passionate individuals will be encouraged to identify critical issues (opportunities) when, and as, they come up. To double their effectiveness, make it a hard-fast rule that an Advocate is present to represent your customers in all
project meetings.

Representing your customer isn’t an easy job for the faint of heart.

There will be times that members will have to trade in their soft, fuzzy customer hat for a hard hat, but that pain will be worth it the gain for your company!