Customer Advisory Boards »

Learn why customer advisory boards are so successful-and how to create one for any business!

From a leading authority in business management comes a book to give your company the winning edge. Customer Advisory Boards: A Strategic Tool for Customer Relationship Building examines the customer advisory board (CAB)-one of the most effective competitive tools for building and maintaining customer satisfaction. This business guide shows how to create and make use of an effective CAB, and how doing so can give your company a marketing advantage and improve vital aspects of business, including customer responsiveness, trust-building, and customer satisfaction.

Customer Advisory Boards focuses on bringing companies and customers closer together utilizing input and advice from a CAB. This book shows how to use three types of customer bases-existing customers, potential customers, or former buyers-to form three different types of advisory boards: corporate strategy boards to plan future investments, product planning boards to create new product, and launch success boards to improve existing product. Using the information in this book, your company can transform from being customer focused to customer driven.

Customary advisory boards benefit your company by:

• improving sales contact and dialogue dynamics of the company
• enabling the company to see itself through the customers' eyes
• sharing ideas and suggestions to improve a company's programs and services to its customers
• showing that the company values its customers' opinions and wants to improve for them
• providing access to expertise and experience from a wide range of necessary disciplines without legal liability

Customer advisory boards also benefit the board members by:

• giving them opportunities to offer practical advice that can affect a company
• allowing them to establish personal and professional contacts from each other
• rewarding them with company perks and products
• giving them a sense of belonging and empowerment

With case studies, appendices, notes, references, and surveys, Dr. Tony Carter has created an illuminating, educational research tool for company owners and managers. Whether applied to a corporation, a medical or religious institution, or a not-for-profit organization, Customer Advisory Boards will help increase customer loyalty and satisfaction.

PhD, Academic Director, Executive Education, Columbia Graduate School of Business - William M. Klepper

In addition to THE WHY, WHAT, AND HOW OF CUSTOMER ADVISORY BOARDS, Tony Carter illustrates the importance of the executive leader's Emotional Intelligence (EQ) in the building of customer alliances. This chapter alone is worth the cost of the book. Carter has also linked his work to that of many successful companies and has given PARTICULAR ATTENTION TO GLOBAL BUSINESSES. A solid piece of scholarship and writing.

Foreword
Preface and Acknowledgments

SECTION I: CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP BUILDING
Chapter 1. Introduction: A Way to Reach Customers
An Overview of the CAB
The Customer Relationship-Building Process
Relationship Selling
Summary
Case Study: SI Customer Advisory Council
Appendix: Customer Advisory Board Survey Results
Chapter 2. The Customer Relationship-Building Process
Customer Selling Modes and Membership Commitment
Defining the Customer Relationship Sales Process
Methods to Build Customer Relationships
Maintaining Customer Relationships and the CAB
Case Study: Sales Force Transition, PG Industries, Inc.
Chapter 3. Customer Focus
Customers and Reengineering
Value Focus
Value-Added Features
Customer Satisfaction
Customer Orientation
Networks
Case Study: Sales Strategy, IBM Software Group
Chapter 4. Customer Alliance and Trust Building
Role of Trust
Importance of Listening
Successful Leadership and Emotional Intelligence
Case Study: Consumer Sales, Campbell, Inc.
Appendix: Senior Level Management and Customer Alliance Building

SECTION II: BUILDING CUSTOMER ADVISORY BOARDS
Chapter 5. CAB Structure, Procedures, and Agenda
Forming a CAB
Board Composition and Procedures
Types of CABs
CABs and New Businesses
Case Study: Sales Management and Measurement, EMEA
Appendix: Sample CAB Agenda
Chapter 6. Value of CABs to Customers and Organizations
Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty
Gaining the "Competitive Edge"
Case Study: Sales Management, North American Operations, Tia Electronics, Inc.

SECTION III: STRATEGIC USES AND EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT
Chapter 7. Customer Satisfaction at Prudential Insurance
Organizational Culture
Customer Acquisitions
Customer Retention
Initiatives to Improve Customer Satisfaction
Internal Customers
Prudential's CABs
Case Study: Strategic Account Initiative, Walter, Inc.
Chapter 8. CAB Challenges for Lubrizol and Sony
Innovation Through Customer Relationships
Lubrizol's New Direction and Performance
Sony's Expansion Through Partnerships and Innovation
Case Study: Lubrizol and Sony
Chapter 9. Global Applications
Real-World CABs
Competitive Advantage in International Markets
The Nature of Global Relations
Saba's Global CAB
Global Integration of Strategic Change
Conclusion
Case Study: Organizational Teamwork, French Airways World Cargo
Notes
Index