Have you struggled in 2019 to get support for your customer program(s) from executive stakeholders–such as your new CMO, your boss’s boss, C-level customers, etc? Here’s a tip to help you grab the support of your dreams in 2020. We’ll focus here on stakeholders who are focused on organizational issues (like sales performance, market awareness, product innovation, customer retention rates, and so forth.) We’ll cover stakeholders who are focused on customer issues (such as gaps in the customer Journey, net promoter score, a lagging customer health index, etc.)

Today’s tip is based, in part, on my presentations to executives (often in breakfast meetings at events like VMworld, and Net Promoter conferences), along with interviews I’ve done with clients’ C-level customers.

Talking to the C-Suite about your advocacy program, or CAB, or customer community is like discussing the engine, or wings, or navigation system of an airplane. Individually, they’re tools for implementation people to worry about.

But put them all together, and you have flight, which is everyone’s concern including the C-Suite!

When I’ve talked to them about customer programs, I’ve found that their interest in individual programs (like advocacy, advisory boards, customer communities, etc.) is lukewarm. When I “package” customer programs as a whole (that is, as “Customer Programs”), the interest level jumps considerably.

If you’ve struggled in 2019 with executive-level support–much less, executive excitement at what you’re doing–you might give this approach a try in 2020. See below for more details.

By the way, I’ll provide more positioning tips for 2020 in subsequent issues. Meanwhile, check out this short video: 3 Tips to Position Your Customer Program BOLDLY in 2020 to get the30K feet overview.

Tip for Improving Stakeholder Support:

Position your customer program as part of the whole.

If you own ALL Customer Programs in your firm (including advocacy, community, advisory board, etc.), you’re all set. But if you lead a specific customer program, such as customer advocacy, you need a new approach when presenting your program(s) to a new boss, or CMO, or other important stakeholder.

OUT WITH THE OLD, TRADITIONAL POSITIONING:

In the past, you may have opened the meeting like this:

You’d introduce yourself, and say, “I lead the customer advocacy program.

You’d say, “Our team sits in marketing,” or some other silo.

Then you’d describe the things your advocates are doing to support marketing–like videos, media interviews, speaking engagements and so forth.

I’ve found that talking about the reference program, or CAB, or customer community by themselves is a bit like discussing the engine, or wings, or navigation system or an airplane. Individually, they’re tools. But put them all together, and you have flight! So try this:

RING IN THE NEW YEAR WITH EXCITING NEW POSITIONING!

Introduce yourself, and say, “I lead the customer advocacy program.”

Then say, “Our team is part of our firm’s Customer Programs Initiative, which includes my program plus our customer advisory board, our customer community, our flagship customer program, etc.” In other words, mention all of the Customer Programs in your organization. Your program is part of that whole.

Then say (adapting for the things your particular Customer Programs are already accomplishing), “Here’s what we (meaning ALL Customer Programs including yours) do:

·     We create the word of mouth and evangelism that’s critical to our growth.

·     We cultivate the marquee customer executives who provide critical input into our strategy and product roadmap, and help guide us toward our future.

·     We engage the customer community that’s creating a significent and credible presence on social media for us, and that also saves us considerable money on support costs.

·     Members of our user groups provide such valuable input and testing on our new products that our product developers are clamoring for more.

·     We engage our MVPs Customes in initiatives that have significantly improved adoption rates and hretention rates.”

Put yourself in the place of your boss, your CMO, sales leader, even your CEO. Which one of those two opening position statements is likely to grab their interest?