Customer Advisory Boards

Resource Center

How Well Do You Really Know Your Customers?

Do you know the trends and drivers shaping their business decisions? Do you know where they plan to invest three years from now? Do you know how to stay relevant so you can remain a preferred provider to them? A Customer Advisory Board is a strategy-level focus group – a sounding board for your leadership team to learn from and better understand your most strategic customers. Because whoever understands the customer best wins. A well-run CAB program holds the secret to your future success.

Welcome to the CAB Resource Center. Here you’ll find the books, articles, framework, methodology, and answers to guide you on your journey.

“Mike’s leadership and perspective were instrumental in helping us design and execute a worldclass, global CAB program.”

– CMO, Aspect Communications

“Mike and his KickStart Alliance team helped us deliver world-class CABs for the past 5 years. He’s not just a facilitator; he acts as an extension of my leadership team.”

– CEO, NFI

“Our CAB program is one of our strategic initiatives, but it needed some retooling. Mike jumped in and energized our CAB. We strengthened our connection to our customers and doubled our business with them.”

– SVP Sales, Pitney Bowes

“Mike has been core to our CAB for several years. He’s more than a facilitator; he partners with us every step of the way. And, our advisors love the interaction.”

– CEO, Spectracom

“Mike provided terrific support for our first ever Customer Advisory Forum. His ability to manage content, participation and flow around topics oriented to an executive audience led to important insights and positive feedback from all of our participants.”

– CEO, Purolator

A Well-Run CAB Is Unlike Any Other Meeting.

Customers do 80% of the talking. You do 80% of the listening. Agendas are made up of discussion modules, not a parade of product update presentations.

Your CAB is your “inner sanctum”. It’s a small, intimate group of 8-12 senior decision-makers, plus your leadership team and a CAB facilitator.

This is a strategy-level focus group. Agendas are business topics. Use your CAB to better understand your best customers, where they are investing, and what you need to do to stay relevant.

Recent Posts

3 steps for sharing a new product concept with your Customer Advisory Board

by Mike Gospe | Jul 18, 2017 | Agendas

How do you get your Customer Advisory Board (CAB) members to give you relevant feedback on a new product concept they haven’t seen before? Here are 3 steps for setting up an effective conversation.

How to link your CAB to your executive planning offsite

by Mike Gospe | Jun 23, 2017 | Planning, Strategies, Voice of the Customer

Most companies run a CAB that is disconnected from their annual executive planning offsite. This is a missed opportunity. Here’s how one CEO linked them.

Do you need an NDA for your Customer Advisory Board?

by Mike Gospe | Jun 20, 2017 | NDA

Congratulations on founding your CAB. But how do you ensure a safe and secure format for discussing delicate, strategic topics? Do you need an NDA for your Customer Advisory Board? Here are three unspoken truths about NDAs that should not be kept secret.