Once your company is ready to start a client advisory council (also known as a client advisory panel or customer advisory board) and you’ve created a program charter and aligned your internal team, you’ll soon turn your attention to recruiting customer members.

 

Recruiting is a topic that is often challenging for companies of all sizes. Many trip up here, are unable to drum up support for their program or might offend some internal folks or customers in the process. Yet after having completed over 200 successful advisory council program engagements, I’ve learned what it takes to successfully recruit customers to advisory council programs, and I've learned how to get them eager to participate and even build a waiting list.

 

Here are five proven tips for recruiting customers to your client advisory council program: