Advisory Groups - Seeing Through a New Window

I just read an excellent tactical description of how to initiate an advisory group by family business expert Ernesto Poza in "A Burst of Fresh Air published October/November 2007 in BusinessWeek's SmallBiz. This should be standard operations, not only for a family business--which he recommends it for, but for ANY organization.

Poza recommends an outside board for new perspective and direction in business and operations. However, having an advisory panel for any product or brand now is so easy, and should be required before initiating any new product or promotional initiative. Producers and designers--even though they may use the product--cannot represent the market perspective because of their stake in the product and brand. Ongoing feedback is critical from both buyers and partners in getting products through the sales funnel.

I have been involved in building advisory groups with channel partners (producers, publishers, distributors) and buyer groups. These panels were both tangible and virtual--correspondence was everything from occasional phone calls and letters, to an opt-in for a monthly questionnaire (with trackable and analyzable response data via the internet) as we rolled toward a new product line.

Incentives for participation have been proven of less importance to other considerations, such as targeting and simplicity. This is especially the case in situations where those participating understand they will have a hand in designing a product that ultimately will serve their peers and customer group interests better. They are making a positive difference in an area that matters to them. This is similar to those willing to rate products and services online for free-- they want better products and services--as well as to demonstrate their expertise. You will usually get as participants those who are very satisfied, or very unsatisfied, or the outspoken "influencers", but those are the ones that will make a difference in how well the product launch goes.

Though there are many ways to develop a virtual advisory panel and surveys, one interactive marketing company, Greystone, provides a good step-by-step strategy for producing these online surveys. In my personal experience, in one case, we sent an email invitation to participate to those with demonstrated product or brand interest, who had been previously characterized as leaders in the target group through other online and personal interactions. We got about a 30% opt-in response rate, ending up with just over 100 members of the panel. Our first questionnaire further characterized the panel, to help us judge the responses. Because of the questionnaire design, we were able to aggregate the responses to see trends and to remove outlying data, but were also able to look at specific responses to get more detail, and follow-up specifically if necessary. Our second survey gathered attitude, interest, and opinion data that would help us relate their responses to certain target buyer groups. The following surveys got more and more specific to product design or product line information, which was used to adjust the product before production and distribution.

With these types of advisory boards, not only do you have insight to more effective company operations, but also, more successful product launches. When the new product rolls out, not only has the product idea already been tested against consumer and distributor perspectives, but there is built-in ownership for the success of the product all the way down the channel.