My First Client Advisory Board Roundtable: The Process

Three weeks ago I wrote about my preparation for my first client roundtable. Last week, after the event had occurred, I provided some comments in my weekly blog, which happened to focus on the praise I received from clients at the meeting. In response to that posting, Steve Wershing commented online, "I am thrilled to hear you received such great feedback from your first advisory board. What you didn't mention is what the clients advised you to change or add to get better."

Steve, you are absolutely correct! The reason is simply that I have not yet tallied their answers. I certainly plan to, but last week was very busy. I assure you that by this time next week, I will have some tangible information to share with you. For now, I'll keep it brief and discuss the structure of the meeting.

I divided the meeting into three parts.

Part One: Getting Direct Feedback

In Part I asked the participants to fill out a two-page questionnaire in which I asked their opinion on a variety of issues such as, "What influenced your decision to hire me?" I also asked them to rank several existing and potential new services from not important to very important.

In addition, I listed several character traits and asked them to rank them from the most important to the least (i.e.; trust, competence, personality, etc.). Finally, I asked if they read my newsletter and if they had ever forwarded it to a friend.