The Power of a Single Customer Advisory Dinner
Those of you who have heard me speak, or who have been reading my blog for a while, might be a little sick of me going on and on about customer advisory boards. Such a gathering of female customers sounds hard to organize or at least, to make successful. Plus, how would you – particularly if you are a man in a traditionally male-dominated industry – be able to make women comfortable enough to talk among themselves around you?
Well – I am psyched to report that one of the jewelers in my audience at the American Gem Society Conclave event in late April just took my suggestions and ran with them. I will quote the email I just got from Louis Smith:
“I have one word that basically sums it up- AWESOME.
We started @ 7:00 and didn’t end up until after 11:30. I think I have 12 new employees for the price of dinner. What was funny is that we picked a group of people from all ages, and people at the restaurant couldn’t figure out what we were doing. Several people ( in the group ) got phone calls the next day wanting to know what was going on.”
My only advice to him as he planned his advisory board dinner had been to not get too worked up about a formal agenda, but to relax and get the women talking with one another about their lives.
Given the results of his initial effort, imagine staying in touch with those women and hosting another dinner or two each year? Talk about being inspired and guided by the women you serve?
Once you get women connecting, there is no controlling how they might then guide other businesses, as well. It turns out that one of the women at this dinner is married to a local car dealer who was considering an additional brand for his dealership. However, when that woman polled her fellow jewelry store advisors, they told her to let her husband know that dealing in an altogether different brand would be a better call.
That’s twelve women at a single dinner, my friends.
