Put Your Customers On Stage

On occasion, I moderate and facilitate customer events for a variety of firms. Some are cutting-edge global high tech; others are classic B2B service providers. A few are entrepreneurial start-ups desperate for closer ties with their early adopter clientele. Without exception, these companies want to be seen as innovative and customer-centric in equal measure. Many of these events go well; a few of them go great.

Charismatic presenters are nice and crisply articulated messages are wonderful, but one critical success factor stands out above all others: The best customer events put the best customers on stage. Getting customers to effectively interact with each other about what you're trying to accomplish represents best observed practice.

By far the most influential presentation I've seen at a customer event used neither PowerPoint nor Keynote. Instead, three customers onstage talked about what it took to get their people up to speed on using the host company's latest software release. Each firm had a different training philosophy and each manager onstage offered their unvarnished view of what worked and what failed. Just as important, they disagreed with each other about how the company's software added value to their business. Their business issues were fundamentally different but the way they discussed how their organizations got value from the software was remarkably similar.

Unsurprisingly, the audience was filled with questions, comments, and follow-ups around the panelists' experiences. The conversation shifted from the stage to the floor. The software company's CMO and software architects had the good sense to keep quiet and take notes. They didn't interrupt their clients who were in the heady process of disclosing and debating the real-world deployment issues that mattered most to them.

The irony was that marketing and product development had invested hours refining their "new release" PowerPoint presentation and demos. They expected the upgrade's new features and functionalities would dominate the event conversation. While their demo undeniably influenced customer interaction, the reality was that customers came with their own issues "top of mind," not the vendor's. By creating a space and place for their customers to air their real issues, everyone came out ahead. The company got tremendous insight into how their customers talked with each other — instead of to the company representatives — about key deployment concerns. Customers appreciated that they couldn't have had this reality check without the company hosting this event.

The common problem, of course, is that too many firms prefer customers and clients sharing success stories while downplaying problems, mistakes and challenges. What's more, everyone is pressed for time and customer events are consequently biased towards presenting "latest, greatest and most compelling." Customer concerns are subsumed into the overall event architecture.

But this is the core challenge of the customer event. Are the customers "guests" and an "audience"? Or are they partners and peers? Are they there primarily to learn more about the host's innovation roadmap and strategic aspirations? Or is the purpose of their presence to influence the roadmap's cartography and inform strategy?

Don't think for a moment that your customers can't tell what's going on when they see an event agenda featuring three of your executives, a distinguished outside academic and a presentation by your pet customer that everyone knows is your "poster firm" for your own organization. Similarly, if customer-driven workshops are all off in side rooms than on the main stage, then that sends a signal, too.

If your customers and clients don't make up at least a third of your featured "performances" at these events, then you are not only missing serious opportunities for learning and innovation, you're dissing the very people who are making your business possible.

Will some of these "best" or "better" customers make you blush because they'll actually criticize your firm on stage? Why, yes. But the question you and your colleagues have to honestly ask and answer is: Will we get more from our customers being more open with each other in front of us? Or when we're not around?

Customers — not your company's products and service innovations — should be at the center of customer events. Make their engagement — not your messaging — the core of your event planning.

Thanks to Michael Schrage / Harvard Business Review