Long considered the responsibility of marketing and sales, customer advisory councils are now being broadened to include IT--a long overdue change, many believe. Without valuable feedback on what both internal and external customers consider important, IT runs the risk of offering up products, applications and services that don't fit anyone's needs. To make sure that your customer advisory council is successful, define only a few highly specific objectives, such as determining the gap between what the organization has delivered and the needs, pricing, service and overall performance of the company. It's also important to get feedback on the pitch presentation and guidelines from both sales managers and trusted customers and to budget at least 60 percent of the agenda specifically for feedback. Finally, make sure to get input from high-ranking executives as well.

Learn more about the value of customer advisory councils:
- read the article at CRMBuyer