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A follow up to our call with Sean Geehan to discuss CAB programs.
He is offering a new program and asked a me to share these details.
He is not part of this Slack community so please contact him directly for more information (see below).
I’ll also post the link to the recorded session he lead for us awhile back.
🎯 Just wrapped a great conversation with Lauren Stefano and Irene Yam on elevating our CAB strategy. Three key takeaways:
1. EMEA Customer Participation Challenge Getting European customers to join and actively participate in CABs requires different engagement approaches. We need multiple executive sponsors to make this work across regions.
2. Engagement Strategy Shift Virtual works, but requires intentional design. Lauren's running 3x/year cadence that's working well. Critical addition: nomination questions during selection to ensure customers who attend will actually engage with their board peers, not just listen.
3. Public Sector Expansion Different beast entirely. Needs adapted approach with more focused agendas and structured feedback loops. Educational sessions before asks = higher trust. Could be huge opportunity if we get the format right.
Here's the . (Doh, I actually forgot to hit the Zoom record button this am. ) Thanks, @Lauren Stefano!
Here's the Zoom for CAB Community_CMAWeekly
Date: Monday, August 18th
8am PT/10CT/11ET
Hi Mary,
We're having a CAB open discussion: a few of us are in mid-stream in building and managing CABs, so we wanted to get together to tackle questions like:
• Gifting
• Budget CAB questions, due to travel bans... locations (run local CAB versus one location CAB)
Feel free to add to the newsletter, but just waiting on others to confirm time. I also called it CAB therapy, LOL.
We can share to general and even in the newsletter next week.
What is the call about? Do you need anything for it?
Both of those options work for me @Irene Yam!
Terrific! Bring coffee or lunch... LOL I live in the Bay Area.. so I can meet as early as 8am PT/10CT/11ET, or later... you may have standing meetings with your teams.
Here's two options for Monday, 18th:
Opt. 1: 8am PT/10CT/11ET?
Opt. 2: 12PT/2CT/3ET?
I can also record and share for those wh cannot make it. : ) Please let me know when you're available to meet. So I can set up the Zoom.
I'm open to setting up a Zoom meeting for the following Monday if you'd all like to join and discuss CAB planning for 30 minutes. I'm planning several, but it would be fun as a community to talk, AKA, CAB therapy. <@U07T66D33QW>, @Maria Braune, and anyone else!
We have seen this in the past - I know it sounds a bit tricky - but do you happen to have a few of those clients that are geographically located near each other? We held a meeting in the city of one of our largest clients b/c they couldn’t travel. Could be an option where you go to them vs them coming to you.
Hi Everyone, working on putting together a product advisory council (can be called as CAB but product focused only). We already have a tactical feedback program so this one will be a strategic one with ~VP level and department heads. Avoiding C Levels to keep the focus on product advancement by solving business’s/ team’s challenges.
Would love to chat with you if you built something like this from ground up. What worked, what didn’t, any blind spots you can highlight for me. A quick 15 mins I promise :)
Thank you!
Be the expert.
I guess my question to the community is is now the time to be idealistic or to do as asked?
@Jennifer Lyons That's a tough place to be in. I would have loved that you landed a role, but that is a good sign that it's not a fit. I can go on about a CAB not being a sales event. Using deduction, it shows they are desperate to close deals.
CABs have a component of sales, but what's more important are the connections made to build trust and establish a partnership. That's what customers call it out after they attended a CAB, they say, I feel like "x" company is a partner of mine.
Here's some freebies on my website: These may help you, and you could cite these as third-party sources. It's not gated content.
Hi @Irene Yam I’ve had a question/discussion topic rolling around in my head for a while. I’ve not had the opportunity to stand up a CAB myself. Months ago I did a presentation about how I’d set up a CAB as part of the interview process for a job opportunity. I advocated for doing what I’d call a ‘real’ CAB that is a two-way, mutually beneficial conversation. I don’t think they liked that! My impression is that a lot of companies want a sales event which is called a CAB. So my question for you and the community, in this job market, should I tread lightly on how I’d approach a CAB and seek to understand what the company wants and speak only to that?
I did something similar with Tumi and ordered right from website
thanks! Would love to see it
I actually branded it with our company logo in a visible, but subtle way, so it didn’t look too crazily branded. And it was so cool to see the members roll into our CAB with the branded away bags, it was definitely a bit of a flex for them, and spurred lots of conversations, which was exactly the point. I did snag myself one of the bags as well, so I can get some pictures for you later today.
love that @Evan Jacobs! Did you customize it with their initials or your logo?
we also did custom AWAY Luggage, and it basically thrilled the CAB members. So much so, that internally, everyone was clamoring to see how THEY could get their own AWAY Luggage 😉
We brought in Maui Jim and members got to choose their own shades, and we had a custom swag store just for CAB members - Malbon (due to sponsorship) and Lululemon.
What I've found works well is
1/ Custom-made
2/ When they have the choice (to also potentially opt-out)
3/ Stuff they'd actually use
4/ Stuff for their teams
5/ Stuff that actually shows that you KNOW them (although that does require doing it 1-by-1, but the impact is... chef's kiss)
6/ Gift cards for Ubers to attend (if in person), or Uber Eats style if virtual/remote to make their lives easier.
PLUS - managing through/via a platform like a Reachdesk helps measure attribution and impact, too.