[Fireside Chat] How Lumen Uses Customer Advisory Boards to Drive Customer Advocacy ​Watch the Video Below ↓

Lumen has created a strong customer advocacy program. And their customer advisory board is a cornerstone of the program.

The company has mastered virtual CAB meeting engagement, and its strong program keeps members attending its CAB meetings. And the Lumen CAB program drives tangible results for the business.

This fireside chat features Nicky Zaayman, Director CX and EX Advocacy and Communications, Lumen Technologies and Rob Jensen, Senior Consultant & Facilitator, Ignite Advisory Group.

Nicky gives her advice on how to increase engagement at CAB meetings and describes how the CAB drives customer advocacy.

What you will learn:

  • The design and strategy of Lumen’s customer advisory board program
  • How Lumen leverages creativity to drive CAB member engagement
  • Lessons learned from launching a customer advisory board

Fireside Chat Content:
[01:51] Welcome, Housekeeping, Agenda, About Ignite, Introductions, Poll
[05:13] About Lumen and the Lumen CAB
[09:23] Recruitment – How do you get customers at the executive level to join the CAB?
[11:52] The Lumen CAB Customer Communication Plan
[15:07] CAB Meeting – How did your recent CAB meeting go? And Lumen’s take on hybrid CAB meetings.
[20:13] CAB Management – How much of your time do you spend on CAB?
[21:12] CAB Meeting – Do your CAB members present at meetings?
[23:03] CAB Design – Did Lumen cover all CAB meeting expenses for CAB members?
[24:51] CAB Agenda – CAB Strategic Sessions and Why CABs aren’t a sales engagement
[26:57] CAB Agenda – Talk about the formats of your CAB meeting. What’s working?
[30:14] CAB Meeting Engagement – How to get in-person and online attendees engaged?
[31:19] CAB Meeting Planning – How far in advance do you plan and secure dates with attendees, particularly when travel is involved?
[32:50] CAB Meeting – Why no internal salespeople should be in the room
[34:34] CAB Success Measures – How do you measure ROI, as it relates to sales? What are your thoughts around measuring the success of your CAB?
[36:33] CAB Membership – Talk about having CAB members who are users versus executives
[37:56] CAB Membership – What are your thoughts around CAB member tenure, two-year or one-year term?
[40:56] CAB Meeting – What roles do you allow (and not allow) from your company to attend the in-person Custom Advisory Board meeting?
[43:44] CAB Launch – What were some lessons learned from when you started your CAB program?
[46:26] CAB Resources
[47:55] Final thoughts from Nicky

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About the Guest Speaker Nicky:

Nicolette (Nicky) Zaayman is a South African-born American marketing leader. As the Director CX and EX Advocacy and Communications for Lumen Technologies, Nicky leads customer experience and advocacy.

Nicky has three degrees in teaching (math major), psychology and gifted education with a Strategic Marketing Management certification at Harvard Business School. She has a diverse career background transitioning from teaching to psychology in South Africa, to teaching in the US, with a career change into marketing and telecommunications 16 years ago.

Prior to Lumen, she held marketing leadership positions in the Netherlands and United Kingdom for Level 3 Communications, now CenturyLink. She speaks four languages and enjoys floral arrangements, hiking and motor cycling.