If your advisory board is struggling—or you’re just getting started and want to avoid the most common pitfall—consider carefully:Is the person in the facilitator’s chair really ready to…facilitate? We share some of the common downfalls of board leaders and facilitators—and a checklist of characteristics that strong leaders share.

It’s a truism in B2B companies that a handful of customers generate the bulk of the revenue, and that keeping and growing a loyal client is far less expensive than finding net new clients. That’s why B2B marketers must develop strategies that help them listen to and engage customers actively in their marketing programs. As you listen, you will find that your customers are as vested in your company’s success as you are in theirs. That common interest is a basis for what we call reciprocal value: the powerful exchange that occurs when both parties get sufficient value out of a program for it to become self-sustaining.