Project Planning is Key to Driving Customer Engagement Programs

If you’re hosting a dinner party with multiple courses that need to be timed perfectly, you’d map out your plan ahead of time, with all of the details necessary to ensure your dessert is not served before the main course is even finished cooking.  The same is true of executive customer programs, which require strong program planning followed by flawless execution in order to deliver an engaging and memorable experience.

I’ve previously discussed the importance of process in Customer Advisory Boards and time and time again I am reminded of how critical process and planning are to any customer engagement program.

Avoid fire drills.  Project plans create structure that enable teams to work toward the end goal in a smooth fashion.  Without a plan that includes interim milestones and deadlines and clear owners you will find yourself and your teams falling behind.  For better or worse, most of us work best under deadline pressure – a project plan can create that interim deadline pressure to ensure that once you are needing to do an executive review, you are ready.  Include regularly scheduled checkpoints in your project plan – they provide routine times to align on content and work out any roadblocks to progress that may pop up.

Who’s on first?  I often think that working without a project plan is similar to that “Who’s on First?” comedy routine made famous by Abbott and Costello.  How do you know who is doing what when?  Clearly defined workstreams with due dates and assigned parties responsible for delivery help drive teams forward and avoids having multiple people working on the same effort or worse yet, nobody working on something!

Get to the finish line.  While the date of the meeting or event is obvious, without a project plan how does a team know if they are 30%, 60% or 90% to completion?  Deliverables, milestones and owners laid out in a clear plan, help teams to determine if the program is leading or lagging and provide a view to areas that may need additional support.

These are just three of many reasons why project planning is imperative to the success of any program – I’ll be sharing more in future posts.

Related Stories

Customer Advisory Boards: How Difficult Conversations Drive Change

Posted on 04.27.2023 by in Customer Advisory Boards

One of my first jobs out of university was working in the headquarters office of a local business with several locations. In this role, I worked closely with the customer service representatives, and we received feedback, questions, and  

Continue Reading »

Putting the Peer in Client Engagement

Posted on 03.6.2023 by in Customer Advisory Boards, Featured, Understanding the C-Suite

In this era of social connectedness, opinions and input from peers are of paramount importance to driving buying decisions and the adoption of new enterprise products and services. In working with executive engagement programs, the power of peer  

Continue Reading »

Ramping up Customer Advisory Council Recruiting

Posted on 01.31.2023 by in Customer Advisory Boards, Featured

When the end of a calendar year closes, hand in hand come a number of retirements and role changes in the C-suite, which has an impact on Customer Advisory Council membership. While a number of open seats on your  

Continue Reading »

Creating a Great Customer Meeting: Build Peak Moments

Posted on 01.18.2023 by in Engagement Strategy, Featured

Customer experiences are often judged by the closing experience. Done well, the experience is deemed positive. Too often these experiences are forgotten.

Continue Reading »


Customer Advisory Boards

Customer Advisory Boards are powerful engines of engagement, insight, and business transformation. Make the most of yours.

Meeting Facilitation: Virtual and In-Person Boards » Taking Your Customer Advisory Board Meetings Virtual »

Learn More »

Engagement Strategy

Like any good relationship, customer engagement is a long-term, reciprocal effort. When done well, meaningful engagement leads to better business results, faster.

Engage Your Customers to Help You Stop Pitching » Getting to a Customer Engagement Mindset »

Learn More »

Understanding the C-Suite

Building C-level programs that are meaningful and bring value to you as well as to your c-suite customers is challenging. Veiled sales pitches won’t win the day with this audience. Deliver what executives want: ideas, inspiration, innovation, influence.

Building a C-Suite Client Experience Strategy » Do you Know What Your Customers Value? »

Learn More »