November 12, 2007

Measuring Effective Success

We’re now just a month away from C-Scape Global Forum 2007. The agenda for both days has been finalized. Attendees have been registered. Speakers have been confirmed. And content is being crafted as I type ... and will likely continue to be crafted right up to the time I jump on stage to welcome you to the conference on December 11.

Putting on an event like this is an incredibly involved and difficult exercise. And it does cost me a dollar or two. Surprisingly, my boss and the rest of the senior management team here at Cisco expect me to prove the value of that expenditure by measuring and qualifying the “success” of this forum. Can you believe that?

The evaluation forms you fill out are not just a critical piece of that final assessment; they are the central component of it. (OK, that’s the first instance of you being reminded that filling out your eval forms is really important. I’m willing to bet that we mention that 57 more times before 3:30 p.m. on December 12.)

And while those forms do give us a tangible measurement of if we achieved our objectives, I’m wondering how we can TRULY capture whether or not this event was a success.

And that absolutely depends on you. Was the forum worth your time? Did you get what you wanted out of the two days? Was it relevant to you? Interesting? Surprising? Thought provoking? Did it change your mind about something? Did it challenge a position you had taken?

Even the responses to those questions don’t really give me my answer because what one influencer finds great value in, another sees as a waste of time. Too many people with too many agendas/areas of interest for me to please all or find the true sweet spot that will ensure you return for two more days in 2008.

And – as a group in general – you’re a bit reluctant to ever admit to a vendor that you actually liked something. (Hey, I know that’s true. I used to be one of you.) When it comes to us big, bad vendors, the nature of your job is to criticize, but also provide constructive feedback.

I know, I know. I can hear you: stop your whining, Skip. No one has been able to figure out the magic formula when it comes to successfully evaluating the effectiveness of an event. Compile the scores from your forms and get on with your life.

And that’s what I’ll likely end up doing this year.

But what I need is some of that constructive feedback and input. Over the next month, please let me know what success at C-Scape looks like for you. Why do you attend this event? What are your expectations? What makes you come back?

Beyond getting the opportunity to spend some time with me, of course...

Posted by Skip MacAskill at 10:21 AM Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

November 05, 2007

Customers as Influencers

Who owns the customer?

Ask that question at a company meeting and nearly every hand at the gathering will shoot up in the air. Sales. Field marketing. The channel folks. Product managers. Product marketing. And at some level, all those factions do have some piece of the customer relationship. (That sarcastic chuckle you just heard came from the account manager.)

Well, I’m happy to say that I now proudly raise my own hand when I hear that question. We made a small – but telling – change to my organization recently, and I believe it will significantly extend and enhance our influence strategy because my team is now responsible for driving our strategic customer engagements in addition to our relationships with the analysts.

Hmm, Skip. Sounds like a bunch of meaningless buzz words. Spell it out for us.

Essentially, we took a couple of existing customer outreach programs within Corporate Communications and folded them into our Analyst Relations group, thereby creating a revised team that can be more effective in working with two of our most important groups of industry influencers: the analysts and our customers.

Giving an Analyst Relations team some responsibility for customer engagement may seem strange on its face, but when we started to explore what alternative influencers we wanted to add to the program, it struck us that we were overlooking the most obvious choice: the customer.

Customers are certainly the center of attention in every company, but people are typically trying to sell them something; fix something for them; or get them to shill for them. In our program, we treat them like industry influencers and position them as thought leaders.

So this year, you’ll see a number of customers at C-Scape. Some will be on stage and in the breakout sessions, but there will also be several in the audience sitting next to you. They don’t have speaking roles, and the account managers won’t be trying to sell them something.

They’ll be there for the same reason you are: to hear about what’s happening in the industry; discuss the latest trends; and learn about more about where Cisco is heading and why.

Posted by Skip MacAskill at 11:54 AM Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)