Overview

I spent three years establishing Tableau’s Customer Advisory Board. Year one was a startup year, where I built the program from the ground up. Year two was spent improving on the processes and customer experience. By year three, the program was well-established and required only minor adjustments as membership cycles came and went.

Process Overview

Tableau operates its Customer Advisory Board (CAB) as a one-year term, with a portion of its members invited to return for a second year.

Sales teams use guidance to nominate customers to the CAB, after which a dossier is created for each nomination. A steering committee reviews the nominations and selects members to invite to participate.

What’s involved in starting up a Customer Advisory Board?

At the outset, I created a Program Design Document (sometimes referred to as a Narrative document) outlining the goals, benefits, expectations, and success metrics of the program. Once the steering committee approved the program design, I set about creating the program processes, assets, and relationships needed to start up the advisory board.

As part of this process, I outlined a rhythm of the business for the CAB and created a complete Book of Materials describing every asset created to operate the program.