Planning And Executing A Best-In-Class Customer Awards Program

Organizations should employ a six-step process to implement a customer awards program. From planning to execution, between seven and nine months are required to establish an awards program. A customer awards program should produce content that fuels ongoing reputation, demand creation and sales enablement programs.

A customer awards program typically culminates in a high-profile awards ceremony at a major event (e.g., conference, user group, customer appreciation event). To arrive at this destination, however, and ensure that the awards program will be a success, myriad preparatory activities must be completed on schedule during the preceding six to nine months (see Figure 1). In this report, we present a six-step process for planning and executing a customer awards program, including a recommended timeframe for each step.