Ruby Has President Esther Kestenbaum Prozan has a suggestion for businesses struggling to remain customer centric. As a member of Forbes Business Council, she was asked to contribute ideas on ways businesses can avoid losing focus on their customers as they grow. Esther was one of 13 business council members who offered suggestions, which ranged from “Take care of your staff first,” to “Be in constant contact with customers.” The results were recently featured in a Forbes article: 13 Ways A Business Can Keep Focus On Customers.

Esther’s suggestion? Create a client advisory council. Esther advises businesses to “Make it a sincere undertaking, not a vanity project.” That means don’t fill the panel with your friends and best customers. Create a diverse group and encourage radically honest feedback. Negative opinions are often the most valuable. Secondly, she advises companies to engage participants in more than just meetings, and show you’re really listening.

She goes into more depth on the subject in an article. In relation to that, she recently contributed to Fast Company with a piece entitled: How to Create and Manage Great Advisory Councils. In this article, Esther suggests that businesses stay connected with council members between meetings by pinging members on ongoing topics, sending out surveys asking for input, and sharing works in progress. Then, when you do get feedback, make sure to let your advisory council know when you take their advice. Show them how their advice impacted your business in real life. That will be incredibly satisfying to the contributors, and will motivate them to keep up active involvement in your council.

For more on creating and managing successful advisory councils, read Esther’s entire article here.