Look for a proven track record. Find leaders in their field. The best board candidates are successful CEOs, business owners, professionals, university professors and consultants who have achieved success in their own businesses and careers.

• Members missing meetings. Because board members are usually running successful businesses of their own, they may not always be available for every meeting. However, board members should be made aware that attendance of board meetings is important and expected. If a member is chronically absent, value of their membership on board should be reviewed.
• Insecurity of senior managers. Some company insiders may feel intimidated or threatened by involvement of outsiders. The CEO or owner must make every effort to communicate to his staff benefits and importance of having a board of advisors.
• Incompatible personalities. This is a challenging situation, because most members of your board will be strong willed, achiever types, who have gotten where they are by taking charge. Many will have strong convictions about their opinions and may find it hard to defer leadership of meetings to CEO. You must determine when a member’s personality is “too strong” and becoming disruptive.
• Excessive number of board members. Because of their strong personalities, if you have too many members on your board, more assertive members often dominate debates, depriving you of contributions quieter members may have made.
• Lack of CEO communication. Withholding company information or not regularly communicating with members of your board of advisors destroys trust and effectiveness. Regular communication between meetings is essential to maintaining an effective board. Inadequate compensation. As I mentioned, you do not want compensation to be determining factor in a candidates membership on your advisory board, however successful individuals of caliber you seek expect to be fairly compensated for their time and knowledge.

• If you build it, use it. Owners and CEOs who invest time and money in creating a board should be committed to soliciting and using its advice on important issues and decisions.
• Value their input, even when they disagree with what you want to do. Sometimes a board is at it’s most valuable when it recommends against a course of action CEO wants to take. If you recruit a good board, often they have already been down path you are on, and their experience (and past failures) can help you to avoid costly mistakes.
• Communicate with your advisors. Keep members of your board informed about what is happening in your company and industry. Counsel with individual members on phone at least monthly and send them information well in advance of your meetings, to help them prepare and keep meetings productive.
• Hold regular meetings. Most boards meet once per quarter. However, boards should meet more often during times of rapid growth or if company needs merit additional oversight and guidance.
• Have an objective for each meeting. Your board members are busy people and their time is valuable. Make most out of your meetings with them, by having a clear agenda and objectives for each meeting. Make sure to cover most important items of business first, in case discussions take longer than planned or some members have to leave early.

Want to improve your conversion rates? Eric Graham is the CEO of several successful online companies. Internationally recognized as a top authority on eCommerce & Website Conversion , he's an in-demand speaker & consultant.

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