Whenever I think of the Strategic Planning Process I remember when I was part of enterprise corporate America. Oh boy, those were the days. Every change was preceded by an army of consultants and/or internal due diligence teams. Imagine how that would go over in a middle market company.
I used to work for one of the largest bank holding companies in the country. The sort of work I did assessing credit quality lent itself to having my participation on a number of due diligence teams during the bank acquisition surge of the early 90's. We'd have scores of people trying to figure their little part out in the big picture. This process was pretty scary, but the scariest thing I saw was the effort to improve the efficiency ratio of the organization. I was a part of that internal effort, managed by outside consultants for a year. I left soon after and another year later, the efficiency ratio still hadn't budged.
While I was working on projects designed to integrate credit cultures across new acquisitions, in effect an internal relationship management program, the executives were on the hunt for quick stock up-ticks. To date that, they spent millions on an army of consultants leading to everything from the removal of free coffee to layoffs across board. I'm not going to mention the tie-in to the last real estate market crisis because that would be too obvious. But not to the strategic thinkers.
In a lot of cases, the term Strategic Planning has been hijacked for use in initiatives designed to manipulate short term outcomes. It's usually a pruning exercise and not the precise and deep scalpel effort that's really needed for the long term. The quality consultants out there are always under pressure for these short-term fixes. There's really nothing strategic about it.
So now that we know what it's not, let's talk about what strategic planning is as it relates to CRM. In order for your CRM initiative to succeed you have to develop a strategy or plan for that long term success. It's about creating long term, profitable relationships with your customers. Don't let failures of the past deter you, there are some simple steps you need to follow on your way to success
The CRM Strategy - This is the main ingredient to a successful CRM initiative because it explains how your company will interact with customers going forward. You can't simply install software an pray for success. The software needs a purpose.
CRM Analysis - Before you can begin your CRM journey, you need to know where you're starting so you can plan your route accordingly. You can't drive from NYC to LA in a day.
Understand the Benefits - You will learn new things about your customers in this process and you need to understand how it's application will change your business and the loyalty of your customers.
Why Quantify the Benefits? - Because you can't spend millions to get a small payback. You need to set priorities for your investment and quantifying the economic benefit will help you justify the money and time you're about to spend.
Quantify CRM Costs - Your CFO will be far more likely to write a check if you can detail the financial benefits as well as the financial costs. The return on investment is critical in making a major go/no go decision.
Manage The Risk - Any time there's risk involved, it needs to be managed. In the financial world it's called underwriting. Your CRM initiative has risk as well, all of it with financial impact. The actual "risk" could be as simple as low user acceptance.
CRM Implementation - The last thing you must address is how you plan to implement your CRM strategy. I'm not just talking about implementing the software! Their is a human process that factors into a successful CRM initiative as well. Actually, it's bigger than the software in my opinion.
CRM Metrics - A high level view of CRM metrics that will help you better understand success or failure and also areas for opportunity going forward
I used to work for one of the largest bank holding companies in the country. The sort of work I did assessing credit quality lent itself to having my participation on a number of due diligence teams during the bank acquisition surge of the early 90's. We'd have scores of people trying to figure their little part out in the big picture. This process was pretty scary, but the scariest thing I saw was the effort to improve the efficiency ratio of the organization. I was a part of that internal effort, managed by outside consultants for a year. I left soon after and another year later, the efficiency ratio still hadn't budged.
While I was working on projects designed to integrate credit cultures across new acquisitions, in effect an internal relationship management program, the executives were on the hunt for quick stock up-ticks. To date that, they spent millions on an army of consultants leading to everything from the removal of free coffee to layoffs across board. I'm not going to mention the tie-in to the last real estate market crisis because that would be too obvious. But not to the strategic thinkers.
In a lot of cases, the term Strategic Planning has been hijacked for use in initiatives designed to manipulate short term outcomes. It's usually a pruning exercise and not the precise and deep scalpel effort that's really needed for the long term. The quality consultants out there are always under pressure for these short-term fixes. There's really nothing strategic about it.
So now that we know what it's not, let's talk about what strategic planning is as it relates to CRM. In order for your CRM initiative to succeed you have to develop a strategy or plan for that long term success. It's about creating long term, profitable relationships with your customers. Don't let failures of the past deter you, there are some simple steps you need to follow on your way to success
The CRM Strategy - This is the main ingredient to a successful CRM initiative because it explains how your company will interact with customers going forward. You can't simply install software an pray for success. The software needs a purpose.
CRM Analysis - Before you can begin your CRM journey, you need to know where you're starting so you can plan your route accordingly. You can't drive from NYC to LA in a day.
Understand the Benefits - You will learn new things about your customers in this process and you need to understand how it's application will change your business and the loyalty of your customers.
Why Quantify the Benefits? - Because you can't spend millions to get a small payback. You need to set priorities for your investment and quantifying the economic benefit will help you justify the money and time you're about to spend.
Quantify CRM Costs - Your CFO will be far more likely to write a check if you can detail the financial benefits as well as the financial costs. The return on investment is critical in making a major go/no go decision.
Manage The Risk - Any time there's risk involved, it needs to be managed. In the financial world it's called underwriting. Your CRM initiative has risk as well, all of it with financial impact. The actual "risk" could be as simple as low user acceptance.
CRM Implementation - The last thing you must address is how you plan to implement your CRM strategy. I'm not just talking about implementing the software! Their is a human process that factors into a successful CRM initiative as well. Actually, it's bigger than the software in my opinion.
CRM Metrics - A high level view of CRM metrics that will help you better understand success or failure and also areas for opportunity going forward
About the Author:
Mike Boysen is an experienced CRM consulting and creator of Effective CRM Consulting. You can read more about the strategic planning process at his blog/blog Visit the Uber Article Directory to get a totally unique version of this article for reprint.
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