I often think back to my days in banking, especially when the topic of strategic planning comes up. Every time they felt they needed to become more efficient, they would hire a team of consultants. I would never suggest that approach for a middle market company.
Back when I worked in banking, I was with one of the largest bank holding companies around. I participated in a number of strategic processes like due diligence review of potential acquisitions. Between the attempts at stealth, the compressed time frames, the lack of sleep and the poor coordination, the outcome was a crap shoot. Maybe the scarier thing was the money they wasted on internal strategic improvements. I was a part of one such effort, managed by external consultants, where the stated goal was to improve the efficiency ratio. A year after I left, the ratio was the same or worse.
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.
Based on the experiences I've had with the strategic planning process, I've noted that while the phrase is used, it's a guise for quick fixes, trimming around the edge. There are some very good consultants in this area but they are under a lot of pressure to show results now. Can you think of anything strategic that can be manipulated in the short run?
The strategic planning process for CRM is about creating better long term relationships with your customers. Developing a CRM strategy is critical form CRM success. So don't let the fact that the typical strategic planning process is ripe with failure deter you from developing the plan you need for a successful CRM initiative. Follow some simple steps and you will have great success.
Develop Your CRM Plan - If you don't have a plan, you have no way to guide your company towards customer centricity. This plan will also determine what technology you will need to support it.
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.
Identify CRM Benefits - Clearly identify the knowledge you will gain and how you will apply this knowledge (about your customers) through its collection in your CRM software and customer database.
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.
The Costs of CRM - You know the financial benefits, now you need to pair that up with the costs. Your CFO is more likely to approve a project that has a clear return on investment.
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.
Implementing CRM - OK, now we're to the part that may sound like software. No, implementation of a CRM strategy has more to do with human work flows and processes. Sure, these may be supported by software, but you have to implement the plan over humans first.
Measuring Success - If you know where you want to go, then you should be able to measure your progress and any needed course corrections. - 15246
Back when I worked in banking, I was with one of the largest bank holding companies around. I participated in a number of strategic processes like due diligence review of potential acquisitions. Between the attempts at stealth, the compressed time frames, the lack of sleep and the poor coordination, the outcome was a crap shoot. Maybe the scarier thing was the money they wasted on internal strategic improvements. I was a part of one such effort, managed by external consultants, where the stated goal was to improve the efficiency ratio. A year after I left, the ratio was the same or worse.
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.
Based on the experiences I've had with the strategic planning process, I've noted that while the phrase is used, it's a guise for quick fixes, trimming around the edge. There are some very good consultants in this area but they are under a lot of pressure to show results now. Can you think of anything strategic that can be manipulated in the short run?
The strategic planning process for CRM is about creating better long term relationships with your customers. Developing a CRM strategy is critical form CRM success. So don't let the fact that the typical strategic planning process is ripe with failure deter you from developing the plan you need for a successful CRM initiative. Follow some simple steps and you will have great success.
Develop Your CRM Plan - If you don't have a plan, you have no way to guide your company towards customer centricity. This plan will also determine what technology you will need to support it.
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.
Identify CRM Benefits - Clearly identify the knowledge you will gain and how you will apply this knowledge (about your customers) through its collection in your CRM software and customer database.
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.
The Costs of CRM - You know the financial benefits, now you need to pair that up with the costs. Your CFO is more likely to approve a project that has a clear return on investment.
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.
Implementing CRM - OK, now we're to the part that may sound like software. No, implementation of a CRM strategy has more to do with human work flows and processes. Sure, these may be supported by software, but you have to implement the plan over humans first.
Measuring Success - If you know where you want to go, then you should be able to measure your progress and any needed course corrections. - 15246
About the Author:
Mike Boysen is an experienced CRM consulting and founder of Effective CRM Consulting. You can read more about the strategic planning process at his blog
