The new business initiative has been planned and deliverables defined, but why did it not product results? Often we define deliverables that actually don’t tie back to tangible business results. The new marketing plan that is never implemented 100%, and thus, does not deliver improved sales results. The new customer service process, that ends up making them more upset. We have all been there.
Do your business initiatives have clear RESULTS defined?
The marketing plan should increase our lead conversion rate 20%, the new customer service process should decrease call wait times by 10%. Clearly defining the results you expect gives your people a clear indicator of whether or not they are hitting the mark.
When defining results use these three guidelines:
- Do we have a baseline to compare against? If not it will be difficult to determine if the initiative had an effect on current results.
- Will a change in this result has a tangible business impact? This will often screen out initiatives that do not matter. TPS reports are great, but they aren’t helping your business!
- Is the desired change in result possible? We all want to increase sales 30%, but the better indicator (result) to measure is likely way before that. Measuring call to FTA conversion ratios would be a good first result to obtain for instance.
This does not mean well documented reports and outcomes are not valuable. It just means that a new marketing plan sitting in a binder is not likely to increase your sales. Whenever you are working on a new initiative make sure you are clear on the results you hope to effect and it will happen.
Our approach to technology planning is always focused on improving business results, not deliverables. Certainly we can setup a new network and server, but will this effort have a positive impact on the business results? If it doesn’t then we need to take another look at what we are doing!