June 13, 2008

Rebuild Your Database Marketing Department: Part 5

Create The Strategic Plan For Year Two

You are ten months into your rebuilding project.

You know your team, their strengths, their weaknesses. You know what your company needs. You know the capabilities of your vendor team. You picked up all of the low-hanging fruit.

It is time to set your strategic vision for year two of your rebuilding project.

This requires you to collaborate with many audiences.
  • You need input from your Executive Leadership Team.
  • You need input from key employees in the company.
  • You need input from your leadership team.
The strategic plan for year two outlines what you will be working on, what you need resources for, and outlines how the company benefits from the investment they will make in your team.

You have thoroughly measured everything about customer behavior --- this knowledge is the basis for the strategic plan.

You'll probably need a significant investment in systems in order to accomplish your goals. The strategic plan tells folks why systems must be improved, and is defended by facts about your customers. If you don't get "x", the company fails to generate profit totaling "y".

The strategic plan tells your team what they need to focus on in the upcoming year. The strategic plan tells your Executive Co-Workers what you will be focusing on. The strategic plan informs the company what your team will do to drive the bottom-line.

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:24 PM

    Hi Kevin,
    First off, thanks for posting on this subject. While I am in a different area(operations), many of your suggestions are spot on for building any department.
    Four points:
    1. You started off by saying that 8 of the 10 people quit due to your expectations. Given that the expectations are not out of the norm, which ones did you find were the final straw for those 8?
    2.The two that stayed---what were their advancement plans like initially and how did they change over the course of your reign? Did they meet that plan?
    3. How many of the 8 were you able to replace? When it comes to hiring I am guessing your department is low on the HR list so even if failed to meet your expectations, was the loss of manpower worth it?
    4. Part 5 starts off with pushing for new systems--am I correct in presuming software? If so I am curious with how successful you were with your wishlist. Were new software systems absolutely necessary> The reason I ask is that everyone new to a position thinks new software is the answer, which sometimes the software does make a difference. However, in my experience, if the processes and practices themselves are not addresses first then you are just putting a bandaid over a gunshot wound.
    Thank you.
    K

    ReplyDelete
  2. The final straw was different for each individual.

    The advancement plans for those who stayed were actually not well conceived. I think each person simply appreciated a positive environment with a change in leadership.

    We were able to replace every person and add headcount.

    We fired our database vendor and built a new database in-house.

    ReplyDelete

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