Strategy? We don't need no stinking strategy!
Back around the turn of the millennium there was quite a bit of press lauding the merits of having a CRM strategy. It happens that there was a lot of evidence piling up in support of the idea that a CRM strategy, or a customer-facing strategy of some sort, was one of the best factors for improving your chances of having a CRM program end up making everybody successful rather than making everybody look for a new job. Yours may have been one of the companies that heeded this advice, actually took action, and went out audaciously building a CRM strategy.
Well, my question to all of you is, when was the last time you took a look at it? While it may be OK for things like disaster recovery planning, once-and-done is not a great approach for this kind of planning. A CRM Strategy does require a bit of looking after. Plus, those original reasons for building your Strategy in the first place are still completely valid.
Certainly the chances of stuff changing since the time of putting that strategy together is high. You might even be going after the wrong target now. If for no other reason, it would good just to see if you are shooting for the right moon. On the other hand, maybe you got there, but that is no reason for ignoring your strategy. This just means you now need to set the bar higher – shoot for a higher moon.
When I work with my clients setting strategic targets I often use the metaphor of going from Point A to Point B. The CRM Strategic planning effort is all about choosing a destination and then causing the motion to reach that destination. When you revisit your strategy you need to determine where you are. Did you get to A.5? If so, that means you might be stalled. Did you get to A.95? That means you made it and need to declare victory. Or, maybe you determine that Point B is no longer valid – you need a new letter. However, if you do make it to Point B, once you clean up after your party, look again. Point C is the new B. You need to mobilize again.
So, what do you do? First, dust off the strategy document, and maybe even be so bold as to review it with the others who put it together with you. Next, take account – how far did you get? Finally, take action, for which there are a few choices.
Revise - You may find that your original plan has not taken you completely to your destination. That’s OK, things change. Modify the plan and get things back on track Keep pushing.
Revitalize – Sometimes the original plan was just fine. However, you all got so busy fighting fires that you got lost a bit. In this case I recommend rekindling the fire – get the sizzle back in your CRM program. There is nothing like a re-launch with some balloons and confetti (or at least donuts) to get things mobilized again.
Repeat – Don’t stop now – you have momentum on your side. Success breeds success and there is no better way to create a CRM strategy than on the heels of one that just succeeded. Go through the strategic planning process again, but this time with a few things a bit different. First, you are experts now, so you can do it relatively faster. Also, you probably learned a few things the first time around, so take those into account (like invite marketing to the table from the beginning rather than asking them as an afterthought part of the way through the process).