Full Steam Ahead
Throughout our Blue Ocean series, we have focused primarily on finding an unoccupied customer niche. We’ve also covered how to create related marketing messages and how to build an effective Web 2.0 program.
There’s one last area we’d like to address: Will your team go along with the plan?
Yes, I can hear you now: “What kind of question is that? Of course they will!” Um, not so fast.
Getting Everyone On Board
The success of your strategy is reliant upon your people. That includes senior management, production, accounting, customer service, sales, administrative assistants, etc. — all of your people. Each has a different role to play.
We know that client-facing team members – primarily sales and customer service – are the tip of the sword. They are responsible for delivering the message and ensuring a great experience for each client one at a time. Sounds simple, but each person may have their own “unspoken” agenda.
Best Laid Plans of Mice and Management…
We’ve worked with a company that has approximately 3,000 clients and 8 salespeople. We developed a strategic plan to help them get more business from existing clients and fill their pipeline with new prospects. Everyone involved in creating the plan felt confident in its success.
The problem was that the salespeople continued to call on the same existing clients that they always had. Guess what? Sales plateaued. The goals of the strategic plan were not being addressed. Marketing tactics designed to create new opportunities generated lackluster results. Why?
Because the salespeople didn’t focus on the clients with the potential to grow business and seemed unwilling to call on new prospects. They weren’t on the same page as senior management’s strategic plan.
They were out of alignment.
Top 4 Things to Remember About Alignment:
- Create a communication document that provides a simple outline of your plan.
- Share your vision and plan with everyone in the organization – client facing and back office. Ensure everyone understands how important this is to success.
- Amend everyone’s job description, performance review, and even compensation plan to align with the company’s strategic plan. Reward excellent performance that advances your goals.
- Hold regular meetings (both team and organization-wide) to reinforce the vision. The meetings will introduce specific initiatives and review overall company performance.
How About You?
Every organization is different. How are you doing?
If you’d like learn more about alignment’s power to boost your business, feel free to get in touch: [email protected] or 465-0659.