Hi [[FirstName]],

Welcome to the new year. I hope you had a safe and happy holiday season. It's time to get back to work and make this your best year yet.

Today I want to talk to you about what I believe is one of the most important things you can do related to succefully implementing your marketing plan - scheduling and conducting regular review sessions. The process of planning is much more important than the actual plan document. In order to get the greatest value from your marketing plan, you must review it on a regular basis.

Even if you have not finished your 2010 plan, take out your calendar right now and schedule your review sessions.

What should you do in these reviews? Here are some suggestions to get you started on the right track.

Review your assumptions. Whenever you make a plan or budget, you have to make assumptions. You make those assumptions with the best knowledge you have at the time. We all know that things change, so make sure you review your plan assumptions.

Use metrics or key performance indicators (KPIs) in your reviews. You don’t need to go crazy with developing KPIs. Try to develop a few that will give you a good measure of what drives value for your customers. Also, try to establish some KPIs that are leading indicators vs. just measuring dollars spent or other lagging indicators. Here are a few KPIs that you may want to consider:

• Referrals given
• Project turnaround time
• Percentage of revenue from “ideal” vs.  “non-ideal” customers
• Customer initiated calls for something they know you don’t do (they rely on you as a source)
• Meaningful comments on your blog
• Share of customer wallet
• Average call back time
• Conversations with members of the press

Don't just implement all of the above KPIs. Find KPIs that make sense for your business.

Don’t review your plan alone. Most business owners enjoy greater success in implementing their plans when they make themselves accountable to someone. Include members of your team in the review process. If you work alone, find another business owner and review your marketing plans together. Work with a SCORE or SBDC consultant. Review your plan with your CPA. Or hire a marketing coach.

Review and update milestones. You don’t need a sophisticated project plan in order to track milestones. Just make a list and celebrate the victories as you complete the milestones and cross them off the list.

Make sure you tactics flow from your strategy. When we begin working on a marketing plan, we spend a lot of time making sure that we put strategy before tactics. That is, we work on being crystal clear on defining our ideal Customer Profile and our Core Difference. Only when we have a solid strategy in place do we begin selecting tactics that support our strategy. As time passes, it is important to follow this principle and not fall back into the “marketing idea of the week syndrome”. Before deciding to implement a new marketing tactic, evaluate it against your marketing strategy.

Get those review sessions on your calendar and make 2010 your most profitable year yet.

Bill
913.962.9261

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