So with that in mind, let's now turn to look at what's happening with the difference between those things you need to do to get into the market or the qualifiers on those things that you need to do to win in that market. And this is where something called the importance performance metrics comes together. So I'll take you through how it's developed. Using a simple case study that were involved with on looking at how we can apply in your situation. What we do is to talk to customers and understand what it is that provides a Christian advantage. Why come to you as opposed to somebody else? What is the reason that we get three different levels off evaluation off that strength if you like? Is it a week strength, medium or strong strength? That means that people give me the work order winners. What are those things you do that they fully expected to do up to a profession standard close to the rest median or slightly better than the professional standards? So those will be the qualifies. But equally important, I think many firms struggled with this is what are you doing that is not particularly important to the client on what we see here are three different levels. So the way that we've done it, we've gone to the market. We've used different interventions two ways off. Talking to cast customers, clients of law firms understanding exactly what's going on to look at those order winners qualifiers on those things, less he bought. Excluded. When you've got a finite amount of money, time, effort to spend, where would you be putting your efforts? So what does this mean? Well, let me take you through an example. What we were doing was to work with a a company that was into intellectual property. They were patent attorneys. They were doing brand registrations, etcetera, trademarks and so on and so forth. They did a whole variety of different things, and they wanted to go and test what was going to be important to customers. So what we did would looked at eight different areas. We looked at their ability to provide good, meaningful solutions to the problems that the client group had. What activities fell under the heading of client care, what the documentation looked like when it appeared to and how easy it was to follow and so forth. They have case management system. They were they able to deliver what they said they would do? They sponsored various activities they had flexible services on. Do they charge their clients? Now, when I tell you that we were dealing with WAAS patent attorneys, they were based in West London, Andi. They were very, very proud of their technical competence. They only recruited people who had jewel qualifications not only in Smet science, technology, engineering, mathematics on they were dealing with 13 spin out companies from University College, London on Imperial College, London. So some of the top tier off the London based universities producing a lot of intellectual property in science, technology, environments, biotech and so forth on what they wanted to do was to find out what it waas that that the 13 key spin up companies that we're providing getting on to 80% of their work. Now when I tell you that these people were charging £650 per hour, that's an eye watering them out. Of course, if you're working in legal aid, but there were 13 individuals that were deciding who they would use and the problem this pact attorney had was that there was another group patent attorneys up in Cambridge on they were losing some work to those people in Cambridge on this group in west London, said, Well, that's just not right. We want to know why. Because we'd like to win a bit more off that work. Why would be used to those schmucks their terms up the M 11 in Cambridge and not to their work in West London, which was, after all, a little bit closer? So my job was to go on interview 13 individuals now this was quite easy to do. They're all London based, So it was easy to go to the Royal College in South Men's. It is easy to go into Camden. It was easy to visit some of these companies on talk to people who decided who they would use act attorneys for their quite remarkable intellectual property patent attorneys, where they would only recruit people from Oxford or Cambridge University's that had that policy on some surfing. They said domain that they only recruited from Oxbridge and I thought they said Oxbridge and I couldn't quite work out. What's so important about experts been to college that myself many, many years ago. Anyway, what I did was to have a conversation and looking at these things and got the people to evaluate the efforts of this West London patent attorney on this nine point scale. Now you remember that 123 waas Very, very important. 456 waas expected to be to a professional standard and 789 was not important. Very important. Maybe come. So So what we going to do is just 13 people toe effectively tick a box on the mean off. Those 13 conversations produced this result. Okay. Obviously technical competence was really important to them. Care was important Service flexibility on also the cost decline. Costing is not just the amount that they pay a price. We've been through that already, but the costal working with these people and so on so forth delivery, dependability. While they wanted that to be a good professional standard case management was what they expected. Documentation. Waas will documentations documentations documentation and sponsorship wasn't particularly important. Although possibly it may become so That was the average the mean of these 13 conversations when actually they sponsored a youth orchestra. It was quite interesting now. I presented this slide exactly as it stands here, and I pasted it into the data law stack. What reaction do you think the partners off the patent attorneys gave to this evaluation of importance? Well, what they focused on, of course, was technical solution. They realized that that was very important. They thought they were technically quite brilliant. And therefore life was good. They tended to ignore the rest of it. Well, OK, that's one dimension. But the second half of my conversation was to say, Okay, well, that's what's important to you thinking about the patent attorneys in West London. How do you judge their performance against those people in Cambridge or the other service providers? Years? I wasn't specific about Cambridge, but the other providers of I p work intellectual property work on. Were they better then competitors Considerably clearly or little bit better, sort of scale of better. Were they pretty much the same about the same, sometimes more, sometimes less about the same as the other people years? Or were they worse than the competition in any particular area? So I should see here. It's quite important parameter to look at when you're thinking about what you do on how relevant and important that is to the competition and now how it compares. And that's a very important thing if you're a me to win the hearts and minds of clients. So what we did was to take the same parameters the same areas on get the deciders. The decision makers in the spin out companies to evaluate on this is what we found on. Technically, they were really very, very good. The documentation was exceptional. Sponsorship was very good and so on and so forth. But their client care was very poor. That cost the client was also, um, that they charged a lot. One of the value statements that were coming were quite poor as well. So here we've got two very, very important parameters. I guess sitting there watching this on line, you're thinking yourself. Well, I can see what I would do to put this right, because you can see the balance of these two things. So this matrix looks a bit like this across the bottom. We've got what's important to customers. Over on the right hand side of those things, you get these right, give you work in the middle for five sixes. While we expect this to be a good standard on, then the the 789 is gonna be less important. Then over on the left hand side, the why access. We've got me performance against competition at the top of better than the competition the middle, same as seven at night. Worse than now, Quite clearly, there is a line across the middle here, which is a boundary off acceptability, because if you are in any particular way below that line that clearly it would be sensible to improve your performance in those key areas on. If you're in the southeast corner down here on the bottom, right then there's urgent action because you are worse than the competition of things that need urgent action that will help you get in the market for work and actually win it a very important thing. Nothing to notice above. The night is all Wikipedia. You're above that. I'm well done. That's good. So keep that up. But looking over to the the northwest corner here, why would you be better than the competition that think that goat matter you're wasting your time, money, effort resources. So let's take the coordinates off these two halves of study the performance on then the importance on Have a look now, taking exactly the figures that you saw on. I'm starting this into this format on this is what I showed to the partnership on. What if you were a partner of this particular firm? Would your reaction be, well, the technical solution with brilliance expecting the competitions are lovely on life was good. Documentation was better than it needed to be, but they were quite happy that they wanted to print on 1 60 GSN twice. A stick with a piece of paper you're probably looking at on your desk is that nominee and 80 GSM papers. That's twice a stick. Is that like card? Almost. But as you can see down in the southeast corner, the client care was important to these spin out companies. But the patent attorneys in West London performed very badly. They also were not performing very well it all on their cost. A client which wasn't just the fact that they joined £650 an hour, but there was other things they were a difficult group to deal with. on looking at that, it's fairly obvious. I think, what you would think about this as to what you would do. You clearly need to work on your client care. Clearly, we need to deal with your cost, a quiet which are related. Of course, the cost of doing business with somebody is differently of engagement, the differently of seeing the difficulty of getting to inform and so on, so forth. The other thing you'll notice is on the north west side of this, the top left hand side sponsorship. They are better than the competition and sponsorship, but something that isn't particularly important on that is because they sponsored youth orchestra. But these were spin out companies from University College, London on Imperial College and, of course, the top tier of the science technology in the southeast of England, therefore, probably widened well. They were sponsoring a youth orchestra. Why? Because the niece off one of the partners played the drum bow in school Brass band on they firm. It's faulted the tournament in the wilderness. They just outside the knocked down in Paris one year that provide the coach and so forth. So what were they doing here? they were spending money on something that didn't really matter. Remember what we said earlier on in this section about various marketing initiatives being driven by the interests of a small number of people? So the relatively simple concept is to evaluate the importance to customers on, then evaluate your performance against the competition. From that simple evaluation, you could begin to get a map off where you need to put your effort where you need to improve in. This firm needed to drop the amount of money spending on sponsorship and start spending. Some investment in better client care activities on make themselves a little bit easier to deal with because their technical solution was so strong on that was better than the competition. They thought that was good enough that then the client would form an orderly, a orderly queue across west London and come to see them as and when they were damn already. Of course, from that's it a very difficult concept put across in this environment when the pick up in Cambridge were very keen to hop on the train on, come down and visit on see them, so there were a lot easier to deal with seems very simple, hair of quite obvious, but unfortunately, this firm thanked me very much of my hand. War may reinforce their technical competence, and they thought that was marvelous. But unfortunately, firm is no longer there has been most with Nella on. Things have had to change. So I hope that's been useful for you on if you'd like to explore that a bit further than obviously get in touch. So having sorted out the importance performance matrix, you're beginning an idea for where to put the focus of effort. Where to do those things that are more liking to get for Andy Keep customers. What I'd like to move on to now is to have a look at something called the benefit Analysis. What is always about, well, benefits, as the definition on screen suggests something that eventual rewards from doing something. So what other benefits that your clients get from engaging you from that particular offer? A proposal that come from you because your firm has features remember people employed sits location. It's experiences, expertise is reputation, etcetera etcetera, but your clients, by benefits it was struck May. We're looking here at computers and online Every time I go into Theo, the PC world or something like that, I see cards there. Tell May that computers have got so many gigabytes or terabytes of this on the super V G A car. They are listed as features, features, features, features, features. Well, they don't tell me is what it does for me, and I know I'm a particular age and therefore not contesting, but it wouldn't matter. I just want to know whether the computer was big enough to do what I want fast enough to do what I want. Andi has the sort of things that I need to do, because when I buy a computer, I'm not buying technical spend specifications. I'm buying what you do for me. It's a bit like cars. I mean, all those years ago, I'd be happy to strip the issue color Beretta, replace the needle on, adjusted accordingly and set up a bank of four cooperators across the motorcycle. That's what. Well, good, but I don't want to know the features off anything. I want to know what it will do for me, and your clients are no different. So what I want to do is to take you through a very straightforward process that helps you analyze what it is you do and put it in terms that clients want to hear. And that's really what benefit analysis is all about. So benefit analysis recognizes that you and I are both in the problem solving business. You solve legal problems on behalf of your clients. I saw training problems on behalf of data law. And indeed, I hope you feel that by watching this program that some of the training ideas and solutions that I provide to you are actually helping you solve business problems about how to keep a win and keep kind. So recognizing that clients have various levels of needs, wants desires means that we can adapt our story conversations are presentation our proposals two kinds in such a way that means something to them, needs wants and desires. Of course, they're not the same thing this evening. You probably will need some food. You might want chicken and you desire chicken korma, so it's varying levels of what we need to do in to understand what it is. The parents looking for is to make sure that we satisfied those desires so What we don't need to do is to say OK, let's look at ourselves and define what features we have. What advantage does that give the client over and above going to competition on Ultimate Express that in terms of benefits so features advantages? Benefits can be cast in tablets of stone, but really, what you need to talk about are the benefits. So what I've done created this in the workbook is to provide you with resource that you can use this beyond this program to analyze what's going on and you'll see this on Page 21 will be able to explain what's going on on Die, then give you some 10 plates, which are landscape former bassist 22 23 24 25. OK, page is there to help you through that? Let me show you what I mean. What we're trying to do is to think about a particular client. What are the things that are a particular appeal to somebody? Then we'll have looking. What features off your firm products or services will illustrate these particular issues. What is it about? And with that picture, we can apply the very simple phrase which means that and turn those features into advantages. So these features, which means that what does those features provide? What is it that client gets on? One of those tangible benefits can be expressed, give maximum appeal? And then we could back that up. It's proof to support the claim that we're making. So let's look at this five step process, which again? You've got that on Page 22 toe. Have a kill yourself, and I've been inviting you to do that in a moment. Let's think about a given. Clark doesn't matter what it is that's trying to panic. Broad brush. It could be P. I could be some legal aid work. It could be commercial client, but it may be that the client is concerned that things them correctly, attention to detail will be important and also done promptly. So there are delays. Well, that's probably very common. So okay, that's what it's off particular appeal. So that's the first column to think through. What is it in particular? That this type of client is actually gonna be looking? So when we look at our own firm, Well, what have we got that will suggest that we can give attention detail what? Clearly, having qualified solicitors who have that sort of thing attention to legal detail is obviously going to be an important feature on how do we know what we done on time? Well, we have invested in the latest case management software that will track what's going on, flag up key dates and so on and so forth. So that's the future. That's what it is. So qualified solicitors. Watts The volume teach. What does that provide the client open above some other entity that may do the work from Will's writing service or claims handlers or whatever it might be So qualified solicitors. They provide technical expertise, cholera, points, listers, which means that they provide technical expertise. And that's the process that we're looking at. Which means that the key words the latest management software well, when the client here is that what they're doing subconsciously, is to use that phrase, Which means what? Which means that from a document tracking ladies can case managers off Elektronik document tracking over That's gonna be good. So obviously that means something. So what is technical expertise mean? That means what that means. The job gets done to the highest standards. Uh, and I think that the professional sector, the professional sectors of Lord look on accounts and veterinary medicine zone so forth very, very important from the point of view off delivering some of the highest standards off the profession. And qualified solicitors with their technical expertise, do provide the job to the highest possible standards. Elektronik Document tracking. What does that mean? Well, one of the things it might mean this illustrates the point made me more than one benefit. But one particular benefit means they're less stress from lost documents and delays. So we're taking features. And if you keep talking to clients about features that haven't to go through this mental process, what does that mean? What advantage does this firm give the man a firm wouldn't. And what's the ultimate benefit for me? So what we have to look at here is to identify what is a particular appeal. What particular features of your organization make you stand out? What advantage does that give? Which is why client should come to you rather than somebody else down the street on what is the ultimate benefit they get because what people buy is the ultimate benefit on sometimes it's fairly straightforward what a future means in terms off the benefits. But if people don't understand the features, they won't work out what the benefits are. So, for example, I have absolutely no idea what a super VJ card is, But I'm I assume that it's a good thing to have. I have no idea. I suppose that a super V G A card is better than an ordinary V G A card in a laptop, but I don't know quite what advantage it gives me over an ordinary deejay car. I don't even know P G. Stansell. Police don't write it. Tell me so I can't make sense of that because it doesn't tell me what my benefits are. But if it told me that because this laptop has got these features, which means that it has this advantage, which means that so I understood what it all meant. I'm not actually sees benefits tentacles. Life will be good. But because technology companies and all sorts of science, technology, engineering, math type businesses, techie businesses really love their technical story, they're going to tell you a technical story. I spent a lot of my formative marketing years in pharmaceuticals on, there were plenty of features of new entities new products that came out. But when we interviewed those who would describe it by June peas are hospital doctors or what have you The features didn't mean very what advantage do this product give over existing product on Ultimate? What is the benefit couched in terms off patient benefits? So it was so important for the company's not to talk about the technical aspect of their product, but the benefit in terms of patient compliance or or a poly pharmacy where more than one drug is being taken. So so for that is what the GP wanted to hear because he or she I was focus very much on the ultimate benefit for patient care are not particularly interested in the technical features. So bang on about the technical features of what you do. But think about it in terms of what this means for the client as to why to come to you not go somewhere else, and ultimately what benefit you provide, couched in both practical logical reasons as well as emotional reasons. Which apartment? Parcel off the buying process when you've done that analysis, then the final step is to say, Well, okay, how? Dwight Back that up. So what about qualified solicitors? What proof got? Well, the qualification Accreditation High writes audience. Insects, etcetera. On those are the things that demonstrate that the job will be done to the highest standards. How do I know that I can demonstrate there's gonna be less stress from delay is, well, client feedback says Thanks for doing this. So probably thank you for lightning by concerns are anxiety about my particular matter because that is the key thing. It's the benefits proof elements that one is communicating both in your publicity's e and your online work. Your written on audio communications deployments. They're talking about benefits, proof and also at an individual level for people like you on your own on the phone, dealing with clients when they make first contact. That is the thing that is taking them through the buying process. What am I getting? The benefits? That's interesting. The proof is conviction. I want it desire. Action. Where do I start? Where do I sign? Send me a contract. Let me come and see you, whatever. Whatever it is that starts the case management off So features advantages benefits a very, very fundamental car off work to do, because when those are thought through carefully, it then means that welcome. Start to build that into a structured, sensible plan for yourself, your department, your firm to approach its particular market. So this final element off the construct here is to give you the opportunity of putting together a very clear plan of how you approach the market to get a customer or, indeed, to keep customer. In my experience of writing marketing plans, I think learning from my own failure that we can over complicate the process produced document that really impressive if you were submitting it for a diploma in marketing. But not actually if it was going to be for a modest entity, a firmer department that's going to be looking at expanding his business. I think that plans that are over complicated over analytical will look good on the shelf, but I don't want them to stay on the shelf. I'd like to cover all come out, be used in practice. So what I'm gonna do is to demonstrate how you can write a marketing plan for yourself for the way that you're going to increase business or indeed, for your department, how it is going to increase business or indeed, firm. Overall, I think it really starts with knowing the right questions to ask. As much as finding else's questions, I think find the answers is relatively straightforward. If you only knew the questions to ask the beginning. So the fundamental outline is where I will start, then give you a very straightforward and structure to your analysis. And I will demonstrate how you could get a comprehensive marketing plan, all two sides of a four, plus an attachment that explains who does want my way, but essentially all the reasons behind what you're doing. So the people can regularly look at it, act on it, review it adapted and so forth. And there's such a lot of things going on in marketing planning. I think one of the best things out without a plan, you can't change it. In other words, people got a starting point with a clear idea of what what you want to do and how you might go about doing it. The practice of implementing and reviewing means that you're able to come back on modify as a result of that review. Is it still? Are we still on track? Are we heading where we're going? Should we be a little bit more ambitious? A little bit less ambitious should be used. More resources, less resources? Because when we looked at things like the answer matrix, it was all about managing risk on If you're the manager or owner of a business, then it is your money that you are risking. So being able to put these things together in a way that makes no sense and makes things easy to follow for May makes good business practice. So what are some of those questions that we should be asking? I hope you feel that by this stage within the program, you've got a fair idea of the sorts of questions that you should be asking about the market, how it operates, and, indeed, how it makes decisions to come brief you with new work. But while the fundamental questions starts with what are you trying to achieve? If we understand what you're, why is then where what are you trying to achieve for your organization now? What's quite interesting anywhere else people. What's your plan? Generally, your overview going forward, I asked how many firms trying to grow? Most people, when I ask, put a hand up, said, Yeah, we're trying to grow. Well, okay, that's fine. There's two ways of growing course. Either the market itself is growing, in which case you just need to keep your share of it and then you grow. Or the only other way to grow cake is to take a larger slice off that cake from the competition. So if you are going to grow, is that in line with the way in which the market is growing? Or are you going to grow by taking from competition on? I think that that needs to be thought through fairly carefully. What is the objective off the organization? When we were a partnership off three myself, John Pat will test. We had three partners on a number of employees, but after their retirement, on certain situations going on in my own position, I have to take a very Kate decision. Was I going to replace those partners with two others where we're going to maintain business, grow it in the way in which were the type of work doing. Or were we going to re evaluate the way our business model and so on, so forth on that took a lot off fought through on that produced for us a number of years ago? The turn of the century, a plan which we call 22 divisions of a 20 year plan? Well, that's one type of plan you might have that's very substantial, but equally you may have a relatively shorter plan, so each period 1 may have a particular planning cycle that always links to the taxation periods. We pay corporation tax. We have annual tax to return were limited company companies house except etcetera must will be sorted out by the accountants. But we may look at our organization and say, What is the objective on? Can we quantify that give some sort of time line to it. So when we're looking at objectives, I'll take you through a little acronym that we can use to make sure that we're running quite a smart business. But we need to be very clear about what that is, and also whether or no the market will allow us to do that, we might have great ambition. But how are we going to do that? Well, the competition allow us to do it, or is the market growing there? Some of you, of course, working in very sectors, will know that the sector may be declining, while others may be growing, but needs to understand. Remember what the importance performance matrix is all about is understanding the difference between what's happening in a macro environment outside on the in term environment inside, When those two come together, you then have defined objective. That is a balance between macro economics on the outside as well as interior microbe events occurring in your phone. But that should help qualify on clarify the objective of the organization. There's a fundamental question, then the next one is, Well, why declines like us? This is the Seven Seas marketing we looked at. One of the what's the value that they are getting from us understanding that will be important to using the seven C analysis. Getting conversation reports to test it work it out will be very, very important. Then we can decide what's our overall approach to the market strategy. So do we want to be the lowest cost producer, which means that we've got the highest volume in the sector on there are some people out there doing slips and trips. Person injury, actually actively promote for slips and trips on. They have a high volume of work, and they have people sitting in a former warehouse. I kid you not 50 people attached to PCs on earphones, telephones and so on on. They have very, very easy cost leadership have once the stern 50 caseworkers and they do have that constantly ship. But this anyone could get costly issue in a sector. So you may say what we want to be different from the competition with the seven seas will help guide you on what is a competitive differential. It may be that you have something that is unique. A unique selling proposition. It may be that with a combination of things, you identify what it is that makes you better or different from the other people on the high street. And then you may say, Well, OK, are we going to be a generalised or a specialist on? Uh uh, That's so the degree to which one would get focused in a particular sector or particular client group, for example. So that gives you a few pointers to say, Okay, one is our overall approach to the market built on the experience we have thus far. Then we can decide. Well, how do we break that that up? How do we segment our business? So we may be looking at petty crime. We may be looking at white collar crime. We may be looking at fraud. We may be looking There is segments of the off the criminal offence market. We may segment business in other different ways. So depending on what business you're in, you may go for high net worth individuals, or you may go for different sectors. You may look out landlords with X number of properties or tenant work, that sort of thing. So slicing it up segment, it achieves focus because in trying to be all things to all people dilutes your message. And remember, the raspberry general doesn't taste too good to be spreading to Philly. Statement the various bits and pieces and approach the appropriate parts of it. So from there, one can get a simple one line statement of what is the competitive advantage. What makes you the sort of firm the client speed a path to your door if all of that must come down being able to do that quite hard, but very powerful because anybody then reading plan says this is what we're about and it becomes part off the culture of the firm that flossing the firm. The brand competitive advantage should become the brand on Do remember that just being a sinister on the high street with brass back outside your front door is not a competitive advantages. Competitive Teoh claims companies or will writers of various sorts and so on and so forth? But it doesn't distinguish you from others who also have a brass plate outside their front door. So that then says, Let's define our pirate tights where they're going to be property values probably locations that sort of thing. Value off clients meet firms that are dealing with high net worth individuals where their personal household balance sheet is a Teesta 1,000,000 with the property value on pension values and so on and so forth. But that's the sort of client they're going for. Then they may identify the potential client again by some segment or other. This is a little very important to do because it gets that focus on applying the rounds for general, of course, very important. Then we need to write some good objectives, and Smart is the acronym. I'll take you through what that means. In a moment we'll be very clear about what they are because from there we could then identify what's the best way of reaching clients in that sector if its property developers, we can write too many. If it's the House Sellers House buyers, we may advertise in the local online sites, so we may go for free sheets of these papers and so on and so forth or whatever, all through some social media or what have you remember? My suggestion is that looting yourself to more than five key strategies to get clients beating a path your whip page with dilute your efforts quite a bit, serving very clear about what they should be our commercial sectors, seminars or something like that. Then we can decide what you need to spend to achieve above. Now that sounds are very simple and wants to take that a throwaway line. But what you'll see here is that the last question. All the sheet ask you to say, What is the budget you see so often? Businesses look at their last year's turnover. Last year's expenditure on marketing have a bit of a wet finger in the air. What are we gonna do next year? Well, if we do about the same or plus a few percent for inflation, that we should be up there, which means that we can afford to spend X tens of thousands on marketing 5 10 53 wherever sized businesses on go away and work out how we're going to spend it now that is putting the cart before the horse. Because if you have a budget to spend, do let me know, because I I'm very good at spending somebody else's money, and I could get you awards for the marketing. I've done that quite a bit, but that's not the way to do it. If you're running your own business, if you're going to try and win customers keep customers, then you need to answer those fundamental questions. And as you can see, there's eight smart questions to answer. Then we can decide what the budget should be, because if you are going to fund your growth organically. You may want to start with budget, but I think answering those questions is very, very important to decide whether your budget actually needs to be fully allocated or not, or whether or not you can allocate it through some other device, whether or not you need to go for it from the bank. Because if your marketing was sorted out very well and you could organically afford to spend 10,000 on your marketing to win a certain amount of business, we have good business basis. Go to the bank, borrow 10 on produce twice as much, unpaid at 10. Maybe a good thing to do if you were ambitious to expand your business in a particular way. So for me, I like to get firms in conversation with me answering those questions because from there one could be begin to identify what sort of expenditure on what sorts tools may be appropriate, rather than actually starting with budget and then deciding how to spend it. So with all those things in mind and lots and lots of searching answers to those questions is not something one can do in five minutes. Of course, as you probably already gathered by. Listening to me now is it should bring it then into a good plan rather than it being written on the back off folk packet. As the illustration might suggest. Let's see if we can put it into some sort of document would be a lot clearer now that in order to illustrate this on Page 26 27 off the workbook, you'll have a plan that's come from a firm we worked with on the South Coast was looking at building their probate business. Okay, on these were the key headings on the example Within the notes. We'll show you what to say. So what's the aim or objective? Starting with off the overall intention off the business or its department to be clarified in 12 lines, Then to identify what the key client benefits are, you remember Features Advantage, benefit analysis. We talked through amount to go, then be able to identify what it is that that clients are going to getting, particularly your kites, to be able to define that quite clearly, and you'll see it's old book. There's a couple of benefits from their recon then decide Well, okay, How will we approach the market? How do we communicate those benefits? What's the best way of doing that? And that could be put together in a line. The clarity of thinking says, Well, this will. This is what makes us better different from the other people who also provide what were aimed divide. We can recognize that we are a little bit better different on that Maybe importance performance analysis that you've done that will begin to point those things out again. That's a line or two. Then one starts to say, Well, OK, where are those clients going to be coming from? Is it market penetration? ISAT the same sort of sector provided how the service is. So he is a new service or is it going to be? Some services were taking to new areas. Client profile becomes important from there, and this is the rest of the plan. Is who's going to do what? What are the activities that done? Whose task is it to complete those activities and when, as it got to be done by on the bottom of that, we can then say OK, how much we're spending on each of the activities on who by name, is responsible for actually delivering those sorts of things for us and that you give us a very clear picture of what the plan looks like. And as you'll see, it's written on two pages with the actions and budget over on another couple pages. So three pages in all page and 1/2 for the plan on a page and 1/2 for the activity. So with something as concise is that everybody in the firm can be aware of what's being achieved, what we are trying to do and also never forget what we're not trying to do. And I sometimes think it's is important to clarify staff what we're going to do, but also what we are not going to do so that they know where the firm's going. What the focus is on can achieve that the minds of therefore not scattergun approach to all sorts of weird and wonderful opportunities, diluting effort but focusing now in particular areas. Nothing more simple than to monitor those activities on responsibilities on the budget because reviews a particular periods, possibly monthly, certainly at least quarterly runs. Reviewing those activities by having a conversation with individuals who have been tasked with those responsibilities they bought into it. They've collaborated with you developing it, putting forward the ideas, and they've agreed to do these things. And that, of course, becomes a very important part off the overall business planning exercise in order to get and keep customers. I didn't mention this matrix them, but earlier This is just a quick reminder off it that you'll define short, medium, long term approaches to it. And this is just also reminder of General I mentioned on. I do use this little purple box, and I put it up here on the whiteboard behind me from time to time and talk people through what bearing to do on each of those areas will have a sort of time line to them on way have bullet points in each of those particular boxes that helps keep current. That helps it keep alive. And it helps draw on people's contribution to the activities that should there to improving smart objectives. Well, it's an acronym. You may have met it before. I didn't know that people have different ways of expressing particular A on the R stand for but this is my take on it. I think we must be very clear about what's must be achieved. So the objective must be not to grow the business, but to grow what part of the business to be very clear, but what list on. Make sure that its numerous in some way so that we know what's being done now. You may argue that not everything is measurable, but if it isn't, don't do it because they really know whether you've done it or not. Just doing our bit or not being done is indeed a measure the lights in the office today are on. If I take a switch, you'll know they're off off is a measure so measurable Objectives are often financial, but also some new ones in terms of client satisfaction or propensity to return or loyalty or recommendations, and so on. So forth. Now for may be a must be that it is agreed. It's a grade the rate by you, the manager, but also you, the employee, that you're going to achieve these things that you are up for it not being imposed upon, which makes the are realistic. Now, if a was achievable on ours realistic. I think it's a little bit of tautology that both means pretty much the same thing. I think that they some say results orientated well, that means it's specific because it's clear about what it is agreed means. That reminds you to make sure that you don't as a managed right. You do this but get the dialogue to make sure it's a mutual agreement on that. Things are challenging but achievable. Theo are, might be results orientated. It might be resourced. Well, fine. Keep those in mind because they won't be realistic if it's not resourced s. So that's a little bit of a thought about those. But I think those two words there agreed and realistic make for much better objectives. And finally, when must these things be achieved by the sort of time bound bits? So increasing turnover It is all very good. But is that £11 in 10 years, or is it a 1,000,000 in a month? It's got to be recognized as to what it is and whether it is achievable. So there, Well, that's my take on marketing planning, and I hope you'll written Recognize. The plan is a very easy thing to pull together can be pulled together almost as quickly as I've spoken about it in this section, provided you've done that first part of research, research and analysis and discussion and exploring and understanding clarifications down, then the plan itself can come together fairly quickly. That's the sort of approach we take helping firms to approve better business planning.
Part 1
Workbook
3673 Users
41 Courses
143 Reviews