I am writing a whitepaper (or an eBook, I’m not really sure what you call them these days) and it is coming along quite well. It will be a tool to provide a quick, concise diagnostic on where a company (consumer driven manufacturing, but could also be B2B) will need to focus to accomplish their long-term objectives and how far that is from their current position.
A company owner or division head must complete the following step-by-step approach into in order to complete the assessment:
- Determine five-year goals on critical metrics (sales, profit and market share).
- Rate the relative importance of success of several key diagnostics (the book outlines them) in order to reach the goal.
- Rate the company strength in eight (mostly) marketing and demand generating areas.
- The tool will then provide feedback on the necessary level of focus in each area in order to accomplish goals.
The end result looks something like the visual below.
This will be revealing, yet not surprising, for some companies that are good at planning. This will be very eye opening for companies that lack planning discipline or are stuck on a path that does not lead them to success.
My question to you, dear reader, is do you agree with the key metrics – growth rate, market share and profit margin as the key measures of success? And, is there anything I am missing on the diagnostic axes? I can’t give you the assessment questions here, but they will fall along these topics.
With all the brain power of the marketers and managers out there, I am sure there will be some good feedback. Certainly if you disagree or are confused by the entire approach, let me know that as well.
I will share all responses here. Thanks for the feedback — the eBook (white paper) will be ready soon!
