Business Analytics for Sales and Marketing Managers: How to Compete in the Information Age

LAG INFORMATION AS A LINK TO STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES

This book links customer analytics to the company strategy. This linkage becomes particularly strong when it comes to lag information, since its primary purpose is to monitor whether we are about to meet our objectives. As presented in Chapter 2, an organization typically has a strategy (a plan for what it should do within the next year or so). In order for the rest of the organization to execute on this strategy, each department, function, or business process typically is given some objectives (descriptions of what outcome this specific unit is responsible for delivering in order for the overall business strategy to become successful).

Based on these objectives from the organizational strategy, the sales department will make its own sales strategy (again, a plan for how it will achieve its objectives in the coming period). A sales organization typically makes a strategy by selecting and developing the number of campaigns and using the market approach needed in order for it to achieve its objectives within its budget and resources. Finally, performance tracking processes are set in order to monitor the success of the chosen sales strategy at any given time within the strategic period (see Exhibit 7.2). Just as the way we do performance tracking has to be aligned with the way we set objectives, the objectives given to the sales department have to be in a measurable format in order for ends to meet. The general rule for objectives ...