Growth Planning: Q&A with Nick Sargent, VP and Growth Strategy Practice Lead

Join us as Nick Sargent, Vice President and Growth Strategy Practice Lead at Standing Partnership, discusses the importance of growth planning for your company and smart steps teams can take for ongoing success.

Q: What needs to be done to prepare and begin the growth planning process? 

A: One of the most important things teams can do to prepare for growth planning is to understand where you are as you begin this process. Good questions to ask include:

• What were the goals you set for the year, and are you going to meet them?
• What are the organizational focus areas for the coming year: what’s the big picture and what is your part in achieving these goals?
• What does growth mean for your team and organization?
• Are there other teams or dependencies you need to work with when developing your goals?

To help achieve alignment, dig deeper into the company goals and ask what success looks like for your team and the company.

Q: Who should be part of the planning discussions? 

A: Selecting the right participants really depends on the goals. When Standing Partnership helps marketing teams plan, we don’t just bring in marketing team stakeholders. We ask the team to identify the teams and people they work with who are integral to achieving the overall goals and bring them into the conversation.

Take time before you start planning to identify those integral teams and players, and make sure you agree on what success looks like and where to focus during the coming year.

Q: How does Standing Partnership help clients identify business goals, KPIs, priorities and so on? 

A: The most significant role Standing Partnership plays in growth planning is coming in from the outside and being that observant third party, providing a consultative voice that asks: How do we work together to achieve your goals?

We have the advantage of not having a stake in any one area, enabling us to ask questions and get alignment within the organization. Our job isn’t about getting agreement on every little detail; it’s understanding the overarching strategy — the big strokes and goals — and achieving consensus to work in that direction.

A plan shouldn’t be something static that you only visit once a year, however. We come back every quarter and review the results and KPIs to see if you’re reaching your goals or if adjustments are needed.

Q: What considerations should teams make when developing a marketing plan?  

A: It’s really important to consider the short- and long-term goals and resource those correctly. It can be easy to ask, “What numbers do I need to achieve this month, quarter or year to meet those goals?”

It can be vastly different, and more difficult, to ask, “What do I need to start testing now because we know our focus is going to shift next year?”

In this light, the most important consideration is how you balance your efforts to make sure you’re achieving the now while building the foundation for growth in the future.

Q: How should teams work to ensure their plans are optimized and pursue set business objectives?  

A: The number one thing — and this may make most marketing professionals cringe — is to put a process in place regarding how you’re going to achieve and measure goals.

Following the process to see what works gives your team the creativity to try new things, while remaining connected to delivering results based on metrics that align with your goals. Planning, testing and making results-based tweaks to your plan can save money and move the strategy in ways that help teams achieve success over time — focusing on big picture goals instead of grabbing for every shiny penny.

Q: As teams are working on their plans, are there any common mistakes or assumptions to avoid? 

A: There are two points to remember that will seem contradictory, but teams need to balance both and not rely too much on one over the other.

1. Don’t rely on the past or assume that what you’ve done will continue to work. You can’t assume what worked last year will work next year, so you need to continue to evaluate what worked and what needs to change because the client or scenario will always change.
2. Don’t change too much of what’s worked in the past. If you’re changing too much, are you throwing out the good with the bad? How can you figure out what really brought success and what fell flat if you change everything? This is when a knowledgeable, industry-savvy third-party team like Standing Partnership can really help.

Finally, the most important thing to know about planning is that the best time to put together a plan is yesterday, and the next best time is today. When you have a plan, you can periodically evaluate what works and refocus your team’s efforts on the changes that will result in success.

If you would like to talk to a member of the Growth Strategy team at Standing Partnership about putting together a plan for your business, email inquiries@standingpartnership.com today.