Managing Forward: A Template, Stage 5

By Larry Freed

This is part five of the ForeSee Blog’s Managing Forward series. Read the first part of the Managing Forward series here, part two here, part three here and part four here.

In the fifth stage of the managing forward template found in my book, Managing Forward: How to Move from Measuring the Past to Managing the Future, I talk about the importance of benchmarking in today’s ultra-competitive market.

Stage Five:  Benchmark Broadly

Competition does not exist solely in your category or industry.  Businesses compete for a share of wallet against all purchases.  Benchmarking performance against competitors is important, but so is benchmarking against top performers in other spaces.  Learn from what makes others successful as well as from what others do wrong.  Learning from mistakes others make is a lot less painful than learning from your own.

For example, if you sell products online you almost certainly compete not just with your direct competitors but also with companies like Amazon.  Even if you do not compete with Amazon, your customers have visited the Amazon site and automatically compare the functionality and ease of use of your website against the Amazon experience.  How do you compare?  What should you do to match up and compete?

Benchmark against:

• Competitors
• Other industries
• Leaders across all industries

Also, you need to benchmark against your own performance over time and across multiple channels.  In order to do this properly, you’ll have to standardize your measurement tools – even across multiple channels – so you so you get a direct apples to apples comparison. That way you can better evaluate cross-channel causal factors and the impact of initiatives in and across all channels.

More on benchmarking can be found in my book, Managing Forward: How to Move from Measuring the Past to Managing the Future. To purchase a copy, click here. If you are already a ForeSee client or partner just let us know and we will send you a copy of the book. Visit www.foresee.com to learn more about our company.

Stage 6 will focus on the science of testing and how it will help you get the results you want from your new digital strategy. For more tips from Managing Forward, subscribe to my posts or to The ForeSee Blog.