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Marketing Planning and Control Systems: From Agency Style to Nerve Center
Introduction
PMI Corp is a century-old firm that pioneered the use of direct
mail sales for life and health insurance. Over the past century,
PMI Corp has evolved from a firm that focuses solely on direct
mail into a multi-channel firm, selling insurance through
agents, brokers and (still) through direct mail. Growing in
tandem with PMI Corp's sales force is the insurance regulatory
environment, which has also become increasingly complex.
To respond to the complex regulatory environment--and to support
the firm's internal sales processes--PMI Corp decided to refine
the process by which it generates, distributes, and manages
sales opportunities (i.e. leads). PMI Corp purchased and
implemented a lead management system to ensure that qualified
and unqualified leads had all necessary data for delivery to a
specific agent. Additionally, the lead management system
contained rules to ensure that leads could be distributed
effectively, with minimal human intervention. Data pertaining to
managing the lead (when the person was contacted, when the lead
was closed, whether it resulted in a sold policy, etc.) was
stored in a Decision Support System ("DSS") in the lead
management system for analysis. PMI Corp used the lead
management system as a framework for planning (by using the data
in the DSS) and control (routing rules ensured compliance with
government regulations and internal policies).
By implementing a lead management system, PMI Corp took its
first significant step from management by agency to management
by nerve theory. Traditionally, PMI Corp relied on a
hierarchical structure characterized by the tight control of
information and authority. With the adoption of a system that
facilitates access to information, PMI Corp (unconsciously)
approached a nerve center approach to management. The use of
reporting analysts to develop ad hoc reports, as well as the
focus on information to drive decisions at the marketing manager
level, indicates this move.
About the Firm's Planning and Control Systems
Controls PMI Corp's control requirements were driven by
regulatory obligations and internal business policies (which had
evolved to the point that they were perceived as law). While the
regulatory and internal requirements never resulted in conflict,
the need to satisfy both led to an environment characterized by
detailed, complicated controls, and planning that addressed the
needs of a balkanized organization with divisional attitudes of
blatant self-interest. Consequently, planning had to address the
performance of each business unit in considering the future
allocation of marketing dollars, while accounting for markets
traditionally "owned" by each division.
PMI Corp's lead management system absolutely needed to have lead
routing rules that recognized the regulatory obligations imposed
on the insurance industry. Thus, the lead management system
needed to facilitate control of the following elements: * State
Authorization: leads from states in which PMI Corp was not
licensed to sell insurance could not be distributed to agents *
Agent Licensing: agents could not receive leads for products
that they were not licensed to sell * Do Not Solicit: leads
regarding prisoners, the deceased, and people asked not to be
called (unless they initiated this request for service) could
not be distributed to agents, and a list of these people had to
be maintained Thus, clear regulatory requirements led to
specific controls that had to be enacted. PMI Corp had an
obligation to its agents to follow these rules as well. Giving
agents these leads would erode the relationship between the
sales force and the home office.
PMI Corp's sales channels--quite territorial in
nature--developed a series of internal policies over time
(resulting from ongoing "negotiations" ). In distributing leads
to the different sales channels, PMI Corp had to develop
controls in the lead routing rules to ensure that leads were
distributed to the appropriate channels. PMI Corp's
internally-driven controls included: * Payment Means Ownership:
the division that paid for the marketing campaign is entitled to
all leads that come from that campaign * Except When Trumped: a
lead from a customer that belongs to a vested agent overrides
the notion of payment (described above) * Division Managers Have
Autonomy: a lead is distributed to a division manager (who runs
a field office), and the division manager distributes the leads
to his agents at his discretion. The lead routing logic had to
ensure that these internal rules were enforced. In some cases,
these rules came from traditions and victory in political
battle. In other cases (such as the vested agents rule above),
the rules resulted from contractual obligations between the firm
and the sales force.
Planning The lead routing logic directly addressed the role of
controls in the organization. The data generated by the
interaction of users with the lead management system contributed
to the planning component of PMI Corp's PCS. User interaction
with the lead management system yielded the following
information: * Field Office Performance: sales success by field
office (sales rate, sales by product, average time to close,
sales by campaign) * Agent Performance: sales success by agent
(sales rate, average time to close, preferred products) *
Channel Performance: lead closure rates by sales channel (direct
marketing, agency, brokerage) * Product Performance: sales by
product across the firm * Campaign Performance: the
effectiveness of different marketing campaigns Using this
information, the division managers and home office (especially
the marketing department) were able to understand how well PMI
Corp was doing in the market, and what changes should be made in
the future in order to compete more effectively.
PMI Corp mined this data using a series of planned and ad hoc
reports, generated by reporting analysts who focused
specifically on these tasks. In addition to analyzing
performance, PMI Corp studied agent and field office activity,
in order to identify ways to streamline the ways that agents
conducted their business. The notion of ad hoc reporting
signaled the move to a "nerve center" approach to managing the
sales force. Information became primary for decision making,
which helped reduce the balkanization across the firm.
The Technology Solution
In order to manage this increasingly complex planning and
controls environment, PMI Corp recognized the need for
technology to play a central role in managing the distribution
and tracking of leads. Traditionally, these controls had been
delegated to the office administrators in each of the field
offices. Lower
level, non-sales employees assumed the
responsibility for ensuring that leads were distributed within
each office in accordance with the internal and regulatory
controls in place. Lead distribution to channels and offices
occurred at the home office, using simplistic and inaccurate
software tools. Leads were frequently lost or inappropriately
distributed. PMI Corp realized that they could no longer rely on
the "human touch" to enable proper and effective lead
distribution.
Controls The controls framework in the lead management system
existed as lead routing logic in the lead management system.
Essentially, the routing logic provided rules for delivering
leads to the different users' "inboxes". There were two types of
rules: routing and suggested assignment. Rigid controls were met
using the routing rules. These rules ensured that a new lead, as
it entered the system, was routed directly to an agent.
Suggested assignment rules delivered the leads to a field
office, and the division manager could see to whom the lead
should be delivered, but could disregard the recommendation if
he chose.
Lead routing logic provided controls at all levels of the
organization. At the home office (where leads entered the
system), routing logic addressed the specific sales channel to
which a lead should be sent. Typically, routing at this level
was defined by the division that paid for the lead.
Additionally, filtering at the home office level facilitated
removing leads for those who could not be serviced (such as the
deceased), leads from states in which PMI Corp was not licensed,
and leads for inactive products.
At the channel level, the lead management system had controls
specific to each channel. The agency channels routing logic was
most rigidly defined, because there were more regulatory and
internal policy controls in the agency channel than in direct
marketing and brokerage. Within agency, leads were routed to
field offices based on state, and by zip code when a state had
multiple offices. When a lead arrived at an office, an
agent-specific assignment was recommended based on controls
defined at the field office level. Consequently, there were hard
and soft controls at both levels within agency. Agency
executives (at the home office) determined how leads would be
distributed to home offices, agency division managers (at the
field offices) would decide how leads were distributed to
specific agents.
Planning The lead management system contributed to simpler
management of a complex planning and budgeting process. PMI
Corp's marketing budgeting process occurs over a six-month
period. Discussions begin in June, and a preliminary budget is
created by September, which is reviewed by October and finalized
by year-end. The planning and budgeting process accomplishes:
Determining which major marketing campaigns to run Identifying
the types of media to use in these marketing campaigns
Assigning budgets to each campaign Allocating campaigns to
sales channels Setting goals and measurement techniques for
success PMI Corp's planning process was quite detailed, and
provided a detailed blueprint for marketing throughout the year.
Throughout the year, the marketing plan is adjusted as
necessary, based on feedback from the marketplace. Reporting
analysts used a variety of data interpretation techniques to
determine the changes necessary. Analysts typically developed ad
hoc reports to provide detailed information regarding specific
marketplace feedback. This data was used to validate hunches,
confirm changes of direction, and determine the possible
outcomes of different changes. Planning, in this case, changed
from overall strategic planning to tactical planning--planning
to address specific needs as they arise.
Organizational Change The drastic change in PMI Corp's approach
to lead management triggered the need for organizational change.
To ensure that the various lead management system controls were
working effectively, and to support the management process, PMI
Corp decided to create a lead management team in the marketing
department. The role of the lead management team was to ensure
that the rules in the system continued to meet the
organization's evolving needs, as well as to find ways to
continue to streamline the lead management process. The lead
management team also addressed strategic and tactical reporting
requirements, and developed solutions to ensure that the
requisite data was fed to the DSS to be used in reporting tasks.
The lead management team became the nerve center of the lead
management environment across the entire firm. They gathered,
managed, and interpreted lead data from all sales channels, and
provided guidance to marketing and sales channel executives
based on their interpretations of the data. This team's mission
was to acquire and store information, and recall that
information to solve problems and capitalize on opportunities
when the needs arise. This maps perfectly to Macintosh's
characterization of nerve center theory, which has the manager
constantly learning from a variety of sources (many anecdotal),
and recalling that information when something in the business
environment triggers a recollection.
Conclusion: Technology Takes PMI Corp from Agency to Nerve Center
PMI Corp will always retain characteristics of a traditional
agency organization. While most "agency" firms operate via
implicit contracts between individuals (owners and management,
management and employees), PMI Corp relies in some cases on
explicit, well-defined contracts. This clearly "agency"
characteristic does not preclude the transition of PMI Corp to a
nerve center organization. In fact, nerve center management
enables PMI Corp to uphold its contracts with agents and brokers
more effectively. The implementation of the lead management
solution has enabled PMI Corp to gather and interpret more
information, for use in granular analysis as well as strategy
definition. Using this information, the marketing department
becomes a repository of information on how PMI Corp has worked
with each of its customers. Every element of the sales cycle for
every lead is captured in this system, and these granular
details can be gathered into general information on campaign,
product, and channel performance. With the marketing department
as a clearinghouse for information, PMI Corp begins the move
from an organization built on structure to an organization built
on information and decision enablement.
About the author:
j-knowledge, LLC creates original web and print copy for
high-performing businesses around the world. For more
information, please contact Tom Johansmeyer at 617.669.0895.
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