3 Foundations for Rollout

To demonstrate to your client that you’ll make implementation easy for their unique needs, you need a communication approach that’s flexible and effective in a range of organizations. Since it’s still early in the sales process, how do you do that? Here’s our suggestion for a flexible implementation plan. Below is the thinking that goes into it.

#1: Mix-and-Match Communication

Your Day 1 materials should inspire users to get started. You need enough sizzle to catch their attention and enough sustenance to maintain focus through any mundane tasks. Your proposed plan should include a multi-media mix of fully and partially produced pieces. For instance, a video is fully produced and needs a template email that gives the organization-specific details. It should account for several categories of organizations (e.g. medical offices, manufacturing, university). For example, decentralized organizations may have a news hub that you can tap into, like talking points for retail manager meetings or printable flyers for warehouse locations to hang in break rooms. This kind of customization honors the unique challenges of your clients, and pragmatically gets you to a customized plan faster.

Internal advocates are super users. Organizational development and benefit managers want to champion stellar programs and solutions, not mediocre ones. By addressing their questions and needs, before or after your launch day, you demonstrate your thoroughness and responsiveness.

#2: Bring Your Plan to Sales Meeting

To have a meaningful discovery phase, plan for your sales meetings to double as implementation discovery meetings. Hopefully, a dedicated implementation team member can bring your generic media plan and sample materials to a sales meeting. They can also probe for three things:

Document the internal communication platforms. This is an easy agenda item that gives you cover to invite a non-sales colleague to the meeting. Practically, you can work through the specifics of your generic media elements and how they map to the platforms at your client. It’s useful to probe: is there a platform that outperforms others? For instance, everyone might have access to an online resource however usage is low because it isn’t woven into work activities.

Probe the business reality. For instance, what other high-profile priorities will your advocates be juggling at the proposed launch time? What reorganizations happened recently? Are employee engagement scores high or low? Direct contact with a group of internal advocates or end-users could be useful—in a focus group, product overview or a usability test.

Create a user profile. To keep all your client contacts on the same page throughout the sales and implementation process, a generic persona may be helpful. As a collaborative tool, it offers you an opportunity for your buyer to suggest details about their people. For instance, what workplace details would help you tailor your message? What communication platforms are most used by this target user? Here is a template for you to use as a starting point.

#3: Agree on Measurement Touchpoints

When you report your engagement metrics, you can also report media usage data you’re collecting. For instance, are people watching the video? Is it tied to registration on your platform? If your larger goal can’t yet be measured—employee engagement, lower health claims,

It’s reasonable to assume that your buyer will want to know how you plan to get more people participating, and reporting back on the real-world impact. Assuming your team handled any implementation hiccups, your client may be ready to experiment with novel approaches.

Can We Help?

Do you need to strategize your first client meeting or execute your media plan? We’d love to talk. Schedule a call here.