There’s another Activate to look forward to on the horizon. But, to whet your appetite during this Activate in-between, we want to keep the incredible speakers at Activate Summit North America, and the inspirational sessions they presented, top of mind.
In this limited series (see the first installment here) we’ll be covering a handful of the most loved sessions in-depth, providing skimmable, sharable tidbits. All of the session recordings are available on-demand right now. We’re providing a written breakdown of some of these sessions but we do strongly recommend listening to the speakers tell it themselves.
Creating Process Out of CRM Chaos
Creating Process Out of CRM Chaos was presented by DoorDash’s Associate Manager of Retention Marketing, Phil Hill. Phil took to the stage to discuss the importance of creating processes. Specifically, he touched upon the importance of processes in customer relationship management (CRM).
When starting his presentation, Phil actually focused on one of his hobbies: plants. Initially, he didn’t have a green thumb, but now, thanks to creating a process for gardening, he is recognized for his plant savviness. By creating a spreadsheet with plant types in one column, and all of their care needs throughout other columns, he was able to improve his gardening skills—all by developing a process.
Benefits of Process
Phil pointed out three key benefits of creating a process. You can 1) save yourself, 2) save your time, and 3) save your mind.
Save Yourself
Phil describes processes as “saving yourself” because they can multiply your capabilities. Rather than sitting in a meeting or explaining how stuff works to a coworker, a process can take your place.
- Your process is an extension of you
- Allow your team to work without you
Save Your Time
Processes can save time because you can do multiple steps at once. When you are designing processes, you’re looking at every detail, but when the process is running you can layer steps, knowing everything is planned meticulously.
- Be as efficient as possible with time
- Skip figuring how and what to do each time
Save Your Mind
“Let the process take care of those mundane tasks.” If there’s a process in place, you don’t have to continuously think about the small tasks you need to accomplish—they’re built into the process.
- Stop forgetting to do routine tasks
- Stop double-, triple-checking that you did everything
Need of Process
After discussing the benefits of processes, Phil went into how your team can determine if you need a process. He highlighted some questions that are red flags, letting your team know when a process is needed. For example, “Why does it take so long to just send one email?”
The biggest takeaway from this section is to stop. Stop what you’re doing if these red flag questions come up. While, as Phil pointed out, stopping is the opposite of what CRM marketers and email marketers want to do—send more emails, etc.—stopping is going to save you time in the long run.
Love of Process
Once the process is established, who will it benefit? Designing an efficient, effective process can help you, your team, and your partners. Phil likened processes for your team to rules for your kids. It’s helpful to have guardrails and guidelines in place to set your team up for success.
You
When processes are injected into your work you’ll be able to press “send” on that email because you’ll be confident your processes will allow you to do so.
- You’re going to have peace of mind
- You’ll be more confident in your work
Your Team
Your team will be able to move quickly knowing that there’s a process in place to help reduce risk in executing tasks.
- Your team will see your value
- Your team will be able to do more
Your Partners
Expectations will be set because you’ll be able to share service level agreements (SLAs) with them. Partners will no longer have to ask “why does it take so long to send one email?”
- Your partners will have realistic expectations
- Your partners will know exactly how to support you on your projects
Create a Process
Phil also covered how to build a process, including six key steps: gather stakeholders, identify tasks, assign roles, recruit champions, document process, and rollout and monitor.
Gather Stakeholders
Most times you have other people you’re working with. The first step is getting everyone in a room or into a Slack channel.
Identify Tasks
Phil recommends being very specific and detailed about the tasks created in this step. “If it seems like you could look over it, put it in as a task.”
Assign Roles
Once tasks are established, you need to assign roles to all of those tasks. Whose job is it to complete the task? Phil said he likes to use the RACI format here, but it’s not always necessary. Also be sure to lean on cross-functional partners and respect their roles and responsibilities too.
Recruit Champions
“You’re always going to be the largest champion of your process.” Try to get a top-down adoption of your process. Phil recommends getting director-level buy-in and having that director get other director buy-in as well.
Document Process
This is the most important step. “If you don’t document your process, you don’t have a process.” Documenting is important so everyone can learn the process and, if you were to leave the company, someone else could come in and hit the ground running.
Rollout & Monitor
Lastly, it’s important when you roll out your process to ask for feedback and get input from those people who use your process. Then, be sure to monitor how impactful or effective the process is.
You’ll Thank the Past Version of Yourself
When you create a process, you get rid of the sense of dread that can accompany burdensome tasks. Monthly metrics become two clicks in saved reports, creating emails is as easy as using a pre-built template, the list goes on. Rather than starting from scratch every time you initiate a new project, design something that’s repetitive and effective to help save time and resources.
In his session, Phil gives examples of processes that fit this framework, so be sure to check out the full session.
Each Activate session was jam-packed with helpful information, so be sure to check out some of the other sessions. Plus, don’t miss the chance to see next year’s Activate in-person! Save the date for Activate ‘23.
