As wonderful as it is to see lasts year's business plan work, it is still vital to update that plan for this year. Often times companies get so wrapped up in their end-of-the-year work on a plan that went well that they neglect to tweak it for the next year. A sales process that works may not need to be changed, but people change and companies change. Fine-tuning your messaging and lead generation efforts is necessary for progress. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is about increasing the positive experience of working with your company. To accomplish this, you need to commit to planning, evaluate opportunities for growth, forecast, and attend to your client base.

Planning is a process. Not only do you need to dedicate time out of a busy day to orchestrate a meeting, but also you must build a strategy on what to plan before the meeting. To get the most out of your planning process, choose when and who wisely. When do you like to plan? Who else in your company should you include in that planning process? Establish the most optimal time and brain power for your planning, and work from there.

Working with a CRM strategy will boost your efforts to develop the best plan. Increasing the positive experience your company offers means evolving with people and technology. Evaluate your opportunities for growth. What technology do you offer that can evolve?

What tools and resources do you have in place to strengthen relationships with your customers? What kind of trust levels have you established with your clients, and how can you strengthen them? Keep up with the changes that are taking place around you. Continue to improve the strategies that work.

Forecasting is more of an art than an exact science. Customer trends typically run in cycles. It is therefore easier to plan for future revenue from existing clients than future clientele. For clients who have a service contract that is near due, anticipate an 80% renewal rate on those contracts. Even if your renewal rate is currently 95%, it's best to underestimate. If you have less than an 80% renewal rate, you need to completely overhaul your customer service department. Attrition is inevitable, but losing more than 20% of your customer base is a huge problem. If the client is profitable, winning them back should be a priority. Fortunately, many customers who go elsewhere for what appeared to be better service or pricing will come back if you want them. Having worked with a competitor presents an opportunity to use them as references. Remember to track that in your CRM system.

The next step is to tally the total amount of existing customer revenue from last year (excluding service contracts), and multiply that by 30%. This should be the baseline of minimum revenue you should expect from your existing clients. Thirty percent may be high depending on your clientele, but many companies gain more than 50% revenue from their existing customers. In either case, you want to add new clients. Add your average existing customer revenue to the expected 80% renewal rate on your service contracts. This provides you with a solid number to prepare a support and operations staff. The tougher job is to deduce what the company needs to develop for new business and plan accordingly.

New business comes from a variety of areas: advertising, lead generation calling, direct mail, email broadcasting, industry publications, trade shows, alliances, and referrals. Have you tracked where your business comes from and how much revenue each source brings? This is important for planning and execution. Outline several sources of business and initially focus on strengthening the top three. Gauging how these sources perform this year will allow you to plan more effectively next year. Take the next three revenue sources and develop a plan to expand those initiatives. Use creativity when developing resources. For example, hold a customer conference and invite manufacturers to review the latest and greatest technology. Remember, many customers cannot go to the national trade shows or send more than a handful of people to attend. Another idea is to hold “training” or “certification” workshops. This would strengthen relationships with your clients. You could charge for some of these events, but you may see huge dividends if you only charged a nominal fee or nothing at all. Include prospective customers by inviting them to your customer conference. Let them talk to your customers and hear their experiences working with you. Invite prospective customers to a client site that would be comparable or larger in size and scope to their future prospect. They get a chance to see your quality of work and speak to a reference first hand. Best of all, you are attending to the needs of your current clients while letting them help win you new clients.

Neglecting to build on last year's business plan will leave you falling behind your competitors. Progress doesn't have to be a costly or complex process. By utilizing your CRM Strategy and attending to the ever changing needs of your clients, you will stay competitive. Focus on your lead source strengths and capitalize on those efforts. Last year's plan worked well last year. Evolve with your clients and ensure that you're celebrating success again next year.