A few years ago, the American Nurses Association went through a major shift in their membership structure that significantly reduced the number of their members. At ASAE Annual they discussed their process of strategically gaining back members with the help of a marketing consultant. In addition to the amount of research they compiled examining their members’ preferences and behaviors, they used SMART planning to continually improve their marketing and engagement goals. We think that same methodology can be applied to help you consider different CRM vendors to better meet your technology needs.
How to Be SMART
SMART is an acronym for a goal setting guide whose criteria are attributed to Peter Drucker’s Management by Objectives concept. You make sure that your goals are clear and reachable by using the following:
- Specific (simple, significant)
- Measurable (meaningful, trackable)
- Achievable (attainable)
- Relevant (reasonable, realistic)
- Time bound (timely, time-sensitive)
Consider the overall goal you have in mind. For the purposes of this article, the overall project goal will be:
Find an integrated software platform that reaches all my association business processes.
Let’s Get Specific
When identifying this Goal, you should answer the following questions:
S | |
Questions | Goals |
What do you want to accomplish? | To find an AMS that goes beyond simply dues billing, membership, and event management. We need a platform that helps us think strategically using the latest AI technology and collaboration tools. |
Who must be included? | IT Director, Marketing Head, Accounting Head, Event Head – IT is leading the team |
When do you want this process completed? | 6 Months |
Why is this goal so important? | We have too many separate systems who do not all talk to one another causing delays in reporting, overlap of functions, and incomplete information. We want to be able to gather all the information into one place to analyze the data and use it to plan strategically. We want to understand our members' needs and offer more targeted educational opportunities for them as well as increase revenue streams for the association. |
Taking Measurements
M | |
Questions | Goals |
How will you measure your progress? | IT will discuss w/department heads their concerns and needs for a new system & create an RFP form to send to AMS vendors |
IT will research potential vendors | |
IT will then present the rankings compiled via collected RFPs to discuss w/the team and narrow it down to 3 | |
The team will decide from whom they want to see demos | |
IT will schedule the demos so all can be present to view them | |
The team will meet to discuss which vendor they thought would serve them the best after viewing them all | |
The team will take their findings to the Executive Director | |
Once the Executive Director agrees to the choice, IT will extend a contract to the vendor | |
How will you know if you’ve met your goal? | A specific ranking system for the vendors and timeline of project goals will be created to correspond to the measurable goals. |
Achieving the Seemingly Impossible
A | |
Questions | Goals |
Does your team have the skills required to achieve the goal? If not, can you obtain them? | Yes. Our IT Director joined us last year from another organization. She understands that to better serve our members we must advance our technology and work toward making a full digital transformation. |
What is the motivation for this goal? | We need to be able to have systems that allow us to think “out of the box.” We need to stop being held back by our technology when looking at ways to better engage with our members, collaborate internally, and increase revenue. |
Is the amount of effort required equivalent to what the goal will achieve? | Yes – by investing our time now in a vendor that looks ahead and can meet our current as well as future needs, we will ultimately be able to save time and money down the road. |
Relevant for Today
R | |
Questions | Goals |
Why am I setting this goal now? | We have had our current AMS for several years, but it never fully met our needs. In addition, it appears to be time to upgrade, and we feel that we should switch to something better instead of paying for another upgrade for something that is not working. |
Time is of the Essence
T | |
Questions | Goals |
What is the deadline for completion? | 6 months from X date |
How Realistic is this deadline? | It is realistic because it must align with the end of the fiscal year. |
Summary
Once you have completed the questions in the presented tables, review everything you wrote and ask yourself:
- What have the answers to the questions in the SMART goals revealed?
- Do my SMART goals still align with my overall goal?
- Do I need to write a new overall goal?
Being “SMART” about how you approach your technology in the beginning will help you to have an easier path toward helping your organization successfully reach a digital transformation in the end …and beyond.
Altai offers automatic upgrades, easy reporting, and seamless integration with everything on the largest most robust and easy to use Association Business Platform. If you are interested in learning more, contact sales@altaisystems.com or join us for a no obligation high level demo.