Last week I was a presenter at a seminar in Stockholm, Sweden. My co-presenters were Linus Malmberg, CEO of the consulting firm Cordial Business Advisors, and two marketing executives from one of Sweden’s largest banks, SEB. I can assure that the Swedes do a lot more than give Swedish massages and make Swedish meatballs! When it comes to applying performance management methodologies, some of their organizations really get it!
For example, the SEB marketing executives described their very advanced business analytics designed to retain and grow existing customers that they have determined to be of economic value. They also devote minimal effort with customers they have determined cannot be profit-lifted to contribute to their shareholders’ wealth creation. This same information is used to target which types of new customers to acquire and which to not waste their precious marketing budget on. Their goal is to make the right offer to the right customer or prospect at the right time through the right channel.
Has SEB optimized their financial return on customers? To optimize anything implies achieving an ideal condition. However, SEB is on the correct path. Marketing management is just one of the components of the performance management framework, and SEB would clearly admit they have opportunities to improve their performance measures, strategy execution, risk management and other component methodologies. My employer SAS offers related solutions.
This journey towards achieving the full vision of performance management was eloquently described by Mr. Malmberg. His message was that even after all the component methodologies are integrated, an additional step is to increase the organization’s agility. He humorously pointed out that “shift happens.” Therefore, the quicker an organization can detect deviations from expected outcomes and then more navigate with the best available choice, they will sustain success.
