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Complex Project Planner
How to use this
The first step will be for you to fill out the table below with as many desired outcomes as possible and with different potential solutions for those outcomes. Simply click on the green "Add New Outcome" button and enter your outcome along with 3 potential solutions.
Once you complete the table below, you need to take all those outcomes and run them through the Project Planner by clicking the "Start New Brainstorm" button below. Going through this thought process every time before making a pivot, or any business decision for that matter, will allow you to identify 2nd order impacts and understand the consequences of your actions.
If you find a solution that brings you to your desired outcome, looks at the downside and potential negative impacts, and checks the box of something you'd do regardless of the current events, you should probably do it.
Add New Outcome
Outcome
Solution 1
Solution 2
Solution 3
1
Double revenue in Q2 2020
Double revenue by launching a new paid campaign targeting cold traffic with affordable social media marketing services.
Double revenue by launching an outreach campaign to pre-populated lists of small businesses segregated by essential vs non-essential.
Double revenue by creating 2 additional services that we can up-sell to our existing client base.
There are no rows in this table
Start New Brainstorm
Double revenue by creating 2 additional services that we can up-sell to our existing client base.
4/6/2020
Double revenue by creating 2 additional services that we can up-sell to our existing client base.
April 6, 2020
What is the problem (1 Sentence)
Client cancellations and lack of new leads lead to drastic revenue increase.
What is the ideal outcome (SMART, 1 sentence)
We add 2 more services that will both increase revenue and reduce cancellations as existing clients see more value in keeping the services.
What is the Suggested Solution (2 sentences)
Create 2 additional services that we can offer:
1) Chatbot setup
2) Setup, optimization and maintenance of business online profiles (Yelp, Google SMB, Angie's List, Homeadvisor etc.)
Bottom-line Impact?
3: Over 30% profit increase
Describe how this affects the bottomline
Ideally we hit our goal of doubling revenue within 3 months
Quality of Life Improvement
3 = Massive improvement for the entire company
Who's lives will be improved with this solution?
Amid unemployment and job losses we will not have to reduce staff as well as possibly open up jobs to fulfill the service procurement.
Dependency for other projects?
3 = The entire company depends on this
Which projects are dependent on this solution?
There are no existing projects depending on this.
Freeform / Brainstorm
With the existing team's expertise and the niche of this business we can integrate 2 additional services into our arsenal:
1.Facebook chatbot setup
With the emergence of social media chatbots and more people shifting their focus online it should make it very appealing for business owners to launch chatbot to help direct online traffic to their facebook pages. These bots can become extremely useful with directing various requests including sales & support.
We will set this up for our company and possibly a few select clients at cost to create a few case studies for our marketing materials and build out SOPs. We can train our existing team to do this and based on demand we can hire and train a technician for this.
2. Setup / optimization and maintenance of business online profiles (Yelp, Google SMB, Angie's List, Homeadvisor etc.)
While looking at business profiles of various companies it became apparent that not a lot of business owners understand the importance of having a super effective business profile as well as tips & tricks on which tactics work best with various platforms. We can hire and train a dedicated technician to handle this service based on the procedure that we can document after executing this with our partnering businesses.
We can use both of these services as retention tools for clients that would like to cancel our services.
Who are the users? Who could be the users long-term?
Existing clients. New clients. Partnering businesses.
Who is responsible for implementation?
GM to create these as a service, put together all the procedure and hire & train a technician for this.
The variables that govern the situation include:
GM's time.
Budget.
The complications/complexities as I see them:
We need a reliable chatbot provider for Facebook chatbot service.
We need to create all of the procedure for business profile service.
Describe your primary plan of action in 2 sentences (SMART)
For Facebook chatbot service we need to find a reliable provider, then create a plan of action for the service implementation. For Business profile service we need to create procedure for all profile documentation, then create and execute plan of action for the service implementation.
What are good possible outcome, and how likely is it?
We will get a lot of signups from the existing client base driving the revenue up. We'll reduce cancellations by offering these new services for free / at a discount. We'll have fresh marketing materials for the sales team.
What are bad possible outcomes, and how likely is it?
We'll find out there is no interest in these services, mostly unlikely. We will raise the hand to the paying customers that forgot about us which will drive more cancellations.
How can you mitigate against the bad outcomes?
We can create MVP for both services and test out marketing to a select group of clients.
What do you expect to happen? Is the risk asymmetric?
We should be able to find out very quickly if there is interest in these services. I'd say the risk is 100% asymmetric as we are not pivoting away from our core services and adding something new to a select group of client in the beginning.
What is the 1st alternative plan of action? Use first principles and choose a completely different approach.
We can setup something else as a service - for example, a reputation management service.
What's better about the 1st alternative?
It might sell better vs let's say, chatbot
What's worse about the 1st alternative?
I don't fully understand the complexity of online reputation and how long it takes for the results to take effect and how much labor-intensive it would be.
What's the 2nd alternative plan of action? Use first principles and choose a completely different approach.
We can setup something else as a service - for example, focus on resellers and $99 price point and offer items to agencies such as $99 infographics, $99 blog posts etc.
What's better about the 2nd alternative?
This might scale up quicker via resellers.
What's worse about the 2nd alternative?
It will be more labor-intensive and we would need to hire more skilled professionals to fulfill those orders, which can be easily fulfilled nowadays via Upwork / Fiverr.
How is the project different after going through this planner?
I spent more cycles on asymmetric risks and understanding labor-intensiveness compared to other alternatives.
What is the cost range of the suggested solution (incl. hourly cost of labor)
2 = $1k - $5k cost based on both monetary cost & hourly wage of implementers
Describe the cost
FB Chatbot service - signing up for chatbot service, creating ad copy for the site, creating ad copy for FB marketing campaign, marketing budget, plus GM's time to implement.
Business profile optimization service - creating procedure for top 5 platforms, creating ad copy for the site, creating ad copy for FB marketing campaign, hiring & training technician to implement.
What tasks do you need to add now that you've gone through this planner and who do you need to talk to?
-create MVP for each service offering
-identify success criteria for each service (X clients reached out to, Y signed up)
-create action plan to implement MVP for each service
Who within the company can advise you on this solution?
General Manager
Sales team
Is this something you would do even without the pandemic?
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