Questions Worth Asking at the Beginning of the Year

Strategic Planning

1. Has my company identified 6-10 major objectives for the year and identified 3-6 supporting milestones for each objective? (For more about this, click here.)
   
2. Has this list of objectives and milestones been broadly communicated throughout the company?
3. Are directors and managers using this information to drive their departmental planning and budgets?

Product and Services Development

1. Has my company identified the user experiences that our products and services should provide?
2. Have these experiences formed the basis for development of products, including the identification of features and benefits?
3. Does my company have a process in place for assessing customer experiences and ensuring they meet our goals?

Strategic Communications and Customer Management

1. Does my company have up-to-date messaging guidelines available for all relevant parties, including not only executives, marketers, and sales people, but also all the other employees who might be interacting with customers and the public through forums and other social media?
2. Does my company have a systematic approach for monitoring social media interactions and responding promptly to situations that arise in these ad hoc communications channels?
3. Does my company have IT systems in place to integrate outbound communications with CRM and other internal IT systems?