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Write the wrap up memo first

Demand concise "future" summaries from your employees and consultants. Before you hire them, ask them to draft the “perfect world” wrap up memo – the one they will turn in at the end of the project. It should have three paragraphs : the problem, the action and the result.

If neither of you can envision the result, or agree on what might need to be done, you are probably setting yourself up for failure, or at least a big bill.

Here’s what we accomplished when asked to help a newspaper group when I owned Nolan Online Services. This is with twenty-twenty hindsight. We could have saved a lot of headaches if we had sat down and agreed on these three paragraphs form the beginning.

Problem:


Newspaper publishers in Oklahoma were losing automotive revenue to the web. Readers were turning to online sources for used vehicle listings. Classified advertising was declining, and moving to the web.

Action:


We formed a partnership, customizing our current automotive solution set to fit the needs of the newspaper group in Oklahoma. We created a consumer website, assisted in marketing plans and prepared a launch commitment effort. We trained key personal and assisted sales staff with initial calls. We provided turn-key online classified programs for private sellers. We monitored web traffic, automated credit card payment, and assisted with dealer set up.

Result:


65 dealers within 8 months, 70+ classified ads per month, plus additional web site revenue. The result? Significant additional revenue and stronger dealer relationships, higher retention, and cross fertilization of newspaper website.

As a result, we expanded into other states, including West Virginia, Texas, Pennsylvania, New York and Indiana. We also signed an additional publishing group in Ohio.

“Write the wrap up memo first”

  1. Anonymous Anonymous Says:

    I llike the idea - even if you never did show it to the client, it would still be a valuable project.

    Like the blog - keep it up.

    Tim