Planning of Sales & Marketing using the mind map method with Weilgut MindPlan

By the end of the business year many marketing and sales departments have to face the question which marketing and sales activities to conduct in the following year. Questions like "which target groups and activities were most effective in the past?" follow.

The requirements are complex and the desires often greater than the budget. Therein lies a lot of potential for discussions and sometimes arguments for the departmens involved, like marketing, sales, controlling and management.

Brainstorming using the Mind Map method
All kinds of tools are at hand to bring structure into the discussion. More and more the mind map method is used for this purpose. With this method ideas, visions and requirements are conceived, discussed and developed, alone or collectively.

The method is convincing because of its step-by-step development of a solution, its clear visualisation and its transparency for all people involved.

The expense budgeting is commonly done with spreadsheet software and integrated into the mind map.


Detailed planning
With the final presentation and the budget approval the responsibility in daily practice passes over to the marketing and sales department and the implementation begins.

Development based on the mind map created by the decision makers allows for reference to the original concept at any time.

The concept is further refined from the bottom up:

1. setting dates and time limits
For every scheduled campaign dates like events and exhibitions, filing of press releases, closing dates for advertisement etc. are stored as milestones in the mind map and the staff members responsible for the dates are assigned.

2. planning of activities
Activities related to marketing are planned, provided with time limits and their durations are calculated optionally.

3. brainstorming and resource management

Depending on the structure of the company, responsibilities, dates and resources are set directly or developed together in meetings and brainstormings. Activities can be assigned both to internal and external associates (see our example concerning a trade fair company).

The planning occurs directly based on the mind map method, as can be seen in the following two images showing the management of the Hannover trade fair. The first image shows the activities in a mind map view, the second image shows the schedule view. 
Schedule Review and Documentation
MindPlan can be used to document all progress and monitor the time limits and risks. Documentation and storage of all related documents, PowerPoint presentations, circular letters etc. occurs directly in the application with the aid of the base application Lotus Notes.

Documenting the success of a campaign is particularly important in oder to obtain a better foundation for future decisions. Again depending on the stucture of the company, the maintenance of this information can be accomplished by an executive or by every single person involved with the aid of the integrated document management. 

Summary
The approach described above provides all parties involved, including the contractors, with a survey of all marketing and sales activitites. The absence of incompatibilities between different applications leads to a seamless workflow.

At the same time, all strategic steps, activities and results are documented. Flaws in the original design can easily be discovered during the realization and avoided in the future.

References to discrete campaigns within your CRM system and a direct feedback of sales figures to the marketing department make the system perfect.

All things considered, Weilgut MindPlan will help you to form an essential knowledge base for future marketing and sales activities and a solid foundation for commercial success.