What is a “One Pager Strategy?”
One picture worth 1000 words:
Can we do the same in Customer Success?
If you work for a fast-growing company or an established enterprise, I’m sure you have asked yourself more than once:
“How do I get everyone on the same (one) page to follow my strategy and direction?”
Customer Success leaders prepare a CS strategy that covers plans, objectives, KPIS, Staffing, tools, processes, budgets, and many other aspects. How about having a “One-Pager” that clearly illustrates the strategy of the customer success team?
Let’s first understand what a “One Pager strategy” is.
It is an Illustration (via pictures or graphics) that highlights the key components of the strategy. It utilizes a common and familiar perspective and terminology to simplify the strategy communication.
This is a One-Pager that does not summarize all the aspects of the strategy and does not replace the need for a detailed strategy document. However, it is a compelling presentation that indicates where the CS team's focus is and how it is connected to the company's overall strategy.
Let’s take it one step at a time.
Why should you consider having a one-pager strategy?
It formulates a story that people can easily understand.
It highlights the purpose and expected impact of the strategy
It creates a common understanding among the audience.
It triggers immediate feedback.
It drives the necessary support and commitment.
What are the main components of a one-page strategy?
The Strategic and Key Objectives (aligned with the company strategy and goals)
The goals we aim to achieve this year
The metrics used to measure our success.
The key Initiatives and actions required to reach our goals.
What one-page strategy does not include?
It does not cover every detail of the strategy
It does not follow the same structure as the strategy document.
It does not rely only on text to deliver the message.
What are the main steps to create a one-page strategy?
Understand what success looks like for your organization and how it “translated” to customer experience and customer success KPIs.
Identify the critical capabilities needed for this success.
Chose perspective for your strategy (in other words, which story will best reflect it)
Visualize it.
Let’s take a look at each stage:
What does success look like from the company’s perspective? The company’s vision could be to be a Technology leader, customer-focused, first to market, or provide cost-effective solutions. This is translated to revenue, profit, and market share, followed by retention and growth rates.
The Key capabilities. This is a breakdown of the CS team's main capabilities to be good at. These capabilities can translate to actions/milestones/KPIs the team will be expected to achieve. Ultimately, your strategy story will be based on these capabilities and their role in pursuing strategic choices.
The perspective of strategy can be told from different points of view:
-> The user/stakeholder interaction with the product/service reflects the journey and experience (for example- onboarding activities of a new customer/user).
-> The end-to-end process or lifecycle (for example, order-to-activation of a digital service)
-> The product perspective and how the unique capabilities to achieve an individual/company’s outcomes
-> The location perspective – It could visualize the customer interaction in a specific location (store, home, office, academic institute, stadium, etc.).
Here is one more idea to consider:
“A Day in the Life Scenario” as a central theme of the story or “before and after” will focus the audience on the main impact of your strategy.
4. The visualization part. Without looking deeply into the design aspects, ensure you have the main CS objectives and goals laid out together with the main capabilities and KPIs. The rest can be presented in the subsequent slides and as part of the overall strategy document.
What’s next?
You can download the playbook from the playbook section on my website, including an example I created, and use it as a reference.
I have been experimenting with this new concept, and it proved valuable when combined with a compelling story to illustrate my strategy.
Try it, and let me know your thoughts.
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