Rich Newsome
You planned too much for 2019. There were specifications you didn’t get, money you didn’t make and goals you didn’t accomplish. Sound familiar?
In many cases, we find that this is largely down to a lack of strategy and focus.
So, why not kick-start 2020 with a new source of inspiration that creates focus and alignment for your team.
Introducing MSPOT (mission, strategy, plays, omissions, targets):
A yearly, one-page plan to align your mission around goals and objectives. The term was originally coined by HubSpot CEO, Brian Halligan, and is loosely based on the V2MOMs model: an acronym that stands for vision, values, methods, obstacles, and measures.
MSPOT was developed by HubSpot as a simple way to take complex, organisational, operational and financial goals and make them accessible to everyone in the organisation. Due to its simplicity, we recommend this strategy to companies operating within the building products and construction industry.
Whilst there are a variety of ways to organise the information within the MSPOT, keeping it within a one-page format-which is visual, works well as it is easy to construct, share and absorb.
A corporate MSPOT builds a common vocabulary, defines priorities, documents key information about the primary components of your company philosophy and values, and ensures that everyone stays on the same page.
Mission, Strategy, Projects, Omissions, and Targets
Mission: Rarely changes
Strategy: Changes Annually
Plays: 4 or 5 big annual initiatives
Omissions: Projects you decide not to do
Targets: Measurable and realistic
Read More:
- Construction Marketing Strategy: Identifying The Gap
- Construction Marketing Strategies: Why Inbound Works For Building Products
- Construction Marketing Strategy: How Much Should You Invest In Growth?
- Construction Marketing Strategy: What is TAM?
Your Mission
A mission statement can be a tricky one to produce, but a well-crafted mission statement will unify your team around a clear objective that they believe in, bringing synergy and focus to your efforts.
This post gives you a detailed understanding of how to get the most out of your mission, but to summarise, it should be accurate, simple, distinctive, short, future-resistant and inspiring. Once you have your mission, the following steps (strategy, projects, omissions, targets) will all be centred around it.
Your mission should focus on the long-term and rarely change. We have found that the best teams are the ones that clearly understand their mission. It’s often repeated throughout the working week.
To tie in with this festive time of the year,
a mission acts as a North Star: everyone can see where you want to get to, even if they’re unsure on the route they’ll take to get there.
Your Strategy
Your strategy represents the things that you’ll do to achieve your mission. For example, if your mission is to:
Help every sales rep at X company to reach their full potential and succeed
Your strategy might be:
Equip and develop sales reps so that they close deals and hit quota
Your strategy should be simple to digest and understand. It should encapsulate what the team does and will likely change on a yearly basis.
You may find that when you first commit your strategy to paper, that it’ll be too lengthy. We recommend that you take time making it concise and digestible with themes that tie back to the all-important mission.
Your Plays (or Projects)
Your plays are the activities that bring your strategy to life. It could be a new product launch; It could be website improvements and optimisations; it could be a fresh content strategy. The number of projects you have running at one time will vary according to your business, but we generally recommend that you stick to a maximum of five projects a year.
Each division and team then develop their specific plays to support these corporate plays.
Your Omissions
Based on the current state of the building products and construction industry, this is arguably the most important element of your MSPOT.
Many building products companies are not getting the ROI that makes certain activities worthwhile, and this can have a negative impact on your marketing budget.
Consider how much you’re investing in growth and whether you need to shift your investments to achieve your mission.
Not sure how much you should be investing in growth? Click here to learn how.
It’s no surprise that the building products and construction industry is undergoing significant changes. The recent implementation of the BIM mandate means that we’re seeing a transformation in the design and construction process.
This focus on technology enables you to do things better, and even re-evaluate the way you’re currently working, as highlighted by the NBS (2017).
Research also tells us that the way in which specifiers find products has been changing for the past 5-10 years. According to the NBS, nine out of ten specifiers agreed that they would rather find what they need online.
So, what are the implications here, and how does this relate to the ‘omissions’ section of your MSPOT?
Building product manufacturers need to think about the activities that are wasting money and the activities that are worth investing in.
A common issue that we come across with growing companies is focus. Listing the initiatives that you will avoid in the near future will help people stay centred your mission.
By including omissions in an MSPOT, employees understand which plans have been evaluated and which have been greenlighted.
Your Targets
There are a variety of metrics that can be tracked with a clearly defined digital marketing strategy. Firstly, however, you’ll need to spend time figuring out what the key challenges are and building a plan to overcome them. Once you have taken these steps, it’s then time to consider goals and measurements.
At a high level, the most important factors to consider when setting goals are:
- Are they aligned with business and sales objectives?
- Do they influence revenue?
- Are they trackable?
MSPOT: A Working Example
Here’s an example of an MSPOT from Bell Performance, located in Orlando, Florida. Bell Performance formulates, manufactures, and sells fuel additives to both B2B and B2C customers.
Conclusion
MSPOTs consolidate the essential information needed to lead a building products company in a clear, easy-to-track format. By putting the vision, direction, plans, and results in one slide, it becomes easier for everyone to share, absorb, and use.
Need help achieving the mission in your MSPOT? Get in touch with one of our Inbound specialists today.
About Insynth
As the only HubSpot certified agency to major on construction marketing, we bring together construction marketing strategy, digital strategy, website design, SEO, content marketing, email marketing, sales automation, marketing automation and HubSpot CRM implementation to produce successful campaigns and great results for our clients.