It’s said that preparation is critical for success, and this is particularly true when you’re transitioning into a brand-new role. Of course, preparation comes in many different forms, but the 30/60/90-Day Plan method is becoming increasingly popular among marketing leaders.
This strategy assists in setting measurable goals, allowing you to lay the foundations for scalable, long-term growth – something that is essential when starting a new role.
In the latest episode of B2B Revenue Acceleration, host Aurelien Mottier (CEO and Co-Founder, Operatix) discusses this method with Pete Lorenco (VP of Marketing, HYCU).
During this conversation, they outline what exactly a 30/60/90-Day Plan is, the benefits of utilising this method and how to go about measuring successes.
Pete offers his best practices in creating a 30/60/90-Day Plan, outlining each step to ensure you get the most from this strategy.
Delve into the conversation now by reading the blog below and listening to this podcast episode on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Podcasts or our website.
What is a 30/60/90-Day Plan?
A 30/60/90-day plan is a strategy that outlines goals, quick wins, intentions and targets to be achieved within the initial three months of employment. This method visualises a clear path of action, allowing the employee to prioritise tasks and increase productivity at a designated time scale.
“In the first 90 days, I look at the quick wins that will allow me to lay the foundation for scalable long-term growth. I want to focus on meeting the team. In the early days, trying to understand those barriers. What do they believe is working? What do they believe is not working?” says Pete, “Then really my focus is how do I execute those hypotheses and, if you will, those quick wins.
“I can build trust and credibility across the organisation that enables me to say ‘hey boss, I wanna start doing these things. Here’s what we’ve done so far, here are the results, and here are the learnings. Now my hypothesis is X, can we go and start investing time or resources into that?”
The benefits of a 30/60/90-Day Plan
The 30/60/90-day strategy is beneficial during the first three months of employment as it helps you uncover quick wins, concerns, and current barriers that could be holding the team back. You’ll learn the ropes of the role while pushing for success, displaying the differences and goals you hope to achieve during a 90-day period.
“In those first 90 days, predominantly you have to understand what’s working, what’s not working, and kind of what are the biggest barriers that are gonna prevent you or your team’s ability to succeed long-term,” explains Pete, “If I were to oversimplify it, the top-line goal for me within the first 90 days would be to create centralized goals and key deliverables to work against.
An incremental approach can break down these core deliverables into manageable objectives and actions necessary to achieve them within the time scale. The first three months of any new role can be daunting, and preparation is key to ensuring your transition goes smoothly.
As previously mentioned, having an evidence-backed 30/60/90-day plan will allow you to build credibility within the business and identify the scope of your role while making necessary changes within the team. By identifying quick wins and concerns, you lay the foundations for a longer-term strategy.
The first 30 Days
The initial stages of a 30/60/90-day plan should revolve around understanding your team members. Who will be your go-to people for support and guidance? Who is likely to be your champions to help with future projects?
“For the first 30 days, you should spend time meeting key members of your team. That should be a priority within the first week or two. Meet key members on your team, department and across the organisation and identify who your champions are going to be,” says Pete, “You may have to revise this list over time, but these are going to be the people that you can go to support and guidance. I might be able to use them as champions for pilot programs in the future.”
As well as finding your champions, Pete allows states the importance of uncovering who your objectors are likely to be. The mindset shouldn’t be to fear these objections, but rather how to identify how you can help them, what appeals to them and how to deliver what they need. The focus is on how to shift their perspective and build a relationship.
The next step of the 30/60/90-day plan is listening and conversing with customers. This could be by joining sales calls, using tools to listen to call recordings or just reaching out yourself for an informal conversation. When having these conversations, listen to trends in language, needs and reasons why these customers are choosing your business. This should shape the language you use within your marketing.
The second step of a 30/60/90-day plan
Once the initial 30 days are complete, you can continue building a business hypothesis based on what you have observed. It’s important to continue observing, talking to customers and building relationships with the team, but the second portion of your 30/60/90-day plan should revolve around building an evidence-based hypothesis of what the company needs based on these observations.
“Near the end of the 60 days, I like to start building a plan that I can present to my executive team,” says Pete, “It explains my beliefs about where the business is and what we should focus on. I think I was around 45 days into my new role when I felt comfortable enough to do this.”
Pete goes on to explain that this will allow him to do a ‘pulse check’ by judging the reactions from this conversation. If you’re way off, then it gives you a chance to reestablish your credibility and revise your strategy early on. Doing this ‘pulse check’ will allow you to identify key areas to improve, as well as understand the priorities of your executive team and what they deem as important.
The last 30 days of the 30/60/90-day plan
The last 30 days of your 30/60/90-day plan should revolve around the strategy you presented and potentially revised in the last stage. Present this plan to your direct team and get their feedback, using them as the next round of validation before beginning to execute the plan of action. Question them on what they believe is missing and what needs to be adjusted – this insight is essential in creating a winning strategy.
From here, you can finalise the plan and start shifting towards executing the short-term wins within the strategy. Ensure to continue communicating internally, both to the marketing team and sales team to get feedback. You may need to adjust the plan based on the feedback and results, but the last 30 days of the three-month plan are for actioning your evidence-backed strategy.
“As you start executing your plan, you’ll start understanding your talent. Do you have the right people, or do you need to hire specialists?” says Pete, “As you start executing the plan, you’ll start to have a good gauge of your strengths and weaknesses within the team.”
Target your quick wins during this stage of the three-month plan, ensuring to measure results and feed them back to your executive team. Avoid trying to take on too many responsibilities at once, however. Focus on key goals you want to achieve before moving on to the next thing or you may find yourself stumbling under the weight of these tasks.
Take note of any holes within the business – do you need to augment your team with more talent? Are you lacking resources that could accelerate success? Constantly analyse not only the success of your plan but how you can improve during this stage.
Want to hear more insights about the 30/60/90-day plan of a new marketing leader? Listen to the podcast via the player below, or head to our YouTube channel to watch the video now.
