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ROADMAP

STAGE 2

b) Nurture & Grow
Continued

Monitoring performance
Performance Monitoring, now that you are in the full launch stage, is critical. Early interventions
on what is and is not working well for your brand are essential for your survival in the early
days of your business. This monitoring must be done on an ongoing basis. There are many
stakeholders who will want to know how the brand is performing including inanciers, customers
(and indeed your own staf). It’s best to be prepared with a few key reports on your progress. It
should also help you to identify where any challenges or opportunities may lie in your market.
Here are the some reporting disciplines to consider in your business, especially in this early stage:

1. Create performance dash boards.
A dashboard can be as simple as a one page report that rates your performance on key business
metrics in a simple Red, Amber, Green framework. Red standing for an immediate issue to address,
amber denotes a need for more focus while green relects good or great performance. You should
have agreed commercial targets on distribution and rate of sale with your distributor from your
launch plans (ref Stage 2 Trading / Launch) as well as brand health metrics agreed with your marketing
agency such as brand awareness levels, trial and repeat numbers with your target consumer. See
template reports which follow.

2. Performance understanding & context.
Host a weekly meeting with your core team to analyse performance, celebrate success or address
issues. Maintain continuous contact with customers & consumers on your products performance.
It is also worth observing your competitive set closely and their responses to your launch e.g. any
aggressive pricing or incremental promotions from their competing brands.

3. Speed of Decision-making.
Ensure clear decisions and actions come from the performance meetings you hold internally with your
team. The key to performance reporting is to act on the information that the reports contain ASAP.
The need for speed in response to market performance, customer and consumer feedback is critical to
your success in the short and long term.

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