This morning, I had a brief conversation with a friend. His company, a well-known Tech Startup, recently experienced an unexpected round of layoffs. As we exchanged updates, our conversation naturally shifted towards my current role as a CRM Program Manager in another Tech Startup :)
During recent years, I have honed a more KPI-focused mindset and strategic approach. Thanks to that, I survived layoffs and am owning a potential program. Today, I am happy to share a strategy with you, if it is helpful, please kindly give me a clap.
In my capacity, I shoulder the responsibility of overseeing User KPI, managing a CRM program within a designated budget, and consistently optimizing towards Profit and Loss (P&L) objectives. Growing in a profitable direction is challenging in the current situation, and I’ve implemented what I refer to as a “Survival Strategy” — a method emphasizing short-term gains for long-term goals (Vietnamese/ Tiếng Việt: lấy ngắn nuôi dài).
In the broader context, I have crafted a long-term strategy (for a startup) spanning 1–2 years, tailored to our P&L goals. This involves a huge effort to introduce innovations and establish unique selling points, including elements like Machine Learning, AI, Advanced Segmentation, Recommendation Engines, and more. It requires excellent execution to discover the formula for success and cannot deliver immediate positive results.
While building, testing, and refining my strategy, my team and I use tactics to ensure that the user base (our KPIs) continues to grow over time and the KPIs are achieved. So my company has seen our potential and been willing to invest in our CRM program.
The math to be resolved is balancing resources between long-term and short-term.
With short-term tactics, there is a need to continually optimize, scale, automate (freeing up time for other initiatives), and cost reduction. Simultaneously, a long-term strategy calls for unwavering perseverance and consistency in each task and stage.
To solve the math, I have followed 3 rules:
Commitment and Understanding the Ultimate Purpose
It’s essential to commit and grasp the ultimate purpose. Short-term tactics ensure monthly KPIs are met, ensuring business growth, but they may not be game-changers. There’s a need to commit to a specific effort to execute long-term strategies.
Tactics Can Be Right or Wrong — Embrace Failure to Learn Quickly
Tactics may be right or wrong under the pressure of KPIs and time constraints. Decisions may sometimes be wrong, but the key is to fail fast and learn fast. Running numerous tactics demands a resilient spirit, a growth mindset, and being data-driven to continuously discover lessons and optimize performance.
Optimistic Spirit and Enjoying the Journey Over Results
Maintaining an optimistic spirit is crucial. While executing short-term tactics to achieve monthly KPIs is like picking low-hanging fruits, the long-term strategy might be the ultimate gift at the end of the journey.
There may be times when I feel discouraged because my long-term efforts may not yield quick results, and there may be other times when I feel pressured by not meeting monthly KPIs. I have to practice to stay optimistic and always think of big goals to persevere. Instead of just focusing on results, it’s important for me to enjoy the journey of personal and professional growth.
Startup life has never been easy, especially in challenging times like these. I hope my “Survival Strategy” gives you some ideas and insights to grow your program and career. Remember, dealing with the ups and downs of work life requires resilience, adaptability and a positive mindset. Keep moving forward and may your professional endeavors thrive amid the current uncertainty.
So, buckle up, and let’s ride this wave together!
