B2b Decision Mapping
Decision Mapping is a fast-start approach to powerful B2B strategy. The idea of “mapping” a decision is much like what is done in a war room: Resources are inventoried, targets identified, and action ordered. for a business enterprise the goal is to capture opportunities to enhance competitive advantage. Moreover, like a war room, everything is in real-time; everyone must be alert and competitive.
Decision pathway
Opportunity generation is the starting point. To create robust decisions or choices we follow a pathway where the first step is scanning and identifying opportunities. These might involve market, channels, technology, process innovation, or other opportunity areas. The graphic shows the pathway narrowing at each stage.
This represents the idea that high-leverage power decisions must first focus on opportunity scanning to generate many possibilities. Once many opportunities are found, they are converted into strategic options using the A-B-C model. Building options takes considerable work including analysis, research, and creative thinking. They are then further refined as new strategic intelligence is acquired. The refined options are then evaluated against the selection criteria as developed in the Decision Filters.
2 decision Types
The two decision types are:
- Thin decision — only one real choice: go with “A”, or ‘no go’
- Robust decision — two or more real options, e.g. A or B or C etc.
Thin Decisions. Business decisions are ‘thin’ when only one possible action is put on the table and the choice is made, “do it, or not.” When the risk is relatively low or of lesser importance, thin decisions can be made quickly. The trap, of course, is that opportunities for B2B brand share growth may be passed by in favor of moving quickly, and not spending the time or money to generate strong and competitive marketing moves.
Robust Decisions. Here, the time and effort to understand deeply buyer behavior and customer preferences is expended so as to create multiple strong decision choices.