bell Flashcards

Question

examlpe of when u effectively communciate complex ideas to an audience?

Answer 1

Situation: During my time in a pricing role, one of our major challenges was the manual and time-consuming process of providing quotes to advisors. We could receive up to 200 quote requests daily, and calculating these quotes required significant effort. This process often took half the day, and at times, we had to work overtime to keep up with the demand. This not only consumed our valuable time but also hindered our ability to focus on other important tasks. Task/Goal: Recognizing the need for a more efficient solution, my goal was to proactively address this challenge by automating the quote generation process. This automation would not only reduce the time and effort required but also enhance our team's productivity and overall effectiveness. Action: Development of an Automated Solution: I took the initiative to create an automated Excel workbook that could calculate quotes based on various inputs. I designed this workbook to utilize macros and other functions to streamline the calculations. Once the inputs were provided, the workbook would automatically generate a quote that could be easily copied and pasted. Gaining Buy-In: As my colleague, who had significant experience in the role, had been handling this manual process for eight years, I wanted to ensure her buy-in. I shared my idea with her, actively seeking her feedback and input to make her feel part of the solution. Transparency with Management: I also communicated my plans with my manager. I was transparent about my capacity and how I saw this as an opportunity for personal and professional growth. I highlighted that developing this solution would allow me to acquire technical skills in VBA, while also significantly improving a critical process. Resourcefulness: In my pursuit of automating this process, I proactively learned macros, which went beyond my typical day-to-day responsibilities. I reached out to colleagues for example macros and utilized online resources, such as YouTube, to enhance my knowledge. Training and Documentation: I didn't stop at just creating the Excel workbook. I also developed comprehensive training documentation to facilitate a seamless transition for my successor. This documentation included troubleshooting steps and answered potential questions that may arise in the future. Result: The outcome of this proactive initiative was highly impactful. The automated Excel workbook dramatically reduced the time spent on calculations. Instead of taking 4-5 hours to complete quotes, my team now only needed 1-2 hours, allowing us to be more responsive to other tasks and ad-hoc projects. My colleagues praised the efficiency of the new system, recognizing that my proactive efforts significantly improved our operations and made their daily work more manageable. This experience reinforced the value of proactivity, resourcefulness, and innovative problem-solving to create positive change within our team. Story 1: Situation: In one particular instance, we were running a partnership campaign on three channels for a crucial brand partner with whom we had no prior experience. Given the high stakes involved, we had set our expectations quite high for the campaign's success. Challenge: As I closely monitored the campaign's progress,I noticed lower than expected total impressions. Task/Goal: My goal was to 1) identify the root cause of the issue and remedy the situation 2) Develop a plan to prevent this from happening again in the future. Action: Root Cause Analysis: I immediately dived into the campaign data to isolate the problem. It became evident that there were no new impressions on the web channel during the past week. Assign Resources to Investigate I allocated resources to investigate further. Recognizing the critical nature of this partnership campaign, I designated it as priority work, temporarily pausing non-critical tasks to address this issue. We probed whether the issue was related to targeting or a technical glitch. Through team discussions, we discovered that one of the channels had been inadvertently turned off while deploying new A/B tests. Importantly, the code had not been updated, and the team had failed to test for impressions after the changes. Brainstorm Solution We brainstormed solutions as a team, which included turning the ad back on and extending the campaign. We outlined the specific tasks required for both these actions and created a project plan in Wrike. Action Plan Ensure stakehodlers had capacity So descoped non-criical work from the sprint Set expectations with leaders Communication: In order to maintain transparency and collaboration, we communicated our progress to the campaign's sponsor and the brand partne including the situation, ETA for resolution, and goal to extend the campaign. I also set up ongoing touchpoints with the stakeholders to address any potential roadblocks. Lessons Learned: - conducted a lessons learned meeting - need better peer review - added as action item Result: Example of how i encouraged the team to adapt to unexpected situation, urgently prioritize, and proactively prevent Story 2: Situation: In my previous role, I was tasked with developing a "Deal of the Month" campaign with a prominent brand. This was a monthly campaign with a different brand each month in our marketing calendar. Challenge: Our campaigns have strict deadlines, and we needed all assets, including the offer, well in advance to meet our monthly schedule. Unfortunately, the HelloFresh legal team was still finalizing the offer and couldn't provide it by our deadline. WE couldnt’t delay the launch stince we have new campaign every month Task: The objective was to successfully launch the HelloFresh campaign on time. Encouraged the team to adapt and developed an action plan: My goal was to ensure the project stayed on track and adapted to the changing circumstances. My primary approach was to frontload as much work as possible that didn't depend on the offer itself. I instructed my team to focus on elements such as generic creative, coding, campaign logic, and partial testing (excluding the offer) that could be completed in advance. We made the decision to proceed with only the "A" version of our A/B test for the campaign and introduced the "B" version once we received the offer, which allowed us to complete coding and other preparatory work. I also broke down the approval process into manageable chunks for legal, compliance, and the brand team, helped to secure most of the campaign's approvals early on, leaving only the offer for final approval. Ongoing Touchpoints: Throughout this period, I maintained open and regular communication with the HelloFresh team, sharing with them our progress updates and providing gentle reminders about our deadlines. Result: Thanks to this adaptable approach, we successfully launched the campaign on time. Frontloading work allowed us to maintain the project's momentum and accommodate the offer once it was received. Taught me how to be adaptable, manage ambiguity, and foster ugency with my team and help my tram face the unknown. Great example bc of studios.

Answer 2

Prioritize each project and task by urgency and set expectations Can require input from manager, so be transparent and communicate capacity Know what tasks each project entails Be clear on scope and timelines Delegate Know when to ask for help Do my absolute best to complete work, but if there are more routine tasks I can delegate to someone else, do this to ensure most effective resourcing Delegate to junior members or people with capacity Block time on your calendar to focus. … Manage up + ongoing communication Keep leaders informed on my progress Adapt to last min changes Project timeline/organize my time Break up work into manageable chunks Keep organized documentation, notes, meeting minutes Being organize in my documentation will also allow me to be organized n my work and be efficient

Answer 3

Know what to prioritize and when to ask for help Financial Model: Situation: In my previous pricing role, I was faced with the challenge of developing a financial model for pricing renegotiation with a startup that provided services to our customers. The services had low adoption, and we were in negotiations to extend our contract. Challenges: 1) The tight deadline was a major stress factor. 2) I had recently joined the team. Task: My primary responsibility was to create pricing scenarios using this model to negotiate lower costs. To succeed, I needed to quickly familiarize myself with the project and gather crucial information. I also had to align my objectives with the project sponsor and set clear expectations. Action: Gathering Context: To get up to speed, I did research and booked 1:1 meetings with various stakeholders involved in the project. I aimed to understand the current costs, the reasons behind low adoption, and the nature of the service. I also combed through project documentation and old email threads to gather insights that would help me with the bigger picture. Defining Objectives and Expectations: I scheduled touchpoints with the project sponsor to ask clarifying questions and ensure we were on the same page regarding expectations, deadlines, and the desired outcome. We agreed that I needed to deliver a model with three scenarios and recommendations in both Excel and PowerPoint formats within two weeks. Set expectations with my team and deprioritize non critical work. Collaboration: Recognizing the tight timelines, I brainstormed my approach with a colleague and sought their input. We generated multiple ideas and bounced them off each other to ensure the best possible output. This collaborative approach was key to refining and iterating on the model. Progress Updates: I maintained ongoing communication with the project sponsor by sharing regular updates on my progress. In one instance, I shared a tentative model, which he provided feedback on, allowed for necessary changes and adapt to last-minute changes. Result: As a result of these efforts, I successfully completed the model on time and with a high degree of accuracy. This experience taught me the importance of being resourceful, asking clarifying questions, gathering relevant information, and adapting to dynamic situations. Campaign Stories Story 1: Deal of the Month: Situation: In my previous role at Sun Life, I was tasked with enhancing the conversion rate of our "Deal of the Month" program, a partnership initiative where we featured a different brand with discounts on our website and app every month. Task/Goal: The program's engagement rate had fallen below our quarterly benchmark after six brand partnerships. I recognized this as a concern that could affect our Q3 engagement KPI. My goal was to analyze campaign data, identify the underlying causes of low engagement, implement strategic changes, and boost our engagement KPI. Actions: Data Analysis: I initiated a data analysis process by extracting campaign data from Tableau for the last six "Deal of the Month" campaigns. This data was crucial in gaining insights into our subscribers' behavior. Segmentation by Channel: I segmented the data by channel to pinpoint the specific channel that was experiencing the most significant drop-off in engagement. This segmentation allowed us to focus our efforts where they were needed the most. Identify Weak Points: Observed total engagement tended to decline after the first two weeks of each campaign. The most significant drop-off was occurring on our web channel. Investigate: To further understand the drop-off on the web channel, I reached out to our web team. It turned out that the placement of the campaign ad on our website was being counted as an impression every time a client logged in. This meant that the information remained static for the entire month, and there was no incentive for re-engagement. Develop Strategy: Collaborating with the team, we developed a strategy to address these issues. Develop triggered email based on user behavior, to target customers who had seen the ad in web and mobile, but hadn't engaged. Additionally, we decided to enhance the ad by including more informative content about the featured company and its products in the email. To improve engagement, we proposed shortening the campaign duration to two weeks and for the email channel, actively targeting clients who had seen the ad but hadn't engaged. Determine KPIs: Our KPIs were clear: we wanted to increase overall engagement compared to prevoous 6 DOM and achieve a 10% click-through rate (CTOR) for our email channel. Developed Proposal and Action Plan: I led the development of a comprehensive proposal and action plan for the new program. This included outlining the strategy, creating a detailed project plan, and estimating the resources needed for execution. Tool: Wrike Test on one campaign How do you ensure engagement is not just based on brand? A: Definitely a consideration, Average + segment by offer Results: The results were impressive. Total engagement increased by 60% after we shortened the campaign duration to two weeks + added triggered email to target low-engaging customers. The team could also charge a premium for the partnership program due to the additional email tactic. This experience taught me the power of data-driven decision-making in campaign optimization. By understanding subscriber behavior, identifying weaknesses, and developing a well-informed strategy with my team, we were able to significantly improve our program's performance. It demonstrated my ability to leverage data to optimize campaign performance and boost subscriber engagement, which is highly relevant to the role.

Answer 4

Situation: In my previous role as Marketing Strategy Consultant, I was tasked with improving subscriber engagement for a monthly health and wellness content newsletter. This newsletter aimed to provide valuable content to our customers, with each month focusing on a different health and wellness theme. Challenge: I faced two primary challenges in this role. First, the engagement rate for the newsletter had been on a declining trend. Second, when I took over the campaign program from another marketing strategist who had left the team, there was no consolidated information about the themes or learnings from previous campaigns. This lack of historical data posed a significant challenge. Task: Deploy new A/B tests to enhance engagement. Develop a playbook of key learnings from past campaigns. Actions: Gather Relevant Context: To address the challenges, I initiated the process by looking at post-campaign results and campaign briefs from previous health and wellness campaigns. This allowed me to understand the historical data and performance trends. Customer Research: I also conducted customer research to identify trends related to the themes that our customers cared about. Understanding customer preferences is important to tailoring the content to their interests. Competitor Research: In addition, I signed up for competitor newsletters, such as FitBit, to compare our newsletter with theirs. This research encompassed various aspects, including user experience, imagery, and call-to-action strategies. A/B Tests: Based on the insights gained from the customer and competitor research, I developed a series of A/B tests to improve the newsletter's performance. These tests were implemented monthly and covered various elements, such as user experience, call-to-actions, and copy length. Playbook Development: As part of this initiative, I compiled all the findings and results into a playbook that contained two years' worth of learnings. The playbook included details about each A/B test, its results, the implications drawn from these results, and how the assets looked. It also highlighted which themes had resulted in the highest click-through rates (mental health, work-life balance, stress relief). Results: After implementing this data-driven approach for six months, we observed a significant improvement in engagement. The click-through rate (CTR) had increased by 15% compared to the initial baseline, and this growth was relatively consistent, ranging from 2% to 5% each month. Moreover, I successfully developed a comprehensive playbook to document and share the key learnings from this experience. This playbook not only served as a valuable resource for the team but also enabled a seamless transition for my successor. This experience demonstrated my ability to leverage data analysis to optimize campaign performance and boost subscriber engagement. By combining customer research, competitor analysis, and A/B testing, I was able to turn around a declining trend in engagement and ensure the newsletter's continued success."