Once defined, the Relationship Management Strategy needs to be implemented. This can be done based on a Relationship Management Plan. This might seem obvious, but it is no easy task to document the complexity of relationship management in a simple list of activities. In this chapter we will discuss from a practical perspective how relationship management activities are an integral part of the overall activities of the organization. Strong relationships are built across the silos of the organization where the Manager of the Network provides the strategic context and is the orchestrator or facilitator of relationship building and maintenance.

Cascade of objectives

Establishing a relationship is never an objective in and of itself; each project and every resource invested ought to contribute to a business objective. A Relationship Management Strategy and the related Plan can therefore be considered as parts of a cascade of objectives.

As we see here, many different initiatives can be set up within the same program working ultimately on the same strategic objective. On a continuous basis one needs to assess whether the initiatives still contribute to the overall strategic objectives. This underscores the need for the organization to have a shared understanding of the vision and mission of the organization and therefore what the strategic objectives are (see also Chapters 1 and 4).

Relationship projects can therefore be visualized as part of an organizational pyramid of objectives starting with the Networking Vision of the organization which is translated into strategic objectives and a commercial plan. The marketing and communication strategy supports the commercial plan. Similarly, the (Networking Vision and) Relationship Management Strategy supports the marketing and communication strategy.

The above pyramid is only an example. The pyramid can also be defined from a corporate strategy perspective where relationship management might be a cascade of objectives flowing from the strategy of the executive office rather than, as in this example, the marketing and communications strategy.

Relationship Management Plan

After the Relationship Management Strategy is defined and documented, the conclusions of this strategy form the basis of the Relationship Management Plan. This Relationship Management Plan is ultimately the document that will guide the allocation of resources (time, people, money). Simply stated; “Now, what are we going to do and who will do it?”