There are several ways to benchmark. The two most common bench marking tools are performance bench marking and best-practice bench marking. Consider a nationwide bank that has contracted with a seller to assess its current staffing and facility locations. The goal of the contract is for the seller to produce a strategic plan that creates cost efficiencies for the bank by recommending (and implementing) areas to consolidate among staff and facilities. (One recommendation may be to close down a bank branch that is located within 3 mi of another bank branch.) This is a long-term contract stretched out over 5 years. If you were the project manager in the bank, to what benchmarks would you compare your seller? Are they performance benchmarks or best-practice benchmarks?