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Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Training Video for Continuous Improvement

Take note of the individual sub-titles and discuss each section after it is completed. You can have a lot of fun with this and you may get a few surprises. It is actually a good exercise to use for training continuous improvement groups. I was able to actually use it in a webinar.   

About the video: A Total Quality Management training video that our final year class at the University of Edinburgh made in the style of Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times. The intention was to teach, teamwork, production line processes, process optimization, defects, quality, and continual improvement 'Kaizen'.

Related Information:
Sustaining Lean using Continuous Improvement: The Toyota Way
Dr. Jeff Liker on PDCA and Lean Culture>
PDCA for Lean Marketing, Knowledge Creation
Understand Scrum, Understand Implementing PDCA

The Subservient Marketing Funnel

The traditional way of creating sales used by individuals and even by large organizations is a natural sales progression commonly called a marketing funnel. I have written many times about this and summarized it in this recent post, Kill the Sales and Marketing Funnel. There are many adaptions to this model but typically begins with an attraction phase that ultimately produces a sales and many times continued into an upsell or repeat sales cycle. The popularity of the tool is that it gives you a well-defined step by step approach or a sequence of tasks necessary to execute in transitioning a prospect to a customer to an advocate.

Most improvement consultants will look at this cycle and go thru a process called value stream mapping or process mapping and help you to determine how you may remove waste or improve the process. This step by step approach is a logical reaction that if we only do it better, it will work. The pushback to this is that most situations are different and follow an irregular path to the end result, a sale. I believe this may be the primary reason that the continuous improvement methodology has been resisted in the sales and marketing arena. Sweating-Butler

This approach also requires that good ideas happen at the beginning of the marketing cycle and that a customer is segmented and merged into the “proper” funnel. The problem with this approach is that better ideas are created during this process and the prospect needs ultimately change unless we can convince them that are product/service that may have been the best idea to begin with is the best or flexible to be the best throughout the entire cycle. It is a process that lives little adaptability because we have been selling and marketing based on the attributes of the product and any change on our part is a reflection that our product may just not be “good enough”. Better ideas that are formulated during the process are viewed as a threat and must be countered. As a result, the best training that sales people can receive may be in argumentation or debate.

Many cottage industries have even appeared for preparing adequate sales documentation to provide tangible proof both for the customer that your product/service has been the correct choice all along. This proof also is internally provided in terms of sales reports, proposals and other documentation to justify the time and efforts of sales and marketing. I was told many years ago that one of the goals of an attorney was to create as much paper as they could in an agreement. The more there is the better chance of a contradiction and as a result a misunderstanding. I wonder if that statement has any merit here.

Sounds counterproductive?

Are you up for a challenge?
Are you ready to develop a Subservient Sales Culture?
Are you ready to develop a Subservient Marketing Culture?
Scary?

I use a model based on The Pillars of the Lean Marketing House for a method to visualize the customers’ learning cycle. The Pillars are differentiated by observing the marketing funnel not as a series of tasks but rather as a knowledge creation opportunity with the customer. But before you begin teaching the customer what they need to know, start thinking of this process a little differently. Think of it as you being the pupil rather than the teacher. Think about you having that “aha” moment or that moment when you “get it” versus when your customer gets it.

The argument to this approach is that you may believe that you will invest too much time and resources in an unqualified customer. I believe there has been a fundamental change in the buying practices of consumers and the result being that target marketing in the traditional sense is a misnomer. Quite looking at trying to fill you funnel with “qualified” prospects. Knowledge Transfers

Instead participate in communities and discussions that highlight your knowledge developing an ever expanding network of touch points that allow prospects to self-serve information and to locate you. Think of ways for trials or templates of your organizations best practices to be used that will allow prospects to move into a more collaborative arrangement. As this happens, greater human interaction occurs but typically as a result of the customer qualifying themselves.

Example: This can be done both on-line and off-line. It is not a model that is only for online products. An offline example is in the equipment business where a contractor may win a bid and by being an active participation at the bid letting the need of a certain piece of equipment was discovered. Rather than trying to sell a piece of equipment, you may lease or rent one in the short term with the idea of selling in the long term.

Diagram Idea was generated from The New Edge in Knowledge: How Knowledge Management Is Changing the Way We Do Business.

Related Information:
Servant Leadership in the Toyota Culture
Changing the shape of your marketing funnel!
Why Lean Marketing? Because it is the Future of Marketing …
PDCA for Lean Marketing, Knowledge Creation
Lean Marketing Creates Knowledge for the Customer

Friday, May 20, 2011

Four Star General on Leadership–Listen, Learn…

Four-star general Stanley McChrystal shares what he learned about leadership over his decades in the military. How can you build a sense of shared purpose among people of many ages and skill sets? By listening and learning -- and addressing the possibility of failure.


TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes.

Related Information:
Understand Scrum, Understand Implementing PDCA
Should you Manage your Organization with Agile Techniques?
Your Value Network Participants; Who are they?
What you can Learn from the Military on Cadence

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Wilson Training to introduce new iQuality Training Programs at SWIMAQ

Partnering with IWCC on customized Adult Learning programs

At the upcoming Southwest Iowa Manufacturers Alliance for Quality program Steven Wilson of WCTS, Inc. will be discussing how partnering with IWCC on customized programs for Quality and Six-Sigma can provide dramatic results for your business. The program will be held from 9:30AM to 2:30PM on Tuesday, May 24, 2011 and will be held at the Iowa Western Community College, Council Bluffs Campus. Steve Wilson Speaking

Steve will address specific issues on why many people shy away from quality or continuous improvement programs and as a result, they are unable to see the direct benefits of it. He will also outline and introduce the latest adult learning training methods and how the training is adapted to the organization.

Steve commented on the training, “Too often, training programs are not utilized when employees get back to work. Based on my twenty years of assisting organizations and individuals improve quality through training, I have identified several components that will encourage employees and their organizations to change and use these new skills. Under the title of iQuality Academy, I have moved our training programs from tactical learning and acquiring new skills to providing the path from training to improved business performance.”

Southwest Iowa Manufacturers Alliance for Quality program will also include presentations on:

  • Non-Destructive Evaluation update/hands-on demo)
  • Iowa’s National Career Readiness Certificate
  • CIRAS update
  • Technology Commercialization
  • Plant Tour: SIRE Ethanol, LLC

The Iowa Western Community College College offers instruction in career education, adult and continuing education and the first two years of college and university study.  Iowa Western exists to serve the needs of adults who can benefit from further education and guidance, whether by specially designed occupational programs, pre-professional college transfer programs or adult education. The Council Bluffs Campus, which includes the college administrative offices, is situated on a 282 acre site located 2 ½ miles northeast of the Council Bluffs business district.

Steven C. Wilson founded Wilson Consulting and Training Services, Inc (WCTS, Inc) as a process improvement consulting firm.  Wilson has over 20 years of experience applying quality improvement tools, methodologies, and principles in a variety of industries that include automotive, healthcare, logistics, distribution, education, and numerous manufacturing venues.  He has dedicated himself to the cause by training/coaching over 500 Six Sigma practitioners in over 70 companies with an emphasis on getting results. Wilson possesses a very engaging style of leadership, training and consulting, and provides an experienced eye for companies on the road to organizational improvement.

Related Information:
Best in Market
A Gemba Talk with Womack on Lean
Kaizen
Lean is not a revolution, Lean is solve one thing and prove one thing!

Taking the Lean Enterprise Outside the 4 Walls

Lean technology has now evolved from the manufacturing floor to the whole enterprise. Many companies have found real value in applying the fundamental concepts of Lean throughout the organization. The lean concepts of Kaizen, PDCA and the tools such as Pareto Charts, 5 Why's and even Poka Yoke are commonplace.

As a result of discussing a Lean Enterprise with Dr. Michael Balle, I asked him about his thoughts on externalizing Lean Culture.

Dr. Balle is also a Shingo Prize winner as an author of the The Gold Mine and The Lean Manager. His newest Shingo Prize was on the adaption of The Gold Mine: A Novel of Lean Turnaround to an audiobook that features performances by multiple readers who bring its realistic business story and characters to life.

Dr. Michael Balle is the Gemba Coach at the Lean Enterprise Institute

Related Information:
Lean Thinking Perspectives from Dr. Michael Balle
A Gemba Talk with Womack on Lean
PDCA for Lean Marketing, Knowledge Creation
VSM Guiding Principles
A3 Problem Solving for Marketing
Value Stream Mapping differs in Lean Marketing

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Lean Marketing House in Paperback

A few reasons to consider the Lean Marketing House book:cov-2

Is there a reason to use Lean in Sales and Marketing?
Do you have to be practicing Lean in the rest of the company?
Is Lean Marketing the same as Agile Marketing?
How does A3 problem solving relate to Marketing?
Why is Social Media so Lean?
Can your company ever complete a Lean Transformation without Sales on board?
What does Knowledge Creation have to do with Lean?
What are the Lean Marketing Tools?
How would you create a Lean Transformation?
Develop stronger partnerships with your customers?
Provide a methodology to become more precise in your sales and marketing?
Begin a continuous improvement program in your sales and marketing?

I have just received the shipment of Lean Marketing House book in perfect paperback form. That means I no longer have to create the ring-bound version. in celebration of this, the first 100 purchases will include the following:

  1. Lean Marketing House Paperback Book
  2. Lean Marketing House book on CD (Direct access to the Links Provided)
  3. Marketing with A3 Book on CD ((Direct access to the Links Provided)
  4. Best in Market by Dr. Eric Reidenbach on CD
  5. Membership on the Marketing with A3 website
  6. Related audio recordings and eBooks on subject.
  7. 10% Discount Code to the Lean Sales and Marketing Summit. (30 day limit)
  8. 50% Discount code to Driving Market Share Program (30 day limit).
  9. 30 minute free coaching session on Lean Implementation (must be scheduled).
  10. All items will be shipped to you (No Downloads).

Book Description: When you first hear the terms Lean and Value Stream most of our minds think about manufacturing processes and waste. Putting the words marketing behind both of them is hardly creative. Whether Marketing meets Lean under this name or another it will be very close to the Lean methodologies develop in software primarily under the Agile connotation. This book is about bridging that gap. It may not bring all the pieces in place, but it is a starting point for creating true iterative marketing cycles based on not only Lean principles but more importantly Customer Value.

It is not about being in a cozy facility or going to Gemba on the factory floor. It is about starting with collaboration with your customer and not ending there. It is about creating Sales Teams that are made up of different departments not other sales people. It is about using PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) through-out the marketing cycle with constant feedback from customers that can only occur if they are part of the process. It is about creating value in your marketing that a customer needs to enable him to make a better decision.

It is about managing a Value Stream Process. This is going to require re-thinking about the way you do business and the way you think about your markets. More importantly the way you think about Value. Value in terms of how your market defines it. Stop thinking about product or even product benefits. Your marketing systems must support the delivery of value to your customer at a much higher rate than your competitor. Targeting that Value proposition through the methods described in this book will increase your ability to deliver quicker and more accurately than your competitor. It is a moving target and the principles of Lean and PDCA facilitates the journey to Customer Value.

This is the only Link that will be provided for this offer.

  Lean Marketing House Perfect Paperback

Related Information;
5 Cs of Driving Market Share
Best in Market
Marketing with A3
Lean Sales and Marketing Summit

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Views on Lean IT with Dr. Michael Balle

Lean technology has now evolved from the manufacturing floor to the whole enterprise. Many companies have found real value in applying the fundamental concepts of Lean throughout the organization. The lean concepts of Kaizen, PDCA and the tools such as Pareto Charts, 5 Why's and even Poka Yoke are commonplace.

As a result of discussing a Lean Enterprise with Dr. Michael Balle, I asked him about his thoughts on Lean IT.

Dr. Michael Ballé is a business researcher and consultant and has studied lean transformation for the past 15 years. He is Associate Researcher at Télécom ParisTech and the co-founder of the French Lean Institute (www.institut-lean-france.fr) and the Project Lean Enterprise  (www.lean.enst.fr). He coaches CEOs and senior executives in using lean to radically improve their businesses’ performances and establish lean cultures.

Related Information:
Creating Flow with Don Reinertsen
Understand Scrum, Understand Implementing PDCA
Lean Architecture: for Agile Software Development
The differences in Lean and Agile

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Get Clients Now Answer Center for April

The Get Clients Now Answer Center is is a great resource that I use on a regular basis. It is included when you purchase my GCN 28-day Coaching Program or you can buy it separately. I have never found a comparable product.

New in the Answer Center Here are this month's new additions to the Get Clients Now Answer Center. (You need to have a password to log in.) Next Business901 GCN Program starts May 16th

Get Clients Now Answer Center 
  • How to Work Your Network - Article by Donna Feldman
    Browse the Internet, read the newspaper, or thumb through a magazine, and you're bound to see an article advising you to use your network to help you grow your business. But how exactly do you do that?
  • Selling to the Bottom Line - Article by C.J. Hayden
    If you've ever wondered why more people don't respond to your sales attempts and marketing messages, the first question to ask may be -- are you selling something that people are willing to spend money on?
  • Sample Speaking Topic and Bio - Tool by C.J. Hayden
    In order to get booked as a speaker, an essential tool is a one-page description of your speaking topic, and a capsule bio describing your expertise. The example below will give you a model to follow.
  • Three Ways to Jump Start Your Marketing - Article by C.J. Hayden
    We're an impatient society these days. The blazing speed of transmission we experience daily for news and communications has raised our expectations for how fast everything should happen. So when someone tells us our marketing will take time to pay off, we don't have a lot of patience for it.

If you would like to join: Get Clients Now Answer Center.

Find out more about Get Clients Now!

Related Information:
Value is a Relative Concept
Get Clients NOW™
Pull: The Pull in Lean Marketing
Value Stream Marketing and the Indirect Marketing Concept
Lean Marketing Creates Knowledge for the Customer

Lean Sales & Marketing the Final Frontier for the Lean Enterprise? – Free Webinar

Webinar Registration

Free Webinar...Lean Sales & Marketing:
Title: Lean Sales & Marketing: The Final Frontier for the Lean Enterprise?
Date: Friday, May 6, 2011
Time: 2:00 PM - 2:30 PM EDT
Cost: No fee.
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/536606993

Why is Lean Sales & Marketing the Final Frontier for the Lean Enterprise?
Marketing activities such as developing promotion programs, branding, developing ads and writing copy are seen as creative processes that don’t lend themselves to systematization without losing the ability to think outside the box.

SAM_901 woMost efforts to improve Sales and Marketing so far have come from Six Sigma or Lean Office programs that largely derive their practices from the production environment.
The personality style of a star salesperson or an innovative marketer clashes with the type of person who is going to embrace standardized processes and continuous, incremental improvement.

If these arguments sound familiar, they are the same ones used ten years ago to keep lean out of Research & Development: breakthrough innovation cannot be standardized, lean manufacturing practices don’t work and star technologists don’t appreciate process excellence. The solution is to recognize that like R & D, sales and marketing functions are knowledge creation processes.

Product developers add value when they deepen their knowledge about the product design and then convert that knowledge into a product that a customer can buy. Similarly, marketing and sales functions add value when they deepen the company’s knowledge about customers and market needs, and then support R & D as they make decisions that lead to products to meet those needs. They also add customer value when they deepen the customer’s knowledge about the product. In fact, the best sales people are those who take the time to deeply understand an individual customer’s needs so that they can recommend the products and services that will best meet those needs.

We will be able to conquer the final frontier for the lean enterprise when we recognize that when the value a process creates is knowledge, it must be managed as a Knowledge Creation Value Stream to maximize the value we get from the knowledge created, and minimize the wastes of knowledge loss, ineffective decision-making.

P.S. You want a fresh approach to marketing that is something other than just a new set of tools. Consider attending the Lean Sales and Marketing Summit. You will get them there. I have a limited amount of discounted tickets, please contact me to check availability.

Related Information:
The Role of PDCA in a Lean Sales and Marketing Cycle
Lean Marketing Creates Knowledge for the Customer
Why Lean Marketing? Because it is the Future of Marketing …
PDCA for Lean Marketing, Knowledge Creation
Lean Marketing Creates Knowledge for the Customer