Some concepts transfer easily to white collar roles while others seem a little abstract. After all, what can a system for business performance with roots in manufacturing have to do with office work? Read on to find out why we should be leaning towards improvement with Lean, Six Sigma and Six Sigma Marketing.
The definition of lean
Lean is a business performance framework for reducing the time needed to complete a process, such as the production of a product. The main focus is on the understanding and improvement of processes and to eliminate ‘waste’ which does not add value. In essence, it helps us to enable the delivery of a routine and greater value for customers and to continuously improve it.
In summary, Lean involves reducing bottlenecks and steps in processes and interrelated processes to improve the cycle time. If you were to translate this example to road safety when driving, we would look at ways to increase value by making safety systems as easy and as reliable as possible.
The definition of Six Sigma
Six Sigma is a business management approach to increase the quality of output from a process. It involves structured measurement and problem-solving to reduce the number of ‘defects’ in a process. Statistically, it involves measurement of the deviations in processes and comparing them to the best case or value the customer expects, also known as Critical to Quality (CTQ).
In summary, Six Sigma involves reducing defects or errors in processes so that the customer gets the best experience and value. If you translate this example to a coffee shop, we would look at how long your most demanding customer expects it to take versus how long it does take and why.
Combining Lean, Six Sigma and marketing
You may have guessed at this stage that Lean and Sig Sigma are natural bedfellows. Both pursue increased organisational efficiency and effectiveness. Tom Shuker cites the benefits as eliminating process and product waste and also reducing non-value add activities. Lean Six Sigma takes the features of Lean and Six Sigma and combines them to great effect. The resulting set of principles supports businesses to improve existing processes and to design new ones.
Six Sigma Marketing (SSM), has its own definition as a data-driven and structured approach to increasing market share and improving the efficiency and effectiveness of sales and marketing. Ultimately, this manifests itself in superior value for customers, larger deals, systematic marketing processes, a laser-like focus on the largest opportunities and to keep a focus on customer needs at all times. SSM is commonly deployed in B2B.
Leading the charge with Six Sigma Marketing
Avid followers of marketing literature will note the involvement of sales. While Lean Six Sigma can be applied to many marketing processes, SSM involves sales because:
- Both teams focus on delivering value for customers
- Both teams make the customer aware of that value
- Practitioners of SSM do more of what adds value for customers
So, who’s responsible? A Lean project may simply focus on marketing processes and freeing up time. A Six Sigma project could focus on areas of irregularity where defects, errors or issues are known. Lean Six Sigma, especially in B2B, will inevitably touch sales processes at some point. Six Sigma Marketing is solely focused on driving value through quality and that plays into sales and marketing.
Furthermore, whilst sales are likely to be happy to support an increase in value for customers, involvement in an SSM initiative takes people away from frontline sales. The truth is that a change sits well between marketing operations (MOPs) and sales operations (SOPs). These are the roles typically charged with driving strategy, best practice and technology to improve department outcomes.
Other management tools
Astute readers of management theory will have noticed the absence of Continuous Improvement (CI), Overhead Value Analysis (OVA) and Value For Money (VFM) etc. We are solely focused on the improvement of processes in this article and for good reason. Most marketers have not experienced the joys of Lean, Six Sigma or other permutations of these methodologies.
In the main, we are typically dealing with tactical changes or individual programmes. For example, deploying Account Based Marketing borrows elements of Six Sigma Marketing but is not a wholesale change in the approach to value. Sales funnel analysis and lead management programmes also involve elements of SSM. The question then becomes which flavour are you ready for first?
Leaning towards improvement
Here is a suggestion for which framework and techniques are options at different stages of the sales and marketing journey:
- There are lots of processes, some manual, and we need to deliver more value – Start with Lean to reduce cycle times and free up effort (applies to B2C or B2B).
- There are lots of errors in processes and with delivery that affect customers – Start with Six Sigma or Six Sigma Marketing to reduce errors and improve quality/value (applies to B2C or B2B).
- Teams need to contribute more to results and deliver correctly more of the time – Begin with Lean Six Sigma or to focus on reducing waste and non-value add activity (applies to B2C or B2B).
- The business wishes to move up the value chain with larger deals, higher conversion and retention, cross-sell and upsell – Begin with Six Sigma Marketing to focus on routine delivery and communication of value to customers that represent your biggest opportunity (applies to B2B).
Help with Lean, Six Sigma, Six Sigma Marketing and transformation
Here at Think Beyond, we are business, marketing and finance experts. Having worked with marketing, sales and operations at every turn of our careers, we focus on outcomes. Additionally, we have an in-house, experienced practitioner of Lean, Six Sigma, OVA and CI to guide you. So, if you want to make a change, why not bring in an external change agent to lighten the load. There is no need for costly training, away days or taking a valued team member away from their day job.
If you would like to speak to us, simply call 01565 632206 and ask for Steven.
Alternatively, why not email sales@think-beyond.co.uk to request a call back. We also have a handy form to capture a few details.
Finally, why not check out our marketing change services for more information.