Archive for July, 2009
Marketing your Black Belt
Posted by: | CommentsI believe that Lean Six Sigma Consulting has the greatest opportunity ever and in my terms, opportunity = NEED. What we need is the greatest transformation of efficiencies from know-how to implementation, and I think Lean Six Sigma is ideally suited to fulfill that need. The Duct Tape Marketing principles state that marketing is defined as getting someone with a need to know, like, trust and refer you. Now depending on the strength of that need, it will determine how much effort you need to spent in getting them to know, like…you.
Marketing your Black Belt is a 30-minute webinar based specifically on addressing these issues:
- Customer Acquisition: The process of finding new customers is expensive.
- Marketing: Advertising is expensive, and you may not have the specialized skills or time to create sophisticated websites or professional-looking marketing materials.
- Customer Retention: It is hard to stretch limited resources in order to spend time with existing customers while trying to acquire new ones.
- Communication & Collaboration: Your customers need to be able to stay in touch with you from anywhere.
- Covering All Aspects Of Marketing: You don’t have time to become an expert in every role required to market your business
Still wondering if you should attend? Are you using a tri-fold brochure, tons of product material, post cards, 4-color advertisements, a profile or two of yourself and maybe attending a network event or two, YOU NEED TO ATTEND THIS EVENT.
The question you must ask yourself: How Good are you at Marketing Yourself?
What to do with the Root Cause?
Posted by: | CommentsWe have found the root cause but how do we correct it? The correction may seem easy at this point but how do we know it is just not a band-aid. My preference is to go back to the Fishbone diagram and use the same method we use in discovering the root cause to discover the best solution. I also use the matrix to visualize and confirm the final choice. 
One of the important things you now must do is to consider the control device you will use to monitor the progress. In manufacturing we consider limit switches, stop/no go gauges. However, in service industries it can be much more difficult. In event planning though it could be something like an ineffective advertisement. You could build into it milestones that if it not achieved that certain positive or negative consequences occur.
Another example may be in developing advertisement copy; you may have certain acceptance criteria that are built into the process. It could be time sensitive, for example. You must remember even what seems like the best solution, if is uncontrollable will not lead to good results. You may want to consider another alternative and a result is that the perceived best action may change or become clearer as you improve. The method:
- Start with the Root Cause of the mistake. Brainstorm ways to eliminate the mistake(Fishbone).
- Note on each idea how you will handle the mistake: Don’t Accept, Don’t Make, Don’t Pass On.
- Consider the cost and time of solving the problem
- Place in matrix on Easy/Hard to do, Big/Low Payoff.
- Review the controls to use.
- Make your choice.
- Proceed and monitor.
Other Related Posts:
Operational Excellence, It’s about the People not the Tools
Posted by: | CommentsI had Robert Stapp of OP•EX Direct Results Inc. on the Business901 podcast and in part 2 of this podcast, we had a discussion on operational excellence. He discussed several ways to leverage Lean and Six Sigma in achieving excellence.
The lesson I learned from the podcast was that these were not the only tools he uses. He looks at other tools depending on the customer and their needs. Part of the discussion neared the “Best Practice” area but I thought his insight on the people rather than the tools were particularly helpful.
