Above the foundation of the Lean House are the pillars. In a typical Lean House these pillars represent JIT, Jidoka(Quality) and Motivated People. This is from the Toyota Production System and they are actually in a certain order. Typically the middle pillar is described as the most important pillar and it is the one of motivated people.

Anyway, the purpose of the pillar is that it is the actual conduit or vehicle we use to apply our foundation blocks. We decide on how we are going to use each of them to achieve the best results with our customers. For example we may use social media to enable people to get to know us and our website to gain more acceptance. We can have free trial offers to build trust, low-cost seminars for trial and so on. All of our foundation blocks are applied through these pillars only when a customer wants and needs them. The true concept of Lean Marketing.

The number of pillars represent the different sales/marketing channels that we create. Segmenting our customer database into as small as a group will always make marketing more effective. Consider a toothpick laying on its side and the strength that it has. Of course, it is very weak, but so will your marketing, when you are trying to be everything to everybody. Literally, your sales will be flat and the cost of marketing will be astronomically. However, if you stand the pillars up in the air, segment your customers using multiple channels your marketing becomes more effective. If you can magically make your actions flow upward, the Leaner your marketing gets. I envision your customer sucking on a straw pulling your marketing efforts up through the glass rather than you pushing it through. A little blue sky, but what the hey! Its marketing!