In previous blogs, you have heard me mention that one of the main culprits is variation and the lack of proper segmentation. We think of segmentation both in a horizontal fashion and a vertical. Horizontal will typically result in segments such as: Direct, Internet, Distributor, Joint-Venture and so on. The vertical aspect of your Marketing Funnel is the image on the right depicted below. This funnel allows you to assign different products to each process stage in the hope of maximizing efforts.

However, if you attempt to improve your Marketing Funnel, how would you go about it? Being a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, the Marketing Funnel bears a close resemblance to the DMAIC process of Six Sigma. Not that I am trying to replace the marketing funnel with DMAIC, but it certainly would not hurt to analyze the resemblance to improve our marketing process. Using some generic definitions of DMAIC and just relating them to the Marketing Funnel can create some interesting observation.

Define
Purpose: Identify the clients, their needs and requirements.
Deliverable: State the need of the client (CTS) and the problem

Measure
Purpose: Quantify Process Performance
Deliverable: Determine baseline process performance

Analyze
Purpose: Identify, Verify and Quantify Root causes
Deliverable: Statistically linking input with output

Improve
Purpose: Create the Solution and Validate
Deliverable: Optimizing Process Operating Conditions

Control
Purpose: Document and Standardize Process
Deliverable: Meet Critical to Quality(CTQ) consistently (Involvement)

Looking at your Marketing Funnel from the DMAIC viewpoint is not that farfetched, is it?

Related Posts

Your Marketing Vision should define your Customer’s Core Problem
Following the Customer’s Need in your Value Stream Map

Technorati : DMAIC, Lean, Marketing Funnel, Marketing Hourglass, Six Sigma

I remembered a section of in the Systems2win Value Stream Mapping training section about a FIFO lane. In seemed like the designation that I needed: First In, First Out was not far from how the prospects’ needs were described. In the Value Stream Mapping process a FIFO lane is used for the unusual stuff that often involves unique processing instructions. The problem with using it in marketing is that everyone could be a FIFO.

This is how we went about determining how to set up our FIFO prospects. We created certain signals in our other Value Streams to determine that this may be a FIFO customer. As information was gathered on demographics, psychographics and other criteria it would create signals for us. The signals were acted upon manually, much like a Kanban system would be. The information was transmitted for further investigation and qualification to be put into the FIFO Lane. One of the typical problems with a FIFO lane is that it acts like a chute and can only hold, a specific amount of prospects. You have only a certian amount of resources. We determined if the FIFO chute is full, you must prioritize and remove a prospect and put them back into another marketing segment.

Depending on how your FIFO lane is constructed, here are some examples of how to use your FIFO Lane:

1. This could be your “A” list or the one that marketing and/or sales people create personal contact with and nurture.

2. Special offers could be created that would result in longer or shorter trial efforts, payment terms and delivery. Since these people have been separated and are being handled by more seasoned professionals it does not create such a burden on the rest of the organization.

3. Sequencing into another marketing segment for certain steps so that the others that are managing the process can return the prospect to FIFO when completed.

4. Use it for resource leveling so that customers are never waiting on you. If other steps in the marketing process are backed up (a constraint) use the FIFO Team to manually relieve the bottleneck. (You may even discover new marketing opportunities this way.)

I think the FIFO lane can create novel solutions for your prosepct/customers and maximize the use of your personnel. A seldom used Lean tool that could be a critical component in your marketing management process.

Technorati : Lean, Marketing Funnel, Marketing Hourglass, Sales Pipeline, Value Stream Mapping. FIFO

The entire series will be posted during this week.

Related Information:

The Pillar Worksheet

Lean Marketing House Overview – Video

Related E-books

Technorati : Duct-Tape-Marketing, Lean Marketing, Marketing Channels, Marketing Hourglass, Sales Channels, Six-Sigma

Speed is much, much more than the ability to run your customer through your marketing cycle. it is an integral part of building a marketing system that responds to customers needs. Having built in trigger points to help you identify your customers readiness to proceed to the next stage in your Marketing Hourglass is imperative. I discussed handing the baton off in an earlier post and how many times that gets dropped from one stage to the next. It is similar to an athlete starting the season off and building his “speed” back up. Or a student taking the same test after summer break and scoring lower. These things happen because of the lack of activity during the non -value added time that you have identified in your Value Stream Mapping Process. The lack of speed in your marketing process equates to the lack of engagement that you have with your customer. This can be one of the most effective uses of social media and a good content marketing strategy. The engagement of your customer is driven by the needs they identify with your product. Here are some examples of items that may help in decreasing that non-value added time.

1. Attempting to late or to early to move a customer to the next stage.

2. Not building upon the previous stage by starting with different content. You effectively lose the momentum that was built by the earlier stage.

3. Reinforce the previous stage. Creating the linkages between stages is extremely important. It is a great time for a warm-up.

4. Make sure the customer is on the right airplane. You have been there, even if it is embarrassing when the stewardess says this plane is headed to Detroit, and you are not going there: you are getting off. If a customer is not ready for this stage give him a graceful exit and provide them an opportunity to get off, or you may lose him forever.

5. Make a better offer. Each stage should create a better offer than the previous. You have a more qualified customer at this stage so treat them that way.

6. Create interactive platforms or trials that the customer can use or interact with to solve some of their problems. This happens quite frequently in the construction business when someone leases a bulldozer to a contractor or online with free downloadable software.

7. A superior call to action, an offer that cannot be refused to go the next stage.

Even with these improvements, without a marketing system in place to monitor results and improve upon them, you will fall behind. Speed is not automation. Automation can be a component of developing speed but don’t mistake the use of automation. People even in the online society we have created. They still want conversation and personal connection surrounding the product and especially the service they may purchase. They want a live body behind the curtain or in our case the Marketing Hourglass.

P.S. People mistake Lean for being just about waste. It is about speed too.

Related Information:

Improve your Marketing Cycle, Increase your Revenue

Have you listed all your delivery processes? What did you learn?

Is your Value Stream Mapping backwards?

Start Fixing Marketing Mistakes with a Process

Technorati : Duct Tape Marketing, Lean, Marketing Cycle, Marketing Hourglass, Marketing Speed, The Pillars

The entire series will be posted during this week.

Related Information:

The Pillar Worksheet

Lean Marketing House Overview – Video

Related E-books

Technorati : Duct Tape Marketing, Lean, Marketing, Marketing Hourglass, Six Sigma, Theory of Constraints

Before I go into the explanation, the question should probably be: Who Cares? Throughput or decreasing your Marketing Cycle time can have very beneficial results. If you put customers through the cycle quicker it will more than likely increase revenue. If it takes 1 person 60 days in a normal cycle time, and you reduce it to 30, you should be able to double sales for any given period. It may also reduce expenses as there would be less people in the cycle at any given period. So increasing throughput is good.

If you look at the chart below, you will see the cycle time depicted in a value stream map. The blocks represent our value added marketing efforts. The empty spaces the non-value added time or waste. I am not going to be so naive and say that you can remove all that non-value added time and close a sale in 3 days. The point that I am delivering is that: you must learn how to mange the non-value time more effectively. Most companies deliver good presentations, advertise and get good PR. Where they fall short is handing the baton from one stage to the next. Non-activity turns marketing rotten. Even with good (refrigeration) techniques our leads may go stone cold.

Taking a look at the chart, the first thing you may notice is the time span differs for certain parts of the process. If you can make an effort to understand the customer’s process during this time, significant gains may be made. Your actual processing time is insignificant in marketing. It is the lead time between the processes that are important. Consider, for example, if we would increase the offer to transfer from the Trust stage to the Trial Stage. Or maybe, you have noticed that quicker conversions happen when they attend a webinar. What would happen if we paid them to come to the Webinar? You may find out segmenting your process halfway through the cycle would allow customers to better understand the results that they may gain from your product. Many of your features and benefits may be confusing certain prospects that don’t care for them anyway.

Total cycle time can be improved. It seldom can be done without more feedback loops in your system. Speed is important in the buying process. Develop process blitzes to reduce these non-value times. Go to Gemba or the customer’s place of work and find out what happens during this time. See what is stopping him from moving forward. It may be an internal constraint within their company. However, the constraint may be yours. Your responsiveness to the customers latest needs and the ability to focus your resources with enough but not too much material providing better clarity. He needs this to make a more rapid decision.

Create a vision of shorter cycle time, greater segmentation of your customers, it will enable you to do fewer actions in the cycle and much quicker. “It not the big that ate the small. It’s the fast that eat the slow” – Jason Jennings. Cycle times need to be addresses and improved. What methods are you using to accomplish this?

Related Blog Post:

Improve throughput, cut your customers in half!

Using the Theory of Constraints to improve your Marketing Hourglass

The Eagles always understood!

Technorati : Cycle Time, Duct Tape Marketing, Lean, Marketing Hourglass, Value Stream Mapping