Archive for process map
The Marketing Funnel using Six Sigma DMAIC – Define stage
Posted by: | CommentsSix Sigma or Lean practitioners would view what I say about DMAIC as hardly revolutionary. Marketers may view it as just a way for a Black Belt to find a way to maneuver themselves into some of their market share. I happen to be more of a marketing guy, than a Lean or Six Sigma technician. But I believe that Marketing should be a process and when viewed that way, many of the principles and tools of Lean and Six Sigma start making a lot of sense.
Marketing people view their role as a series of events, task and campaigns versus a process. Not to over simplify but a calendar is a static document and does not support the use of a process. Once you start systematizing or building a marketing process deliverables, stability, variation and measurable results become important. Hence, Lean or Six Sigma can be a significant partner in improving the Marketing process.
Use of the DMAIC process is usually reserved for solving problem with existing processes. Other methodologies, such as DMEDI are used in the design functions and may be more suitable for certain marketing campaigns. In this series of Blog Posts, I am going to concentrate on the DMAIC method.
My early post correlated the Marketing Funnel to DMAIC and how we may use that methodology to walk our customer through our marketing process. The first stage in the DMAIC Methodology is the Define stage. In the marketing funnel the opening stage is usually reserved for the awareness stage. We typically think of this as our lead generation efforts of getting someone to enter our funnel. Even though we may use efforts as permissions style marketing it is still very much a bait and switch tactic. If we truly believe the Inbound Marketing is what is necessary in today’s marketing, using the Six Sigma Define stage opens a more correct way of entry into the funnel.
My explanation of the Define Stage previously:
Purpose: Identify the clients, their needs and requirements.
Deliverable: State the need of the client and the problem
Expanding on this explanation the Define stage typically asks us to start with a problem statement. In the marketing sense, can you define the problem that you solve for your customers clearly? Where the problem statement describes the pain, the next statement should describe the relief that is to be expected. After that, we go into a process that is typically defined as Voice of the Customer. There are typically two major categories that are required; Output requirements and Service Requirements. The output requirements relate to the final product or service that is delivered to the customer. The service requirements relate to how the customer would like to be treated and served during the process.The final step in the Define stage is to document the process. Typically, this is done with a high level process map. Don’t worry about it being completely correct as we will use it and develop it further in the remaining processes.
Six Sigma has some great tools on how to obtain and measure these processes such as Kano Analysis, Process Map and SIPOC . I just wonder why marketers shy away from them.
Related Posts:
Marketing needs Six Sigma Methodology to Improve
Using DMAIC for your A3 Report in the Lean Marketing House
Start Fixing Marketing Mistakes with a Process
Do you know much value you provide? If not, how can you be more effective?
The Marketing Funnel using the Six Sigma DMAIC Methodology – Measure stage
Posted by: | CommentsProcesses lend themselves to measurement. If you treat your marketing as a process, then you should be able to measure your marketing. The define stage answers the question: What is important? The measure stage will answer that question by asking: How are we doing?
I stated in a previous post that the purpose of the Measure stage was to quantify process performance and deliverable was to determine baseline process performance. Without these facts, you will be very ineffective in improving performance. This is the stage which is most difficult for the novice. Adequate measurements in the current state are simply not there many times and as a result we either never get out of this stage be trying to be too precise or we move on without inadequate information that causes us reduce effectiveness of the latter stages. Another common fault is that we start analyzing the data which is the next stage of the process.
Remember that this is a current state not a future state step in the process. Remember, if you think something that you are doing is not measurable, there is someone already measuring it, YOUR CUSTOMER. This brings us back to the marketing funnel and I am correlating the measure phase to the consider phase. In the consider phase, or the like stage of the funnel, prospects are aware of you but now you must prepare them to consider you as a worthy candidate. How do you do that? In the DMAIC methodology we use tools such as Critical to Quality and other tools to determine what is important to a prospect. Instead of thinking about this step from an internal point of view step back and consider what the prospect would use to measure your product or service and make the decision to move through the funnel. Developing measures with customer input will certainly help a prospect move though the funnel.
At this stage, do you know how a prospect is measuring you? What is the most Critical to quality standard that influences your product or service? What is more critical than others? The old saying is that people perform by how they are measured? If your company is based on how they are being measured do you have measurements in places that you are performing too?
This is an area that we taking the process map to a deeper level or developing the current state in a Value Stream Mapping process?
From the Developing and Measuring Training the Six Sigma Way: A Business Approach to Training and Development
Developing marketing measurements requires a mind-set for accountability. Measurements must be understandable, quantifiable, and economic. Customers objectively and clearly state these requirements and pay the supplier for meeting their explicit expectations. We must be there listening and responding to them. The more these requirements are met, the more the customer is satisfied.
Do you have listening posts built into your processes? What targets are you meeting?
Related Posts:
The Marketing Funnel using Six Sigma DMAIC Methodology
The Marketing Funnel using Six Sigma DMAIC – Define stage
Related book: What Customers Want: Using Outcome-Driven Innovation to Create Breakthrough Products and Services
Measuring your value and become more effective
Posted by: | CommentsYesterday I discussed creating a Value Stream Map to discover the value and opportunities you had in your marketing process. Many companies stop, right there. However, the value cannot be determined till it has been quantified. This is where the use of Six Sigma can be utilized so effectively. If we accept the Current Value Stream as correct, we can progress to the measure stage in DMAIC. A Process Map is usually constructed at this stage. Process Mapping is much more specific than a Value Stream Map and should be created for every product or service defined in the Value Stream.
The Purpose of a Process Map:
- Graphical representation of how the process is performed.
- Identify process steps that are non value added.
- Identify data collection points.
- Created for each service. (Ex -Webinar)
- Created for every project and continuously updated.
- Provides a step by step guide for brainstorming and improvement.
A Basic Process map should include:
- Value added and non-value steps.
- Process owners of each step
- Time for each step.
- Defect rate for each step.
A Real Process Map should include:
- All of the Basic Steps
- Input and outputs of each process step (X’s and Y’s).
- Current requirements of each X and Y.
- Defect rate associated with each X and Y.
Creation of a Process Map
- Assemble Team
- Scope the project/process being mapped. Focus only on a particular service/product such as the example of a Webinar above.
- Identify all steps to perform this process and note if this step is value added or non value added.
- Identify the inputs (X’s) and outputs (Y’s) of each process step.
- Capture current specifications, process owners and materials for each X and Y identified.
- Identify and document all data collection points within the project scope.
I have included this process for a single step in the diagram below for a graphic understanding of the process. Don’t get hung up
on the X, Y, f or the equation. Just start looking at the basic process. I find out the people that want to go to the next step will
and the ones that don’t still receive value in this exercise. They will just rely on “Tribal Knowledge” versus data.
That’s it! But what about results and what we are going to do about all this. This is simple beyond the scope of this step. In the Six Sigma Process of DMAIC, we are only at the Measure stage. The next stage is Analyze. I wonder what we will do next.
