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Archive for Marketing Funnel

Jan

The Marketing Knowledge Spiral

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When most think of a marketing funnel or Marketing with PDCA, they tend to think of a stage by stage progression. I contend that the successful processes operate in a more spiral like progression. You would start with an identified product/market and some type of interaction from a prospect to identify them at the entry point of a cycle. As we go around the PDCA circle, we improve our knowledge relationship with the customer to a point that they either continue down the funnel in quicker and tighter iterations. If the increase in knowledge and collaboration does not take place then momentum is lost and the customer/prospect drops out of the existing funnel. Repeated use of PDCA makes it possible to improve the quality of the communication, the methodology itself, and the results.

Once set in motion, this process should be an ongoing one, allowing constant interactions between the parties involved. In a learning arena, individuals expand their own knowledge through a “knowledge spiral” (Osterloh and Wubker. 1999). This process has the
specific intention of fostering a collective vision among the participants. This vision can assist the development of new solutions for problems in specific subject areas – in this case, the ways in which we deal with the problems are customers are facing and are ability to adjust lo new goals and objectives.

During the first stage (Plan) of the PDCA Cycle, the participants interact to appraise the customer needs and information on the subject is made available lo all participants, who add it to their own knowledge and experience, and alter this in the light of the new information. During the Do Cycle second stage, the “influence stage”, participants make critical analysis of their own products/services in the light of the new knowledge they have acquired, This broadens their understanding of each others needs and abilities. The aim of this stage is to make individuals receptive to new ideas and action. This is maybe the most difficult stage because you have to be receptive to each others views and be willing to accept a fresh understanding to solve problems in a new way. The third stage (Check Stage) is the intimacy stage. An explanation or demonstration of participants’ new level of understanding is essential. The results that are produced actually can be used and adapted in for other situations. The fourth stage (Act) is the act of either continuing down the spiral to another iteration of tighter focus and a more intense cycle or deciding that moiré knowledge is required at this level. Many times it can be determined that at this time the proper fit for this particular value stream does not work for the participants.

Think of the Marketing Spiral as a continuous puzzle of interactions building through PDCA the knowledge of each other – customer/supplier.

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Categories : Agile Marketing, Lean Six Sigma

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Dec

Online collaboration is leading the way for Lean Marketing

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Businesses and individuals are becoming exponentially more productive and efficient thanks to the innovations that connect them. Between email, Skype, and telecommuting, the landscape of business communication and collaboration is vastly different than it was even a few years ago. We will see just how many of these technologies are helping businesses today, and how quickly people are now able to collaborate and innovate together.

Our organizational structures are getting flatter every day. Technology is not making us less personal, we are getting more personal through technology. We buy less from companies every day and more from people.

Technology actually has evolved to a point that it is becoming anti-technology. The new business models are about communities and organizations must understand what makes them tick. In the book The Hyper-Social Organization: Eclipse Your Competition by Leveraging Social Media, the authors discuss the 4 pillars of Hyper-Sociality:

Tribe vs. market segment
Human-centricity vs. company centricity
Network vs. channel
Social messiness vs. process and hierarchy

The funny thing about all of this is that there will also be a rapid increase in exceptions, more of the anti-technology stuff and more people interactions. This change has invaded both customer service and marketing. Traditional print media, PR and advertising are gradually fading out. Even referrals have shifted from word of mouth to more of a tribal type relationship. If your organization is not already part of the tribe you are overlooked.

Just having a great product is not enough. Sure Apple looks like they are banging out innovation after innovation. But are they? Or is it more of the “Apple Tribe” that devours each new innovation with Steve Jobs as the head of the kingdom.

The next facet of business to change will likely be innovation, if it has not already. Co-creation is upon us and as our tools get better there will be more and more interactivity with our customers. Those exceptions that many of us dread will even become more normal and part of everyday innovation.

Sound like a lot of fun! Learning to market and innovate through iterative cycles is what Lean Marketing is all about. Using Lean on a project to project basis to reduce waste and make marketing and innovation more efficient is hardly effective. Empowering our people for a more human approach within the tribes we choose to network or participate in is the differentiation Lean provides. Lean provides the structure we need to provide value to this social messiness. Without, we lose our relevance and speed that is needed in the collaborative world that we are entering. I look forward to the great journey ahead.

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Nov

Marketers must understand the systems they manage.

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During the past several years, I have seen more marketing efforts geared towards increasing prospects at the top of the marketing funnel. This has resulted in increase spending, greater efforts in innovation and jumping on the Social Media bandwagon. Few will attribute greater profits or increased revenue to these efforts. My contention is that the top of the funnel is the least effective and most expensive method of generating leads. All of these methods will increase variation and can be demonstrated by Deming’s funnel experiment which illustrates the effects of "tampering" with a process and increasing variation rather than decreasing it.

Video courtesy of Rumba Training Ltd -

It is not enough in this day and age to just increase marketing efforts. The reason the pellets miss the target is because of the inherent errors or causes built into the system. Attending to you Value Stream (Marketing Funnel) will decrease variability and create significant improvements. Why would you need to take the riskier methods of innovation and product improvements?

This is were many think that I would discuss the typical Lean theories of reducing waste, improving cycle time, and managing your work in process. Though that is not a bad thing to do but you have to innovate and improve or you will fall behind.

This is what the new wave of Lean Marketing solves. It is an effective way of staying on the leading edge. It is a way improving the way you sell and market through tightening those inherent errors in your system. You cannot predict the future. However, you can build a process that adapts quickly to the changing environment and quicker than you competition. The Future of marketing is Lean!

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Categories : Agile Marketing, Lean Six Sigma, Value Stream Marketing

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Oct

Value Stream Mapping your Sales Team

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In my Microsoft Newsletter this week, I received the following enticement:

Find, Keep, and Grow Customer Relationships with Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online. Start Your 30-Day Free Trial Today!

Today, businesses are asked to do more with less. Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online delivers exceptional value because it combines your everyday Microsoft Office applications with powerful CRM software accessed over the Internet to rapidly improve marketing, boost sales, and enrich customer service interactions. Try it now for 30 days! (This is not an affiliate Link).

I am trying it this week but what I wanted to share is a piece of the collateral information, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Power Couple. In this PDF, MSN highlighted the Customer Decision Making Process aka Mirror Marketing( Your Marketing Funnel from your Customer’s Perspective.) but extended the concept to show the process from several other points of view.

I have always been an advocate of seeking Sales and Marketing’s response to each of the customer’s decision steps but MSN (they are selling software), highlighted the technology enabler and a team response to the Customer Value Stream process. This simple exercise utilizing a high level Value Stream Map can really get your individual departments on the same page!

In my recent work, I have been advocating breaking down the Sales Silo and making Sales a team effort. In most organizations, I have been met with strong resistance to this concept. Most sales people look at as another silly initiative and most internal people see sales as a vehicle to customer data. As a result, sales resist and rightfully so preventing themselves from becoming an extended clerk. However, the approach really should be about how to increase face time with the customer. The #1 enabler of increased sales.

Create your own sales team by reviewing who responds to your Customer’s Value Stream Map. Start having a few meetings, similar to a daily standup meeting which may not be feasible. I would recommend at first error in having the meeting to often, just cut them short. In a spirit of true collaboration, don’t automatically exclude your customer from the team. This concept really could increase face time!

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