Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma execution are common practices found in manufacturing. Because they mirror each other so closely, many organizations are practicing a methodology that combines the two. Lean Six Sigma combines speed with quality.
But the practices commonly exercised across production can now be incorporated into marketing organizations. Marketers can now reduce the process cycle to develop both marketing assets and opportunity. They can reduce over, or under, production of content and leads avoiding empty funnels and lead fatigue. With automated processes unnecessary rework and errors are practically eliminated, and the business can leverage the collective intellect of both employees and the voice of the customer.
Maximize Productivity
Certainly digital marketing tools like marketing automation and CMS allow businesses to streamline processes. These solutions increase productivity by automating, templatizing, and increasing the speed of approval and execution in communications. But they also provide data which can indicate potential for productivity optimization.
Manufacturing companies should investigate trends within the regions they operate and begin to gain insight into the effectiveness of their communication outreach. They should identify what revenue potential their customer base has and who their advocates are. They should leverage this advocacy. The sale of parts and consumables is often times big business and it helps to measure after sales/ initial sales ratios and uncover poorly performing markets and partners as a way to direct marketing investments.
So try identifying your advocates by identifying a list of customers and the corresponding data for each:
Contacts Klout score:
Number of previous referrals:
Revenue resulting from previous referrals:
Customer engagement score:
Number of testimonials and/or referral calls:
Customers with Top 25% Klout scores:
Customers with Top 25% of referrals:
Customers generating Top 25% referral revenue:
Customers with Top 25% engagement score
Customers with Top 25% of testimonials/referral calls
Eliminate Wastes
Marketing and sales generate a lot of waste through their efforts and resource allocation. Understanding where to focus your people, time, and money can eliminate resource waste.
You can do this by understanding the engagement of your audiences, both external and internal across all channels, and taking steps to enhance their experiences.
Calculate your average customer and partner attrition rate. What is the cost of retaining customers and partners, and what revenue does the company lose because of turnover? How does turnover compare to industry benchmarks?
How much does each new acquisition cost? What are your costs of acquiring customers and partners and the costs of converting opportunities to customers and partners? Is this an area where you should focus additional resources and budget?
Also understand which partners are engaging with the marketing material you send and target to them. Which partners are leveraging training offered? Which partners are really engaging with training, and to what extent? Which partners are utilizing the marketing tools offered to them? Which of those tools are most effective with the partner's end user?
Reducing Cost
On average, the cost to recruit an employee can average 15%-30% of the position’s salary. Manufacturers can begin to reduce these costly practices by focusing recruitment efforts on those candidates who are most qualified and most engaged.
In manufacturing, firms should understand the cost of their recruitment efforts. They should measure the effectiveness of their recruitment efforts and communications.
Calculate the cost per recruit. Understand the cost of acquiring candidates and the cost of converting candidates to recruits. Is this an area where you should focus additional resources or budget?
Identify the average employee turnover rate, cost of retaining talent, and what revenue the company loses because of turnover. How does your turnover compare to industry benchmarks?
Increasing Throughput
A big pain point for manufacturers is their channel partners not leveraging manufacturer incentives. Channel partners are not informed of the incentives and do not pass them down to their customers. Reports that show how partners engage with incentive promotions would help in uncovering poor performing assets, campaigns and poorly engaged partners.
Firms must identify which parts of the organization are leading, and which are lagging. Companies should identify which regions are demonstrating the greatest growth/loss. This information should guide their decisions around where to focus communications, allocate money, and recruit new partners. It should direct the customization and personalization of communications based on regional engagement. This data will also provide insight into revenue potential and strength by geographic location.
Can you identify where you should engage more partners based on revenue activity in different geographic regions? Based on partner performance, partner retention, and regional growth/loss where should you focus efforts on partner acquisition as well as retention efforts? Which partners are generating revenue, and which are experiencing an increase/decrease over time? What return are you seeing from your partner channel?
By understanding the tools and data available marketers can begin to align their strategy with the Lean Six Sigma practices found throughout the organization.
How are you incorporating lean practices into your marketing organization?