This Blog is intended for Contractors and Manufacturers experiencing frustration with a lack of growth or systematic approach to construction marketing. They want proven marketing ideas and tools to take their marketing to new heights!
Timothy W. Fowler (also known as The Right Brain) is CEO of BusinessLeadership.com. He details numerous process improvement efforts utilizing right-brain dominant-skills in this transcription of the Business901 podcast, Are right brain thinkers better leaders?
Tim is a University of Kentucky Certified Lean Master, a Goldratt Institute Theory of Constraint Supply Chain Expert, an ASQ-Certified Six Sigma Black Belt, and a Licensed Social Worker with a SECRET clearance. He will also be speaking at the ASQ Columbus Spring Conference. It is a one day event on March 24th with registration beginning at 7:30 AM and the conference from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM. Additional information and registration can be obtained at http://www.asq-columbus.org.
This is a transcription of the podcast,Continuously improving thru PDCA that I had with Dean Ziegler of the Systems2win Company. Systems2win provides a standardized set of easy-to-use Excel templates for business process improvement with surprisingly inexpensive self-paced online training and eye-popping flexibility to personalize your templates to fit your needs to dramatically improve the speed, quality, and cost of any process. Their mission is in their tagline: to continuously improve (your) tools for continuous improvement.
Systems2win templates were originally developed during 14 years of manufacturing systems consulting by the founder of Systems2win, Dean Ziegler. Systems2win templates and online training has been field proven, and continues to be continuously improved by hundreds of Systems2win software users.
The Systems2win Company provides business process improvement tools and training to companies all over the globe. People are provided with easy-to-use fill-in-the-blanks Excel templates that come with self-help online training to improve the speed and reduce the cost of every step of your project. Dean was my guest on the podcast and we discussed how his company lives to their tag line. “Continuously improving tools for continuous improvement”. It is a unique discussion on how a small company practices PDCA.
Sytems2win will be exhibiting at the23rd Annual Shingo Prize Conference, March 28 – April 1, 2011 – Northern Kentucky Convention Center located near Cincinnati, OH.
Systems2win templates were originally developed during 14 years of manufacturing systems consulting by the founder of Systems2win, Dean Ziegler. Systems2win templates and online training has been field proven, and continues to be continuously improved by hundreds of Systems2win software users.
Thomas Goetz wants to redesign medical data, allowing patients to get more insight and take part in their treatment. His ideas on how to make data understandable (ideas stolen from a Captain Crunch Box) and how to create feedback loops are excellent visualizations for marketing to learn from. As marketing increasingly relies on content and knowledge creation these basic skills are imperative but seldom so well simplified.
Goetz knows this will not happen overnight so he encourages patients to make matters in their own hands for the time being….
4 Questions Every Patient Should Ask..
Can I have my results?
What does this mean?
What are my options?
What next?
Funny, seems strikingly similar to the same questions a customer asks me about a proposal!
This information came via a tweet from fellow Lean Consultant @AnkitTheLeanWay.
By leading the Americans in his audience at TEDxPSU step by step through the thought process, sociologist Sam Richards sets an extraordinary challenge: can they understand -- not approve of, but understand -- the motivations of an Iraqi insurgent? And by extension, can anyone truly understand and empathize with another?
This is very powerful video but my use of it is not to encourage any agreement in the messages that are presented but one of the big picture message that Sam Richards is trying to portray, understanding others!
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world’s leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes.
Lean technology has now evolved from the manufacturing floor to the whole enterprise. Many companies have found real value in applying the fundamental concepts of Lean throughout the organization. The lean concepts of Kaizen, PDCA and the tools such as Pareto Charts, 5 Why’s and even Poka Yoke are commonplace. However, the concept of Standard Work is the most fundamental of all Lean practices but the most controversial in whether it is applicable to the service sector.
Last week I had asked Dr. Balle to define Standard Work in Lean Services. However, I felt that it begged for the next question, who is involved on agreeing on the standard? As always Dr. Balle had a unique answered.
Dr. Michael Ballé is a business researcher and consultant and has studied lean transformation for the past 15 years. He is Associate Researcher at Télécom ParisTech and the co-founder of the French Lean Institute (www.institut-lean-france.fr) and the Projet Lean Enterprise (www.lean.enst.fr). He coaches CEOs and senior executives in using lean to radically improve their businesses’ performances and establish lean cultures.
I had the pleasure of discussing the mission and expertise of the Juran Institute, Inc. with their CEO, Joe DeFeo. The Institute provides research and pragmatic solutions to enable organizations from any industry to learn the tools and techniques for managing quality and performance excellence. As a result of this discussion, I think you will take away some different views on the subject of quality and how they apply to your organization. This is not quality for the sake of quality. This is quality for the sake of business improvement.
The Juran's Quality Handbook: The Complete Guide to Performance Excellence 6/e , was co-authored by Joe DeFeo and the late Dr. Joseph M. Juran. This authoritative resource shows how to apply universal methods for delivering superior results and organizational excellence in any organization, industry, country or process. In the podcast, Joe will give two people the opportunity to win a copy of the handbook.
P.S. What do you talk about before a podcast begins? I left some beginning remarks in place. However, I have to correct a statement that was made, WKRP was in Cincinnati.
Upcoming Events: Juran is conducting blended Lean Six Sigma workshops for Green Belt and Black Belt certification beginning in April 2011. The workshops begin with required online independent study of e-learning modules. The estimated 24 hours of independent study must be completed by the start of the onsite, instructor-led portion of the workshop. The onsite workshop training, held in Southbury, Connecticut, will expand upon the topics covered in the e-learning modules. Training will be interactive with group case study exercises, problem analysis and statistics practice. Here is a list of all the workshops Juran currently has scheduled for 2011:
I am putting a different twist on these programs. All of the webinars will be distributed at the designated time to provide a structured learning concept but they will be yours to keep. I won’t be taking the time off though. In addition to the webinar training, I will be offering the participants the opportunity to make appointments so that they can sign up for 30 minutes of 1 on1 training with me via the web. That will be 2-hours of direct coaching on implementing your training.
Marketing your Black Belt is a 28-day program starting May 6th. Marketing your Black Belt is based specifically on addressing these issues: Customer Acquisition, Marketing, Customer Retention and Communication & Collaboration. Specifically designed for Quality consultants.
Get Clients NOW – 28 Day Program: Program starting on the Monday, April 18th: 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM (GMT-0500).Program Structure and Agenda:During the first three sessions you will receive all the tools and training needed to design your individual 28-day marketing action plan. Specifically Designed for the Professional Consultant.
Value Stream Marketing: is a 28-day program starting Thursday, Mat 12th, from 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM (ET). We want our participants to learn how to utilize a Sales and Marketing Value Stream implement through the use of a Marketing Kanban. Specifically Designed for Organizations.
How many times has a good idea failed because of a poor plan or execution? For start-ups and established organizations alike, Business901 provides effective but easy to use methodologies. They are flexible enough to allow you to apply your own ideas, while giving you guidance before, during and after. We will provide practical, information-rich, immediately applicable direction that can have immediate impact on the success of your organization.
Dr. Jeffrey K. Liker is a professor of industrial and operations engineering at the University of Michigan and cofounder and director of the Japan Technology Management Program at the University of Michigan.
This A3 report is a high level look at building a Lean Marketing System. I created this to accompany my presentation at the ASQ Columbus Conference. You can develop this A3 for a customer or a business segment. The instructions are below.
The next section is based on the 5 Cs of Driving Market Share program. This is the Value Stream in the Lean Marketing system. We identify the customer’s product/market segment, the value proposition that drives that segment, whether the customer is either new(acquire) or being retained and how they have been monitored. Without this, we will not know or will have to re-acquire critical information that drive a customer (market) decision process. For detailed information review the 5 Cs of Driving Market Share website.
You should use the Define Involvement step to express what prompted the increase interest. Has something changed that initiated the inquiry? Did you solicit the inquiry? Who requested the information?
The next stage is to simply map the customer’s decision process. This may be difficult if it is a new customer but you should attempt to be as complete as you can. The important thing is to get a beginning and an end point for an iteration cycle that includes the involvement of the customer. Drawing a value stream map can be very effective.
Next, break down each of the customer’s decision making process steps. The key is to understand what will drive them to the next step. Knowledge of the future steps are not that important at this time. Many things change as the process continues and the customer receives new knowledge along the way.
As move to the right side of the A3, you will evaluate your marketing based on the process demonstrated in step 5. Mirroring your customers decision making cycle is at the heart of Lean Marketing. Who will be involved to answer your customer questions? What technology will you need to demonstrate? What content do you need to offer at this stage? This all done in short iterative PDCA cycles. Each step in the process has its own PDCA cycle. Both organizations will grow in knowledge of each other and the need and capabilities of each. This mutual respect is imperative in the latter part of the buying cycles.
If you fail, it is important to document the reasons why. Sharing your learning will assist you and others in defining and improving future efforts.
Having proper handoffs seldom happens without accountability. Finishing the A3 this way will greatly enhance your future sales and marketing efforts.
This is the first draft for the Lean Marketing A3. Additional clarification is included in the Lean Marketing House and Marketing with A3, The Kindle versions are listed on the right side of the page and if you purchase the 2 of them on the Business901 website in PDF format we will send you the PDF of the Marketing with PDCA book when completed..
This is a transcription of a the Business901 podcast, Making Sense of Social Messiness. My guest was Francois Gossieaux is co-founder and partner at Human 1.0 (Beeline Labs), a marketing innovation strategy firm, a Senior Fellow and a Board Member at the Society for New Communications Research (SNCR).
Lean Sales and Marketing is built upon the philosophy that there has been a subtle shift to knowledge as the way to engage, develop and retain your customer base. The sales and marketing team must act as a vehicle to cultivate ideas not only within their four walls but more importantly from their customers and markets. If this is true, how do create new knowledge? How do we learn? Most studies show that we learn best by doing and by being forced to resolve our perspective with those of others who disagree with us. This means that you have to encourage contradictions and be willing to push the envelope with your customers.
This is a strange paradox. Disagreement with your customer can hardly be seen as a positive mechanism for sales and marketing. However, it is embracement of this understanding that will move your sales and marketing efforts to a higher level of performance.
Can you disagree with a customer? Can you purposely cause tension? You must! You must move away from the comfort zone and create a healthy tension and instability in your sales and marketing process. The first step in doing this is that you must create an atmosphere of respect. It is such an important function of Lean Sales and Marketing that I asked Dr. Michael Balle to define respect within a Lean Company. This is what he said:
The next step in the process is surprisingly easy but difficult to do. It is the process of reflection or in Japanese, hansei. There are three key components of hansei:
Recognize that there is a problem – a gap between expectations and achievement – and be open to negative feedback.
Voluntarily take responsibility and feel deep regret.
Commit to a specific course of action to improve.
The first step, acknowledge that there is room for improvement is not that difficult. However, putting a number to it may be a different story. When we create a performance gap we identify 2 things, one where we are at now and where do we want to go. Of course we may not get there overnight but there will be limitations. You have to determine what is realistic to achieve. A simple but effective way of looking at it is, “From what to what by when”.
The second step can simply be stated – don’t look for excuses. Take responsibility, feel a little humility and move forward. Without this, you will never fully release from the past and it may be much more difficult to bring fresh ideas to the table.
This is your action plan to move forward. However, without step 2, you will seldom be passionate about step 3. It will just be another effort and ownership will be limited. Ownership cannot be done without an emotional attachment.
The steps of Respect first, Reflection second will drive the 3rd step of Kaizen or continuous improvement. This is the process and culture of PDCA in your marketing cycle. It is the embodiment of tension, a performance gap to send you off on a new path. This path acts as expanding spiral of co-creation of knowledge with your customer that will be truly valued. THE ABILITY TO SHARE AND CREATE KNOWLEDGE WITH YOUR CUSTOMER is the strongest marketing tool possible.
Few companies will take this path. Few companies will take the time to develop the level of respect required. Even fewer will use hansei and look at performance gaps releasing their own pre-determined reasons. Few will ever practice continuous improvement in sales and marketing.
, was co-authored by Joe DeFeo and the late Dr. Joseph M. Juran. This authoritative resource shows how to apply universal methods for delivering superior results and organizational excellence in any organization, industry, country or process. In the podcast, Joe will give two people the opportunity to win a copy of the handbook. 
(Book release date is April 22nd, Podcast will be later this month).
and 
, The Kindle versions are listed on the right side of the page and if you purchase the 2 of them on the 
, Francois Goissieaux of 
