Lean Engagement Team Book

Coming Soon!

The Collaborative Cycle

of Sales and Marketing

Will Lean ever be sustained unless sales and marketing are on board? Why start with production if we want to look from the customer’s eyes? Would it be not be more correct if we did Lean sales and marketing first? Why can’t we have Quality in Sales and Marketing?

SETTING THE STAGE

With few exceptions, every time Lean is introduced to sales and marketing, it was through Value Stream Mapping with the sole purpose of removing waste in the process. They were told what that data meant and as a result what they should stop doing. This resulted in neither an increase in sales nor an increase in value added time with the customer. Salespeople had every right to scream and ignore the conversation. All they were ever told to do was gather data.

SETTING THE STAGE(cont.)

Lean Engagement Team

Value Stream Manager

Team Coordinator

Sales Team

Marketing Communication

The implementation and deployment of Lean Sales and Marketing teams must include a clear definition of roles and matching needed talent to each team. Every organization will deploy differently, there is no cookie cutter approach. Roles are an important part of this process and the more definition provided the more effective the individual Teams will be. Organizations that consider these alignments as an integral part of their sales and marketing strategy create strategic advantages over the competition..

The Value Stream Manager (VSM) represents the product/service markets and the business. Team Coordinator (TC) maintains the integrity of the processes through coaching and predefined control points. The Sales and Marketing Team (Team) is a cross-functional group whose number and expertise are derived from the decision-making path of the customer. This Team does the actual sales, providing content, technical functions, trials, testing, etc.

The Team Coordinator (TC) maintains the integrity of the processes through coaching and predefined control points.

Overview:

The Team Coordinator (TC) maintains the integrity of the processes through coaching and predefined control points.

Transaction to teams

Obtainable goal setting.

Willingness to train people.

Commitment to measurement

Understanding and agreement on the need for processes.

Dedication to knowledge capture & sharing internally & externally.

Clear-cut business and/or divisional strategy and objectives.

Identify specific products/markets that offer organization best options for growth.

Create a value model for each of targeted product or market.

Clearly state the organization’s competitive value proposition.

Identify the direction needed to enhance that value proposition.

Monitor competitive value proposition.

Value Stream Manager

Facilitating the team’s progress toward their goal

Ensuring that work being delivered is in tune w/ customer’s needs.

Mentoring the team on Lean processes .

Acting as a buffer for outside interruptions.

Team Coordinator

SALES PDCA It is nothing more than a standard PDCA cycle except the SALES part of the framework is where the sales team gets its directions and coaching from the team coordinator and value stream manager. Within the actual PDCA stage the sales team is empowered to make their own choices and determine their own direction to accomplish the goals of that cycle. One of the key considerations in developing a team is to determine the objective of the cycle. Is it primarily problem-resolution, creativity, or tactical execution?

First consider the kind of team needed:

• Problem Resolution

• Creativity

• Tactical execution

Teams

Once you've established the objectives, you choose a team structure to match it. Without this process you may have creative teams working on tactical execution or on the other hand a problem-solving team working on a creative solution.

As the customer/prospect travels through their decision-making process our marketing efforts are implemented in spirals of increasing knowledge of their process that converge on the ultimate goal, the correct solution for the customer. The spiral gets tighter as we progress. I like to think of it as an increase in cadence. Passing through from one spiral to the next is a result of the customer or, better put, the result of our increase in knowledge about the customers’ problem and the match of our proposed solution. This handoff from one PDCA cycle to another is typically managed through a control point.

This entire value stream could be managed by one value stream team or it could be passed to another value stream team that manages only that cycle. It all depends on how you set up your organization. Viewing your value stream/marketing cycle in this manner creates endless opportunities for improvement. It is also much easier to handle the team concept of sales and marketing with a thought process of continuous improvement.

The sales and marketing team is a cross-functional group whose number and expertise are derived from the decision-making path of the customer. The team is first and foremost the listening post for the customer (prospect), providing the customer with the information, technology, and support that is required. This is done through a PDCA/SDCA/EDCA cycle that depending on the complexity may constitute an entire sales cycle or just a certain portion of the customer’s decision-making process.

Marketing Communications

Ezine Mailers Brochure Pricing Web

Presence

Social Media

Press Release

Speaking Advertising Referral

Handles the marketing communications for the company.

Works closely with Value Stream Managers & Team Coordinators

Provide support for program strategy and value stream.

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Available on Business901: • PDF – Instant Download

Lean Marketing House Trio

Marketing with Lean Program Series

1. Lean Marketing House Overview 2. Driving Market Share 3. Marketing with PDCA 4. Marketing with A3 5. Lean Engagement Team

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