Lean Services Marketing

Just a quick post here for small businesses in B-to-B services.  Regardless of your knowledge of (or initial interest in) Lean, you can use some key questions to tighten up your service delivery. Why is this important? On-target marketing and delivery of services translates to less costs, increased revenue via more focus on the customer, and more fulfilled employees.  That’s what I’ll help you with here.

First, a brief intro to the concept of waste.  Waste is defined as “any activity that uses resources, but creates no value for the customer” by Natalie J. Sayer and Bruce Williams* in Lean for Dummies.  There are 7 ways that waste manifests in manufacturing companies: transportation, waiting, overproduction, defects, inventory, movement, and extra processing.  Here, we’ll just look at preventing the types of waste that relate to marketing and delivering  services, primarily overproduction, extra processing, and inventory.

To deliver and market B-to-B services efficiently, the small business owner should ask the following questions to reduce waste:

1. Am I producing more (volume) or more options than my clients want? (Even at the proposal stage.)

2. Am I producing deliverables sooner than they need them?

3. What quality levels are required by the clients/customers?

4. What quantity of deliverables/materials do they require? 

5. What materials/deliverables can be re-purposed into something that clients value?

6. Is there anything that needs packaging/promoting to create value in the clients’ minds? 

With the answers to these questions, you can begin to plan with greater efficiency and make better use of your time and resources while ensuring you are meeting client needs.   That, after all, is the benefit and goal of eliminating waste.   

 

*Bruce spoke last month at an ABPMP-Phoenix event.  This link contains his bio and information about Business Transformation Through IT, co-sponsored by ASU’s WP Carey School of Business’ MSIM Department.  To learn more about our local chapter of the Association for Business Process Management Professionals, visit our website.

Marketing Seminar in January 2009

It's never to early to start marketing. If you are thinking about developing a plan, already have media in place but need to nail down advertising, or anticipate writer's block in the future, this seminar is for you. Mark your calendar and register online:

Title: Writing Stellar Copy: A DIY Marketing Seminar
Type: In-person
Date/Time: Wed., Jan. 14, 2009 from 1:30-3:30 p.m.
Location: Arizona Small Business Association, Prosperity Room, 4130 East Van Buren, Suite 150, Phoenix, AZ
Cost: Free
Description: This seminar is for anyone who wants to take a "do-it-yourself" approach to writing ads, brochures, or any written marketing materials to effectively speak to their prospects and customers.

Free Small Biz Marketing Seminar in Phoenix: Sept. 19, 2008

Upcoming Seminar!

Title: Writing Stellar Copy: A DIY Marketing Seminar
Type: In-person
Date/Time: Friday, September 19, 2008 1:30-3:30 p.m.
Location: Burton Barr Library, Meeting Room A, 1221 N Central Avenue, Phoenix, AZ
Cost: Free
Description: This seminar is for anyone who wants to take a "do-it-yourself" approach to writing ads, brochures, or any written marketing materials to effectively speak to their prospects and customers.

Click here to register

Free Small Biz Marketing Seminar in Phoenix: Sept. 19, 2008

Please join me!
Title: Writing Stellar Copy: A DIY Marketing Seminar
Type: In-person
Date/Time: Friday, September 19, 2008 1:30-3:30 p.m.
Location: Burton Barr Library, Meeting Room A, 1221 N Central Avenue, Phoenix, AZ
Cost: Free
Description: This seminar is for anyone who wants to take a "do-it-yourself" approach to writing ads, brochures, or any written marketing materials to effectively speak to their prospects and customers.

Click here to register

Focus on . . . Advertising

To follow is an excerpt from my Quarterly Newsletter. To request the full text, send me an email. You can also sign up for future editions on my home page.

I've seen some confusion lately among small business owners and micro-business owners about the relationship between marketing and advertising as well as how to effectively produce ads. If we're looking at a textbook model, Marketing is responsible for Promotions, and so I consider advertising an important part of the plan to promote your product or service. Developing an effective "ad campaign" is a good first step towards establishing your new brand and/or generating awareness in the market about your current brand. To help you achieve this, whether you do it yourself or engage my services, here are the keys to planning your successful ad:

1. Position. Determine your position by knowing your target market and your competition. If you haven't done at least a basic market study, or have scattered information that needs to be compiled, doing so will be a major success factor in your strategic marketing efforts overall, as well as any advertising effort. Armed with industry research and target market needs, you'll be able to create an effective message.

A Primo Position: Diet Coke has two innovative, eye-catching yet simple ads. One ad shows a condensation-covered can with a cardboard insulating sleeve typically used for coffee around it and the headline "Good Morning." Another ad shows 3 images of the same sleeve-clad can with the headline "Three-hour meeting." This is a brilliant campaign strategy to carve out a potential new market--folks who prefer a cold, easily accessible, cheaper "coffee" as they head to (or cope with!) work. If you've read my previous newsletter about Coke BlaK, you'll see that the advertising track is a much better competitive strategy than costly new product development.