Guest Post: Lean Sales and Marketing – Not without a new Toolset!

Joe Dager, owner of Business901 specializes in bringing the continuous improvement process to the sales and marketing arena. Joe has owned and operated companies involved in retail, manufacturing and professional services that include several turnarounds and growth companies. He has authored the books The Lean Marketing House, Marketing with A3 and Marketing with PDCA.


Think of all the changes and improvements in the manufacturing world in the last 20 years. We manufacture off floors cleaner than many tables that we eat off. You open a box, turn a key, or press a button and it works. Even the batteries are included! Most products manuals and operating instructions are never used. In fact, we seldom include them anymore. Our machines are so smart that they are completely intuitive to work for the entire population. Products have come a long way! More specifically quality has been an amazing success story and manufacturers have led the way.

What about sales and marketing? Is your sales and marketing that much better? Has it advanced at the same rate of improvement that your manufacturing has? Why not?

What are some of the improvement methods? In the marketplace, this is some of the good “marketing” ideas:

1. A recent blog headline summed said, Use Value-Added Sales to Boost Your Profit Margin. The blog post recommended extended warranties or guarantees, free shipping, consulting and more. I don’t know where value –added came into this. They are all delayed costs in my mind. I can go on but I felt the advice was like telling someone not to pay cash but put on your credit card. That way you don't have to pay for it, NOW!
2. Accelerate innovation and broaden our product line. We add more features and more products but seldom does that add or equate to more benefits that a customer wants. 
3. Create better websites, SEO, Social Media and send out more e-mails. There are so many things that we can do on the web that you need a marketing technologist, nice word for a geek to keep up. Many manufacturers are still struggling using the internet and more specifically social media in any other way besides a more sophisticated and sometime animated tool to deliver the old same marketing material, just in a little greener way. 

So I go back to my original question, do you think sales and marketing has improved at the same rate as manufacturing? If not, why not?

Most of us start our quality processes through the tool set of the methodology. I know that everyone likes to talk about Lean Culture and that tools are secondary and they are. But how many of us did not start there? The reason that sales and marketing has never become “Lean” is that they lack the proper tool set. I know the traditionalist Lean people will roll over with the comments forthcoming but bear with me.

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. Salespeople had every right to scream and ignore the conversation because all they were ever told to do was gather data. Than 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.

The toolset that is available is the one that has evolved from the Lean Software World of Agile and the world of Design Thinking. These worlds developed entirely from a different Lean format than the one found in U.S. manufacturing which is based on removing non-value added activities and waste. Lean Sales and Marketing needs to be based on customer value and PDCA (from a knowledge building platform). The funny thing is that both worlds of thought still reference the Toyota Production System and Lean Thinking by Womack and Jones as their basic guides.

The reason, I believe that these worlds are still so disconnected is how they think about customer value. Customer value cannot be an internal control point. It must be determined at the point of consumption. Only customer’s (customer defined as the user of the product) determine value and the non-customer when addressing markets. The funny thing is that Agile and Design Thinkers understand that value is not derived till the product is put into use and their efforts are not realized till that point. It puts an entirely different slant on looking at Lean and looking at the customer. Look at how the tools of Lean need to be presented to Sales and Marketing:

1. Don’t think Value Stream Mapping think Journey Mapping
2. Don’t think Future State think Concept Development
3. Don’t think Build and Deliver think Prototype and Test
4. Don’t think Product Benefits think Value in Use

If you want to bring sales and marketing into a continuous improvement mindset, change the tool set.

Related Posts:

The Role of PDCA in a Lean Sales and Marketing Cycle

Asking the right questions about Lean?

Where is the path in Continuous Improvement for Sales and Marketing?

Why does sales and marketing operate to a different quality standard?

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Guest Post: Second Try at My Personal Kanban

Today I am pleased to share a guest post from my friend Matt Wrye who blogs at Beyond Lean. With Matt's 10+ years of lean implementation and problem solving experience, he is able to draw on his successes and failures to tackle new challenges by presenting fresh perspectives and results-driven solutions. Through his exposure to multiple business operation facets in divergent industries that include aluminum, electronics, auto, HVAC, and consumer goods, he is able to provide real-life lean solutions to everyday business challenges.
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His cornerstone belief is that all levels of the business unit should be educated on lean thinking and principles. To this point, Matt diligently challenges his own lean knowledge while working with all business levels ranging from human resources, accounting and the manufacturing floor to senior managers, executives and presidents. By adhering to this continuous learning philosophy, Matt is able to focus his lean efforts to provide continuous improvement.

Matt has a Bachelor of Science degree from Purdue University in Industrial Engineering. Among his other accomplishments, he is a certified Shainin Red X Journeyman and is certified in Statistical analysis and Kepner-Tregoe problem solving methodology. He is proud to have played a large and significant role in starting the Smith County Lean Consortium in Tyler, TX.
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As I look for ways to improve, I am inspired by other lean thinkers and bloggers. I see what they are trying and look to how that might work for me. I try and experiment with things in order to make my job easier and to feel more in control and organized. 

I decided to start a series that will be based on what I have tried in order to make my work better. It may be small or large things and most likely it was an inspiration I got from someone else. I hope that by passing along what I have learned that it may inspire others the way others have inspired me.

About three months ago, I posted a blog about my first attempt at a personal kanban. It was not successful at all. With some encouragement from fellow blogger Tim McMahon, I reflected more on why it didn't work and then learned more about how to apply personal kanban. "Personal Kanban" by Jim Benson and Tonianne Barry was a helpful resource for me.

At the end of my previous post, I talked about digitizing my kanban board. I almost fell prey to a common error.....looking for a technology solution when a process has not even been established. I was tempted by the dark side, but resisted. A digital format may be what I need in the future but first I must establish a process that works.

The second try at a personal kanban board has been very successful. Here is a picture of my board. It isn't very clear, but I think it will help with the discussion.

My value stream is Ready (my queue of work), Doing (what I am working on), Pen (items I have worked on but waiting for input), and Done. I have set my max for Doing and Pen at 3 items. I move items for Ready to Doing after I have moved all items from Doing to Done or Pen. This prevents one thing from sitting in the Doing column for a long time because I move the other two items and avoid the third.

Down in the bottom right-hand corner I have a color key. The color of the Post-It notes is related to a specific area of work.

Also, I have blog posts that I do weekly. It doesn't matter what day the posts are written but I would like to write 3 a week. It would get monotonous if I used Post-Its for writing three blog posts every week. Instead of using Post-Its, I put up three check boxes. I put a check after in th box after I finish a blog post. The section below it is a place I can put an idea for a blog post. When I want to write a post, I can grab one of the ideas from that section.
The board has helped me keep track of my work and made it visual to my boss all that I have going on. It has helped my boss understand where I am spending most of my time.

One of the keys is to choose the correct work chunk to put on a Post-It. Too small of a item is a quick to-do. An example of something too small would be to send an email or make a call. Too big of a chunk and nothing will ever move. XYZ Project would be too big. There is a middle ground. Breaking the XYZ Project into smaller chunks has helped me. Create charter for project. Study the current state of the process. Update action item list. These are examples of the middle ground that I have found.

I hope this helps others looking at trying a personal kanban. It isn't easy, but when it works it feels good and keeps the work flowing. Now I get to go check a box for blog posts!



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Vacation Brings A Collection of Exceptional Guest Posts

Over the next several days I will be on vacation taking some much needed time with my family.  Every year for the last 14 years we head to New Hampshire for several days to take in the NASCAR race.  It is a great time for sun, fun, camping, and high speed action.

I have been fortunate to arrange a great cast of guest bloggers while I am taking some time off.  Here is a quick preview of what is in store for you next week:

On Tuesday, Matt Wrye from Beyond Lean shares the next improvement of his personal kanban system.  This time he adds in weekly repetitive tasks into his board. 

Then on Wednesday, Joe Dager from Business901 talks about how the Lean tools used in manufacturing need to be presented in a different way when applying Lean thinking in sales and marketing. 

Thursday, Dan Markovitz from TimeBack Management shares a personal kanban system with a unique countermeasure for dealing with email throughout the day.  His solution aims to keep him as productive as possible.

On Friday, Christian Paulsen from Lean Leadership provides the Friday Lean Quote covering the important topic of root cause analysis.

On Monday, Brian Buck from Improve With Me writes about excellence in healthcare with the patients experience as the means to judge the quality of service.

Then on Tuesday, Christian Paulsen is back to elaborate on Deming's Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle from the root cause analysis discussion.

I will be back soon but not before learning a little about quick changeover from the NASCAR pit crews like that from this post last year - Lean in the Fast Lane.

“The winner ain't the one with the fastest car its the one who refuses to lose” - Dale Earnhardt, #3  - Lean Quote, June 25, 2010: Desire


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Lean Quote: Curiosity is More Valuable Than Skill

On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.

"Our number-one value isn't in any of the skills we have. It's that we're essentially curious." — Jim Coudal

One of the most important benefits of being a curious person is that you will become very open-minded towards new ideas, interests and adventures. Being curious helps you to approach challenging tasks or problematic situations in a positive, curious way rather than steadily visualizing the associated fears towards a task.

By being curious, you will be:

• More open minded
• Increasing your awareness of the world around you
• Enhancing your chances of new experiences
• Learning new things
• Building your confidence
• Improving your job performance

So how can you be more curious?  The following 5 tips are a good place to start:

Question relentlessly. A sure way to dig deeper beneath the surface is asking questions: What is that? Why is it made that way? When was it made? Who invented it? Where does it come from? How does it work? What, why, when, who, where, and how are the best friends of curious people. Questions keep your mind engaged.

Keep an open mind. Be open to learn, unlearn, and relearn. Some things you know and believe might be wrong, and you should be prepared to accept this possibility and change your mind.
This is essential if you are to have a curious mind.

Don’t take things as granted. If you just accept the world as it is without trying to dig deeper, you will certainly lose curiosity. Never take things as granted. Try to dig deeper beneath the surface of what is around you.

Read books, blogs, etc. Reading new things is another way to feed your curiosity and develop it. Reading is a great way to continue learning as much as you can. You might like to focus on just one thing but you should be open to as many different topics and things as possible when it comes to reading. This can help you build your curiosity even further. 

Be enthusiastic! Enthusiasm will allow you to be by far more interested in a certain topic than without it. You can become enthusiastic by associating fun and joy with the tasks you have to perform, rather than expecting them to be a waste of time or irrelevant for you. 



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The 6 Pillars of 6S - Free Posters

In my plant in Avon, CT we do a number of tours sharing our Lean practices and thinking.  It is our way of giving back since we have been fortunate to learn from some many great companies in our region.  The one thing I am most requested for a copy of is our 6S Posters.  We have been doing 6S (5S +Safety) dating back to 2003 and as part of the early stages of implementation we made posters.  These were used to train people in the principles of the 6S's (we actually started wit 5S) and over the years the posters have been continuously updated.  I thought I would share these posters here:

Click on the image of the poster to get a larger version.


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Daily Lean Tips Edition #16

For my Facebook fans you already know about this great feature. But for those of you that are not connected to A Lean Journey on Facebook or Twitter I post daily a feature I call Lean Tips.  It is meant to be advice, things I learned from experience, and some knowledge tidbits about Lean to help you along your journey.  Another great reason to like A Lean Journey on Facebook.

Click this link for A Lean Journey's Facebook Page Notes Feed.

Here is the next addition of tips from the Facebook page:

Lean Tip #226 - Look for the signs of a poor preventative maintenance program to find more opportunity.

Indicators of a poor preventative maintenance program:

• Low equipment utilization due to unscheduled downtime
• High wait or idle time for machine operators during the downtime
• High scrap and rejects indicating a quality problem
• Higher than normal repair costs due to neglect of proper lubrication, inspection, or service
• Decrease in the expected life of capital investments due to inadequate maintenance

Lean Tip #227 - Preventive Maintenance is the Heart of TPM and the Core of Every Maintenance Strategy

Common reasons preventive maintenance programs fail:

1. Too easy to use for “fill-in” jobs
2. Failure to adhere to the schedule
3. Conflict between emergency and P.M.
4. Inaccurate time and work estimates
5. Wrong equipment being maintained
6. Insufficient detail on P.M sheets
7. Equipment failure record not available
8. Lack of monitoring and changing the program

Lean Tip #228 - Material shortage is the single biggest maintenance support function contributing to low productivity.

A shortage of materials is the single biggest maintenance support function contributing to low maintenance productivity.

Typical material–related delays:

1. Waiting for materials
2. Travel time to get materials.
3. Time to transport materials
4. Time required to identify materials
5. Time to find substitute materials
6. Time required to find parts in area stores
7. Time required to prepare purchase order
8. Time to process purchase requisitions (approvals, etc.)
9. Lost time due to:
1. Other work without materials
2. Wrong materials planned and delivered
3. Wrong materials ordered
4. Materials out of stock

Lean Tip #229 - A good inventory system is essential for a productive maintenance function.

Features of a good maintenance inventory system

• Tracks balances for all items including issues, reserves and returns
• Maintains parts listings for equipment
• Track item repair cost and movement history
• Cross references spares to substitutes
• Has the ability to reserve items for jobs
• Has the ability to notify a requester when items are received for a job
• Has the ability to generate work order to fabricate or repair an item
• Has the ability to notify when the item reorder is needed and track to order to receipt
• Has the ability to track requisitions, purchase orders and special order receipts
• Has the ability to produce performance reports such as inventory accuracy, turnover and stock outs

Lean Tip #230 - Visual systems play an important role in systematically eliminating losses.

Visual systems play an important role in systematically eliminating losses. Visual systems save time – time to inspect equipment conditions, time to change parts, time to maintain. Visual systems help to make “complex” equipment data and conditions into useable information for everyone who works on and around the equipment.

Lean Tip #231 - Involve operators in routine maintenance of their equipment.

Involving operators in the routine maintenance of their equipment builds on the “sense of ownership” and recognition that skilled maintenance and engineers or technical people generally address the increasingly more complex equipment problems and tasks. Because operators are often much closer to the equipment, more often than engineering, technical or maintenance people, they can quickly and easily detect problems before equipment performance is detected.

Lean Tip #232 - You clean to improve a machine’s performance – not its appearance.

You clean to improve a machine’s performance – not its appearance.

• Clean to Inspect
• Inspect to Detect
• Detect to Correct

A better looking piece of equipment is just a side benefit. Develop standards for cleaning and inspection for all equipment.

Lean Tip # 233 - Strengthen the relationship of your equipment operators and maintenance personnel.

Team work is essential in any Lean culture. To improve the relationship of equipment operators and maintenance personnel take advantage of good times. Those times during which there are no pressing equipment problems or production deadlines are good opportunities for maintenance personnel to thoroughly review equipment with operators. This helps build proactive, positive relationship among coworkers.

Lean Tip #234 - Practice good equipment management principles to improve maintainability.

Practice good equipment management principles to improve maintainability. For example, replace bearings that require ongoing lubrication with sealed bearings. Review data collected during maintenance activities to determine unsatisfactory equipment component lives. Then specify better components for all new equipment you purchase.

Lean Tip #235 - Implementing Lean practices puts additional pressure on process equipment to perform.

In a system where there is excess inventory and many non-value added activities, the excesses tend to hide bottle necks or constraints to smooth production flow. As a result, as companies reduce waste, they find that equipment, maintenance support, and response time can be bottlenecks to the normal production processes. This can be avoided by tracking the overall equipment effectiveness of the process.

Lean Tip #236 – Learning a new skill requires the combination of 3 key elements.

To learn a new skill requires focus on these 3 things:

Method – The pattern or routine to be practiced.

Practice – The learner repeatedly applies a pattern, following guidelines for deliberate practice.

Coaching – Learner receives guidance in practicing the pattern.

“With practice, training, and above all method, we manage to increase our attention, our memory, our judgment, and literally to become more intelligent than we were before.” – Alfred Binet (1909)

Adapted from Mike Rother’s Toyota Kata

Lean Tip #237 – Lean Management is about focusing on how solutions are developed not the solution itself.

Traditional management focuses on solutions:

• Establish targets
• Describe solutions
• Provide incentives
• Get out of the way and periodically check results

Lean Management focuses on how solutions are developed:

• Establish targets
• Develop, via practice with coaching, the capability in people to develop new solutions…
• …by having people practice a common way of working, like the improvement kata

Which do you think is more effective?

Adapted from Mike Rother’s Toyota Kata

Lean Tip #238 – All managers are teachers, and their actions determine company capability.

Whether consciously or not, with their everyday words and actions all managers are teaching their people a mindset and approach. So it makes sense to ask, “What patterns of behavior and thought do we want to be teaching in our organization?”

Adapted from Mike Rother’s Toyota Kata

Lean Tip # 239 – Make Practicing Lean Part of Every Day’s Work

Practicing Lean should get integrated into daily line management, not just be an add-on project or event. Make no distinction between day-to-day management, and change management. If you periodically conduct a training event or periodically work on an improvement but the rest of the time it’s business as usual, then what you are teaching is business as usual.

Adapted from Mike Rother’s Toyota Kata

Lean Tip #240 – Ask these 5 coaching questions every day in the Gemba.

1. What is your target condition here?
2. What is the actual condition now?
3. What obstacles are now preventing you from reaching the target condition? Which one are you addressing now?
4. What is you next step? (start of the next PDCA)
5. When can we go and see what we have learned from taking that step?

Adapted from Mike Rother’s Toyota Kata

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Happy Independence Day

The 4th of July is an extremely patriotic holiday where we celebrate the independence of our country, the United States of America. People celebrate with family and friend gatherings, barbecues, parties, games, food, fun, festivals, parades, musical events and fireworks. It is important not to forget the true meaning of the day.

Variously known as the Fourth of July and Independence Day, July 4th has been a federal holiday in the United States since 1941, but the tradition of Independence Day celebrations goes back to the 18th century and the American Revolution (1775-83). In June 1776, representatives of the 13 colonies then fighting in the revolutionary struggle weighed a resolution that would declare their independence from Great Britain. On July 2nd, the Continental Congress voted in favor of independence, and two days later its delegates adopted the Declaration of Independence, a historic document drafted by Thomas Jefferson. From 1776 until the present day, July 4th has been celebrated as the birth of American independence, with typical festivities ranging from fireworks, parades and concerts to more casual family gatherings and barbecues.

Lean Manufacturing is a business method that extends employees independence.  It provides more employees with the tools, methods and authority to make decisions. It creates teams to measure progress and devise new techniques. This leads to higher employee motivation and productivity
as workers are asked to come up with solutions to problems as opposed to having to work with flawed procedures. There is much to be said for greater worker independence in the execution of a lean philosophy. We may not have a day to celebrate like the US but the message is no less important.


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