Joe Dager Articles

A Little Law applied in Lean Marketing - Click To Read Article
A simple equation called Little's Law can tell us how long it will take any prospect to be turned into a sale simply by counting how many customers are in your funnel and how many sales we complete each day, week, etc.

Most Marketing Systems are Out of Control. - Click To Read Article
Most Marketing systems are out of control. They have not been managed with understanding of the process speed and the effect of the flow on the process. As a result, performance has to be sub-standard. My marketing has too many variables to define my Value Stream! Can you afford to say that?

Steps to creating your Need Statement - Click To Read Article
The other day, I discussed Your Marketing Vision should define your Customer's Core Problem, but how do you go about doing it. A simple exercise that I found useful was depicted in the book....

Your Marketing Vision should define your Customer’s Core Problem - Click To Read Article
As a result of this exercise, you will change the shape of your Pillar. You should be able to shorten your cycle in some and as a result decrease your expenditure in the marketing process. Others, on the other hand, may be lengthened and a total different approach may have to be utilized.

A Little more on applying Little's Law to Lean your Marketing! - Click To Read Article
Though this is not a major change in thinking, Throughput is the measure that drives Theory of Constraints. In your marketing process, this makes perfect sense, you should be measured in Sales Revenue, correct

Why do The Pillars of the Lean Marketing House™ crumble? - Click To Read Article
Building The Pillars of the Lean Marketing House™. often require continuous testing and modification to see if the process is working. This can be frustrating for many who routinely expect perfect solutions. Many times you are testing something that you never had applied or had measurements before.

Power of Visual Thinking in your Visual Workplace - Click To Read Article
I think Visual Thinking is a powerful tool. For evidence, look at the tools I surround myself with, Value Stream Mapping, The Lean Marketing House and Mindmaps. I believe it is the most effective way to learn. As David said in his last paragraph of the blog cited above: "We're not all visual thinkers (though we all have the potential).

Duct Tape Marketing recognizes Lean Six Sigma Marketing Coach with Certification - Click To Read Article
John Jantsch, author of Duct Tape Marketing and founder of the Duct Tape Marketing organization developed this initiative and established levels of Duct Tape Marketing Coaching accreditation in an effort to place heavy emphasis on the success factors of the Duct Tape Marketing system and reward those who establish pre-defined levels of success using the Duct Tape Marketing approach, tools and point of view.

Using Value Stream Mapping Software - Click To Read Article
There is a lot of dispute about Value Stream Mapping software, and whether it should be used or not used. Most Lean practitioners will tell you that early introduction into converting your Value Stream Map into a computer generated document will hurt the overall flow of the procedure and be a detriment to the brainstorming process. They prefer using post-it-notes or pinning paper to a wall. Allowing as many people to interact is the whole point. I have a tendency to agree with the statement.

Speed may be the biggest Determent to your Marketing Success - Click To Read Article
The company that gets to the customer first, the company that releases the product first, the company that slides in and closes the sale while you are still waiting to get the final specifications, all demonstrate how important speed is to your marketing success.

Start your Visual Thinking Process with Mind Mapping - Click To Read Article
Leonardo daVinci did it, Aristotle did it, should you? Mind mapping is widely understood term but few people utilize it. I am amazed that even in our school systems that it still does not replace linear note taking. Mind Map represents the best of both worlds by resembling the visual aspects of a flow chart and the organizational structure of an outline.

Following the Customer's Need in your Value Stream Map - Click To Read Article
Focusing on the customer NEED is essential to the success of any marketing. We should all recognize this idea. However, do we really embrace this idea? Do we really believe that such an effort can drive our marketing and improve the chances of a sale? It is important that we understand and are able to express what is critical in satisfying that need.

Kaizen, Kaizen, Kaizen - Why so many? - Click To Read Article
Make sure that your team has the expertise and authority to address these five principles. The purpose of a Kaizen is to dig deep, find water. Don't settle for routine improvements. If you want your creative juices to flow, push yourself to eliminate and make radical improvement of 200% or more. Seek cost reductions of half or more. Go for it!

Improve your Marketing Cycle, Increase your Revenue - Click To Read Article
The very best thing about organizing and "systemizing" your marketing is that you now have more tools at your disposal to understand and facilitate but not manipulate your customer's efforts. I use the Duct Tape Marketing Hourglass as an example, but there are other similar methods and maybe a system of your own that would work as well. One of the tools, I found quite useful after working with the hourglass is the use of Cycle time. A Value Stream Map is quite useful in visualizing and providing calculations for cycle time.

Is your customer willing to pay for your marketing? - Click To Read Article
How do you add value in your marketing? Have you thought about it? To be effective in Content or Educational Marketing you must add value as defined by the customer. I want you to steer away from your first thought, which is more than likely your product or service, but instead think about your marketing material. For your Content marketing material to be effective, I believe it must have 4 components:

Using DMAIC for your A3 Report in the Lean Marketing House - Click To Read Article
The definition of an A3 Report is a simple storyboard that tells the whole story of an improvement event on one 11x17 sheet of paper. The left side defines the problem, the right side proposes solutions. That is the basic structure. However, A3 is much more than that. It is the tool used by Toyota to implement the PDCA process. Understanding A3 thinking and you can apply this to problem solving, proposals and status reports. But you have to pick a template and you have to follow some outline in creating an A3 to get it off the ground.

Get Rid of Your Marketing Vision Statement and Address the NEED! - Click To Read Article
Most organizations try to develop a meaningful marketing vision statement designed to guide their action for today, tomorrow and in the future. The vision statement serves as a platform for all their marketing goals. Armed with a vision, you establish your marketing goals, which are time-sensitive and detailed orientated. We send the goals through the SMART procedure to make sure that they are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-specific.

Value Stream Marketing: It’s just not about the Value - Click To Read Article
Of course when I start discussing flow, I am going to start discussing Theory of Constraints. In your marketing process, you will have numerous constraints but Goldratt claims that at any given time, there is only one constraint. That constraint is much like the neck of an hourglass and will limit the entire system. Actually, if it is well managed you could throttle your process accordingly (We only wish we could that). Simply doubling the efforts in a constraint could be the easy solution and may just move the constraint to another area. However, we operate in a more complicated world than that. Something else usually cases something else to happen.

Marketing needs Six Sigma Methodology to Improve - Click To Read Article
Marketing needs to do a better job of using statistics and especially variation. When I start talking numbers to people, and what they mean, I get looked at like someone that is just trying to complicate a creative process. Improvement is about numbers. Measurement is about numbers. The truth is, marketing is about numbers. So why not employ more of the Six Sigma methodology? I understand that achieving the quality that Six Sigma represents may be difficult but the principles and tools should, nevertheless be utilized.

Learned a Marketing Lesson at the AME Conference - Click To Read Article
The relationship to that concept was demonstrated at the AME Conference. The attendees and exhibitors have been thru the top section of the hourglass and now are in the bottom half. Not to sound too clinical, but they were the Buyers of the program. The next step in the funnel is the Repeat stage. AME started marketing the next conference in Baltimore immediately after you signed up for this one.

E-Mail Marketing Suppliers, can you do this? - Click To Read Article
Either through a customer or utilizing the services I have used most of the most popular E-mail providers. My list includes Constant Contact, Vertical Response, IContact, Get Response and decent knowledge of several drip marketing programs such as Infusion and Swiftpage. I have limited knowledge with other auto-responders but have dabbled with a few. My question to them is with all the data available why am I so limited in being able to manipulate it and segment it?

Ever hear of the term Value Stream Marketing? - Click To Read Article
My E-book on applying the Theory of Constraints to the Marketing Hourglass is a good example on how one part of the marketing process may be limiting your overall revenue. If you find that constraint what would you do with it? How would you improve it? I would first start examining what got the person there to begin with and then increase the value of your offering based on the previous offer. If you are not getting enough referrals or repeat customers, think about an offer you could create that would add additional value to them. Give them something that they can simply not refuse. What would shake them up a bit?

Your Sales and Marketing channels are not created equal! - Click To Read Article
How do you go about creating sales and marketing channels and making them not competitive with each other. It is a pretty tall order in today's world and one that really takes quite a bit of time so that they and yourself are not competing with each other.

Your Marketing should take the Path of Your Customer - Click To Read Article
They usually have some type of marketing in place, and we are looking at improving the system not dismantling it. After the marketing calendar has been constructed, I start moving,

Working at Warp Speed in a Lean Turnaround! - Click To Read Article
A Lean Transformation in your company may be the best way to create the scenario you need for success. You need to instill processes, culture, manage events and work at warp speed. Lean has a structure that is well defined, a proven commodity that you can follow in a step by step basis.

Why would you use Value Stream Mapping - Click To Read Article
Value stream mapping is a tool that helps you to see and understand the flow of material and information as a product or service makes its way through the value stream. Value stream mapping is typically used in Lean, it differs from the process mapping of Six Sigma.

Why use A3 in Marketing - Click To Read Article
know you are thinking A3 is your first choice of paper size. Saying to yourself, I can't be changing paper size, and I am not going metric. However, what I am addressing is the Lean Tool of A3 reporting. I believe it is a perfect tool to summarize many of the marketing projects that you develop.

Why Adsense Is Essential For Content Sites - Click To Read Article
The first reason why Adsense is essential for content sites is because it already has come a long way in understanding the needs of publishers and webmasters. Together with its continuous progression is the appearance of more advanced system that allows full ad customization. Webmasters are given the chance to choose from many different types of text ad formats to better complement their website and fit their webpage layout.

WHO DETERMINES QUALITY? - Click To Read Article
Quality is measured by our customer. Therefore, our goal should be to meet our client's requirements and expectations. This is a critical concept about quality. Sometimes there is a tendency to think that ‘quality' means the best advertisement, the best circulation and absolutely 100% open rates.

Why is planning necessary? - Click To Read Article
Your business plan should be complete, clear, neat and accurate. It will be an extension of you and your business. The length of a good plan will vary from a few pages to well over a hundred pages. The plan should provide a sound "blueprint" for your business and entice any reader to want to know more

Who Do You Want As a Customer? - Click To Read Article
I understand that starting with this statement may not be the best lead in this day and age, but you do have to start your process thinking here. Start-up or an existing business has to define their ideal customer. When you do, you understand your marketing challenges so much more clearly.

Where I would start expanding your product line! - Click To Read Article
But do you spend the time on analyzing what you are really good at? I mean think about it, what are you good at? Without question, is there one thing that you do better than anyone else?

What is RSS? - Click To Read Article
You probably have seen this three-letter acronym in the course of your internet surfing. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary; syndicating means republishing an article that comes from another source such as a website.

WHEN YOU EXPAND YOUR PRODUCT LINE, WHERE I WOULD START? - Click To Read Article
It seems pretty obvious but which one should you be marketing? Sometimes it is the ugly one, not the real attractive one to market. However, I challenge you to narrowly focus on these items and look at a way to develop this portion your business. Put some sizzle back in it. Don't necessarily look at your competitors here; think of your own strengths. Think about those areas in which the organization excels. Leverage these to realize economies of scale and even the possibility to develop secondary products using your core products as leaders. Here is a 8-step process, you could use to go about it:

When those old guys say stuff, you should listen! - Click To Read Article
As I was struggling to get started, I remembered what my first Lean teacher told me: Start with 5S so that you don't spend your time on anything wasteful and then do Standard Work. Most people know what 5S is but Standard work may confuse a few.

Ways to empower your communication - Click To Read Article
So what better way to start learning to be an effective communication is to know the very person closest to you: yourself.

Ways To Maximize Your Adsense Earnings - Click To Read Article
Stop for a moment and think about how visitors are using your website. After a visitor has landed on a certain page, they have the tendency to click on another page that sounds interesting. They get there because of the other links that appears on a page that they initially landed on. This is site navigation. It is all about enabling visitors to move about your site. And one way of maximizing your Adsense earnings.

Web marketing Strategies that won't break the bank - Click To Read Article
Make use of your online power - through Internet marketing. Here are simple methods that you may employ to boost the visibility of your business without shelling out more than what you can afford. However, these techniques need patience and some footwork to produce agreeable results. Firstly, you need a website before you can make use of these low cost Internet marketing strategies. So go create one or hire a web developer. It will display your products and services. This will be used in employing the following Internet marketing techniques.

Viral Marketing 101 - Not Using It Could Kill Your Business! - Click To Read Article
Creativity: This is one virtue a site must possess to lead the race in the ruthless competition in the Internet based business. With so many competition and rivalry going on, every method of marketing must be employed and utilized.

Use your marketing to sell inside your organization? - Click To Read Article
There is a huge difference between who has a plan and hits the ground running, but as important is making an impact or creating a burning desire to get it done . Who is best at creating a burning desire than your marketing department?

Using the Theory of Constraints in Marketing - Click To Read Article
You can think of the stories of Toyota and GE that have brought Lean and Six Sigma to the forefront but this was about a fiction story. One of my favorite questions to ask people is do you remember the main character's name? Few do, but when asked is they remember the Constraint's name or the boy scout who could not keep up on the walk, they blurt out: Herbie!

TO BE EFFECTIVE - HOW COOL DOES YOUR MARKETING HAVE TO BE? - Click To Read Article
I believe just about everything works, but only just a little. The world has become so fragmented on the way it receives information that you have to reach even a very target audience in numerous ways.

THE STIMULUS REVEALED - CHAMBER EVENT - Click To Read Article
“Last Thursday’s conference at the Chamber on the Stimulus package was certainly revealing! Baker & Daniels team of nine professionals from their Washington D.C., Indianapolis and Fort Wayne offices provided key insights on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

There are other ways to expand your market than just the web! - Click To Read Article
When expanding your business, explore all the strategic alternatives available to you. Select the one that makes the most sense and then prepare a marketing plan on how to implement that strategy. There are at least a dozen common strategies and a variety of strategic combinations or special situations to choose from.

The Ultimate Marketing System – The Forgotten Pillar - Click To Read Article
Lean Six Sigma Practitioners always realize that the training is what makes the processes work. Without, old habits stay the same and new habits are never developed. Nor are these new habits expanded to the greatest extent. It happens in marketing too.

Theory of Constraints + Lean + Six Sigma = Ultimate Improvement Cycle - Click To Read Article
What caught my interest in Bob's book The Ultimate Improvement Cycle is that recently there has been an added push from TOC disciples to bring TOC on an equal playing field as Lean and Six Sigma. I find it interesting because bottlenecks and constraints are an integral part of Lean and Six Sigma training but TOC has never seemed to be on an equal platform.

The OLD Way of Advertising, May Not be so OLD - Click To Read Article
If you market is still using these mediums, you must be aware and present in them! Technology is great but it may not put groceries on your table!

The Marketing HourGlass - Click To Read Article
Taking a group of current customers, you can identify this in your current process. If this seems difficult, make a certain group that you can segment and document the process.

Start with Reality in your Marketing - Click To Read Article
When your business is in trouble it is safe to assume you have to do something different or you will get the same results. Change must occur. But what do you change to and how do you know that it is going to work. Most poor business decisions are because....

Starting a Blog? Blogging 202 - Click To Read Article
If you are already convinced with the potentials of business blogs for marketing and targeting sales increase, your company is now ready to start blogging. But first, you have to be in tune with your company’s business objectives and determine if blogging will really help you achieve your goal.

Starting a business, good checklist to help out! - Click To Read Article
Before starting a small business, list your reasons for wanting to go into business. Whatever they are, use a specific systematic approach to build a plan from which your success can be evaluated.

Starting a Cost Reduction System, a few ideas! - Click To Read Article
Putting a cost reduction strategy is always beneficial but many times difficult to start. I have listed a few steps below just to get the juices flowing and an entry into cost reduction. Put them to use and brainstorm a few more. But the most important tip I can leave behind is one the you have heard many times before...

Replace the 4 P's of Marketing with the 5 B"s? - Click To Read Article
McCarthy labeled the 4 P's as Product, Price, Place(distribution), and Promotion. The idea was that if you could identify the right combination of these elements, your marketing would succeed. Maybe it should be replaced by the 5 B’s of Marketing

RSS - the forgotten tool - Click To Read Article
RSS feeds are generally being utilized in blogs or news sites, though any website wanting to broadcast and publish information can use them. Once new information is sent, it will contain a headline, a little bit of text, and either a rundown or a brief review of the news or story. A link is needed be clicked upon to read further.

Promote Clarity Get on One Page - Click To Read Article
If we could get all your people on the same page (One Page), what would it be worth? “Priceless?”

QUALITY IMPROVEMENT - IT NEEDS TO BE EASIER THAN TYING A KNOT! - Click To Read Article
Think about the 80/20 rule. If you are going to get 80% of your results from 20% of the problem than narrow even further to 95/5 if you can. So when you institute a quality program focus on small areas that get big results. Why waste your efforts and money on anything else for right now.

Quality in Marketing: You must start with these 2 definitions - Click To Read Article
Quality in marketing may be considered too subjective and therefore difficult to define. However, there is a lot about quality and marketing that can be made objective. But to first understand quality in marketing, I think it is important to understand two terms: Process and Metrics.

Performance Indicators - Key to success - Click To Read Article
The time spent in making good KPI’s are well worth it but the task is seldom done. They are truly the backbone of any system and will allow you to do exactly what a system was developed to do….ALLOW FOR CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT.

PREPARE TO ADVERTISE! - Click To Read Article
If you have followed me at all, you realize that I am not a big believer in advertising as defined by most people. I do believe in 2-step advertising and especially if you have something of perceived value that you can offer to a prospect.

Product Launch Formula - Click To Read Article
The actual program was created to provide businesses with everything they could ask for in terms of ongoing marketing support, guidance, accountability and know-how to help them overcome the challenges facing them in launching a product in 2009.

Need to know a little more about blogging, before you start? - Click To Read Article
Blogs / "weblogs" or blogging are the newest gift of Internet technology to people all over the world. These are updated posts, crop up entries or personalized life snippets, of mundane or bizarre in nature. For most, a "blog" is a personal, unedited, and authentic journal meant to be shared in an online community. Blog site is a place where bloggers can publish anything; his thoughts, feelings, photos, special events, experiences, comments on issues and so on. It is more of an online diary with videos, links, documents, newsletters and opinions on just about any topics you are interested.

Must Do's Before You Submit To Article Directories - Click To Read Article
There are already many tools that people can use to make the process of distributing their articles more easily. Though this is invaluable in getting the contents more exposure, which is only half of the story. Let us take a look first at the common mistakes that some people make before submitting their contents to article directories:

Need an internet presence, but don’t have the time - Click To Read Article
I found a nifty tool that I have been using the past monthp. When I first started using it, I thought it was really nothing more than a spreadsheet telling me to do the things I already do to get my website found. However, after using it for a month, I found that it put me places that I have not been before.

Most businesses fail because of cash flow - Understand it! - Click To Read Article
To be competitive, small business owners must plan and prepare for all future events and market changes. Possibly the most important aspect of preparation is effective cash-flow planning. Failure to properly plan cash flow is one of the leading causes for small business failures in the United States.

Marketing your Black Belt, Lean Six Sigma Consultants - Click To Read Article
I believe that Lean Six Sigma Consulting has the greatest opportunity ever and in my terms, opportunity = NEED. What we need is the greatest transformation of efficiencies from know-how to implementation, and I think Lean Six Sigma is ideally suited to fulfill that need.

MAKING QUALITY PAY-OFF BIG! - Click To Read Article
Do you want to inch up the charts or do you want to leap? I think that is the greatest reason Lean-style thinking has develop Kaizan events. Focus on results and “LET’S GITTER DONE!”

Market Positioning: What is it and how do you do it! - Click To Read Article
Very few items on the market today have universal appeal. Even when dealing in basic commodities like table salt or aspirin, marketing people have gone to all sorts of extremes to create brand awareness and product differentiation. If your product or service is properly positioned, prospective purchasers or users should immediately recognize its unique benefits or advantages and be better able to assess it in comparison to your competition's offering.

Manage your time, balance your life! - Click To Read Article
Some people view time management as a list of rules that involves scheduling of appointments, goal settings, thorough planning, creating things to do lists and prioritizing. These are the core basics of time management that should be understood to develop an efficient personal time management skill.

Listen to the Voice of the Customer? - Click To Read Article
A great tool is the Kano Model that measures three types of Customer needs. Its premise is that if you only do what the customers tell you to do, you are only meeting one-third of the equation. You also have to address performance needs and excitement needs. It is great tool to use so that you can address these issues in step two of the process below.

Machine Gun Marketing - Click To Read Article
Ok, I am going to rant a bit over an honest mistake but in this day and age, I wonder what demographics this company is using? Several months ago, I started receiving a very high-end horse magazine. Suburbia me, I can't even remember the last time I was on a horse. In fairness, 15 years ago I did attend a horse show.

Lean Marketing – Applied to Retail - Click To Read Article
The old adage of retail marketing is getting people in your store and increasing the time spent in the store. That equals increased sales. Is it working? Can your retail marketing be more effective, efficient, and innovating, while focusing on understanding your customer’s needs and saving them time?

Learn your Customers Buying Process - Click To Read Article
Your marketing is ultimately measured by your client. The goal is to meet the client's requirements and expectations in selling your product. There is a tendency to think that marketing means a great looking ad, a great event or a direct mail piece. But a brilliantly designed ad that fails to provide a ROI is well, wasteful?

Lean Marketing House - the Pillars - Click To Read Article
Above the foundation of the Lean House are the pillars. In a typical Lean House these pillars represent JIT, Jidoka(Quality) and Motivated People. This is from the Toyota Production System and they are actually in a certain order. Typically the middle pillar is described as the most important pillar and it is the one of motivated people.

Lean Six Sigma and Duct Tape Marketing, an effective combination - Click To Read Article
Dager, a Duct Tape Marketing Coach and a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt is well versed in these disciplines. Both large and small companies are trying to find solutions to be more cost effective, more efficient, and more innovating. One such solution is using a combination of Lean Six Sigma Marketing and Duct Tape Marketing.

Learn Positives from your Negatives - Click To Read Article
So how did he turn that disorder into a positive. He shored up his weaknesses by learning how to rely on others. Building a team is something you are forced to learn how to do out of necessity. Many would be business owners fail to that well. They are very self sufficient in their area of expertise that they forget the team aspect.

Launching a product with a SPIDER - Click To Read Article
SPIDER is an acronym for See, Plan, Imagine, Design/Sell, Execute and Renew. Dager also added: “This is compilation of 30 years of product marketing launches in the process equipment field.

Lean your Marketing thru Segmentation - Click To Read Article
Not everybody goes through each step of the cycle. Some will skip from step one to step three. Someone may enter the cycle in step three. These interconnections are not trivial, it is what makes your process work and it also may be stopping it from working

Lean your Training, Don't start with a blank piece of paper - Click To Read Article
Never start with a BLANK PIECE OF PAPER, Never. I cannot think of a single thing that would hinder your training, creativity and more importantly results. I believe that is one of the reasons mindmaps work so well. You start at least with a way to make an outline.

It's time for Marketing to work from a system! - Click To Read Article
I will tell you an idea that has “Stuck" for many years! Only half of your marketing really works, you just don't know which half? Would you allow manufacturing or service to be only 50% efficient? Change the way you view sales and marketing, and get a handle on sales/marketing process improvement.

It takes guts, to start with lean training in a turnaround! - Click To Read Article
Are you willing to risk the fate of your company on training? Can you imagine what your first day would be like in a turnaround? That day one meeting with the employees, they are sitting there thinking about getting fired. A very different message is communicated when the boss calls everyone together dispenses with the mumble jumble and spend time talking about a Lean Transformation. When the boss lays out the actual training that is going to take place to the employees, he shows commitment.

Is Blog Design important? - Click To Read Article
Many people spend time reading blogs. People read their friend's blogs, their favorite author's blogs, blogs on topics that they are interested in, and blogs on product reviews. With the increasing popularity of blogging, it is even feared that people rely on blogs to get the latest news. While getting news reports from blogs isn't reliable, some people look for product reviews through blogs. In some cases, this is more dependable. While it is true that some media persons are being paid to write good reviews about a certain product, blog writers write about their actual experiences on products and services from a company.

Is all the Small Business resources on the web? - Click To Read Article
Do you just Google it all? Google is not the only answer for researching information in today's business world. I use it way to much myself. But below is a list of resources and alternative means for gathering information outside the web.

Is your marketing focused? - Click To Read Article
How is your marketing doing in 2009? Have you increased it? We have just about completed the first 30 days and are you cutting back or moving forward? I am still talking to perspective clients that seem to lack direction.

Is your Value Stream Mapping backwards? - Click To Read Article
As I was reading, actually re-reading the book, I thought how simple and intelligent that statement was. Starting at the end of the process should be the logical thing to do if you are considering developing a pull system. It is the beginning. This is very similar to my thoughts I expressed in my Mirror Marketing E-book.

Improve your Sales forecast in 1 simple step! - Click To Read Article
The most used the excuse I see in developing a buyer persona is that the buyers vary too much. Okay, let’s just try...

Improve Your Adsense Earnings - Click To Read Article
There are lots of webmasters struggling hard to earn some good money a day through their sites. But then some of the "geniuses" of them are enjoying hundreds of dollars a day from Adsense ads on their websites. What makes these webmasters different from the other kind is that they are different and they think out of the box.

Improve throughput, cut your customers in half! - Click To Read Article
A Theory of Constraints tactic is to cut your Work in process in half, and you will increase throughput. Many people resist this thought, but it is typically easily done in most TOC projects that have been tried. I listen to the TOC consultants and many are adamant about this fact. They will tell you that it is much like picking the low-hanging fruit.

How to start blogging! - Click To Read Article
Moreover, business blogs are also one way of promoting the company so that the other readers will know that a certain company exists online. With blogs, entrepreneurs are able to establish a name in the virtual market through articles that can be very useful in the reader's life. From there, you can make money out of blogs by simply syndicating it to your business' web site. This can be done through the RSS technology. So, if you are thinking to create a blog, whether for business or for pleasure, you need to know some tips that could help you get through and make your blog one of the interesting blogs online.

IF YOU CONTROL IT WELL, IT FLOWS WELL! - Click To Read Article
When a process flows well you typically get great results! You can think of all the analogies to this statement but seldom can think of one that disputes it, can you?

IF YOU ARE GOING TO IMPROVE, YOU HAVE TO KNOW YOUR MATH - Click To Read Article
In a previous exercise, I just discussed the Measure phase of DMAIC and wanted to let you in on something, I left a little bit out. I think the average person hates math, especially marketing people. I only gave you a slight introduction, mostly for you to evaluate the process. Even if you only use "Tribal Knowledge" you will be better off going through the exercise.

IF YOU ARE GOING TO SAY SOMETHING - MAKE A STATEMENT - Click To Read Article
Just how many of these have you expressed to your customers in your marketing? If you have told people about these special accomplishments, did it move your relationship to a new level?

Identify your Marketing Constraint - Click To Read Article
As I mention in a previous post: Every System, typically has relatively few constraints. However, to operate at maximum efficiency, the limiting constraint must be identified. Five Steps of Continuous Improvement help identify and improve the constraint. How do I correlate the Marketing Hourglass with the Theory of Constraints? TOC uses the weakest link, a chain as a visual in working with throughput.

HOW TO PRICE YOUR PRODUCTS AND SERVICES - Click To Read Article
Summary: Your pricing structure and policy are major components of your public image and are crucial to securing and keeping your clientele. Pricing for service businesses may be more complex than retail pricing. However, the result is the same: cost, plus operating expenses, plus desired profit, equals the services price. The key to success is to have a well-planned strategy. Establish your policies, constantly monitor prices and operating costs to insure profit. Accuracy increases profits!

How To Generate Website Traffic Using Only Free Methods - Click To Read Article
To make money requires money as well. But of course, with the versatility the internet offers, there are many ways you could find that could help optimize the potential of your site or business in generating traffic.

How to do Market Research - Click To Read Article
Market research must be used in each of these six steps to help define your business for your customer's interests, not your own. It is the process of learning what customers want or need and determining how to satisfy those wants or needs. It is also used to confirm whether the customer reacted to a marketing program as expected.

How do I start using RSS? - Click To Read Article
An aggregator comes in two forms: a downloadable program also known as desktop aggregator and an online or web-based aggregator. Downloadable aggregators may require payment before they can be acquired, while internet-based aggregators are usually free of charge. All you need to do is to register an account then you are ready to use their services.

HOW DO YOU MEASURE THE VALUE YOU ADD? - Click To Read Article
Yesterday I discussed creating a Value Stream Map to discover the value and opportunities you had in your marketing process. Many companies stop, right there. However, the value cannot be determined till it has been quantified. This is where the use of Six Sigma can be utilized so effectively.

How do you determine value? - Click To Read Article
How do you determine value? A relatively easy exercise is to start with a value stream map. Provide a graphical representation of the process flow, and then above it map the information flow that enables the process to occur.

How much Planning is enough - Use Lean and Standardize - Click To Read Article
When you listen to consultants and so called experts, all they talk about is planning. The reason they exist is for the planning stages. Where are these guys at when it is time to get the work done anyway? Many companies will just take the attitude of let's just get it done - there is not time for all this planning. If something happens, we will just have to deal with it anyway, plan or no plan. So let's get started, right?

Have you taken the path of your customer? - Click To Read Article
They usually have some type of marketing in place, and we are looking at improving the system not dismantling it. After the marketing calendar has been constructed, I start moving, sometimes just the post-it-notes from a chronological order to a marketing flow stream based on the customers' viewpoint.

Have you listed all your delivery processes? What did you learn? - Click To Read Article
The chart is not that unique in that it has you list your product services down one side and then across the top it has you list your delivery processes. The uniqueness of the template is a few other tricks it has as part of the package. However I want to address your delivery processes. BTW, this template is a great way to start your journey in creating a Value Stream Mapping process.

GOING TO IMPROVE SOMETHING, IMPROVE IT! - Click To Read Article
Some may have been thinking that we have been wasting our time. But changing the process without the data is cause for failure. You have heard it time and time again, JUST DO IT! We have been trained that way, action is accomplishment. But the wrong action may accomplish little or drive you deeper into a hole.

Getting your articles read! - Click To Read Article
Articles are supposed to be read, that's their purpose to impart your message and information. If it is not read then it is a waste of time and effort.

Great Salespeople, your Eagles Understand! - Click To Read Article
John says, "The top half indeed resembles the funnel concept, but the expanding bottom half, to my way of thinking, adds the necessary focus on the total customer experience that ultimately leads to referrals and marketing momentum."

Find someone to write for you - Click To Read Article
The content of your site tells a whole lot about your website. They will basically describe what your site is about and also tell people what your site has to offer. Articles and website content makes a whole lot of difference in your site because they can catch the attention of your website visitors and keep them in there. With good website content you get the benefit of clearly depicting what it is you want to share with people.

Exploring New Markets - Export - Click To Read Article
Experience shows that small businesses can and do export successfully. A business does not have to be big to sell in the global marketplace. Finding your niche in the world market is similar to finding it in the U.S. market.

Exploiting and Subordinating your Marketing Constraint - Click To Read Article
A continuation of my articles on Using the Theory of Constraints with your Marketing HourGlass. We are concentrating on optimizing the Throughput of the Marketing Hourglass utilizing the Five Steps of Continuous Improvement, Steps 2 and 3.

Effective SEO can comes cheap - Click To Read Article
Search engine optimization or SEO is the hottest way to drive targeted traffic to your website. Maximizing the benefits of a well optimized website will yield lots of earnings for the marketer. However, optimizing your site might cost you thousands of dollars if you are not skilled in this area. But to tell you the truth, you can essentially get information on low cost SEO anywhere in the Internet. But only several really show you how to work out an affordable search engine optimization endeavor. And those few that really inform include this article.

Elevating and Repairing Marketing Constraints - Click To Read Article
A continuation of my articles on Using the Theory of Constraints with your Marketing HourGlass. We are concentrating on optimizing the Throughput of the Marketing Hourglass utilizing the Five Steps of Continuous Improvement: Steps 4 and 5.

Easy ways to promote your website - Click To Read Article
Can you ever avail of free website promotion? Is that even feasible?Of course yes! Nowadays, your baby website can amass huge traffic in no time thanks to free website promotion.How does this free website promotion go anyway? What are things to be done?

Does your product stink or is it the recession! - Click To Read Article
The answer, your product stinks! Why, it has to work in the times that were in(period). So you need to reevaluate and maybe repackage or even re-purpose it. Here’s a great little test to see how viable your product, actually is…

Dorothy, it’s about the shoes! - Click To Read Article
How about Dorothy? Remember the words of the lion to the wizard. Yeah, and the wizard took off without her. Linda, the good looking witch came back and told Dorothy what? "You have had the power all along, you just had to find it." I encourage you as a business to find your niche and identify with it.

Draw your Value Stream Map in Excel - Click To Read Article
People buy all these different products to do simple drawings for Value Stream Mapping using basic symbols. When they are done, they pull out the Microsoft Excel sheet and do the calculations.

DO YOU KNOW HOW TO CREATE KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS? - Click To Read Article
As any reader of my blog knows, I believe in a system. But a system does not work unless you have performance indicators along the way. And the real secret is that your system only works as well as your Key Performance Indicators (KPI) are constructed

DO YOU KNOW MUCH VALUE YOU PROVIDE? IF NOT, HOW CAN YOU BE MORE EFFECTIVE? - Click To Read Article
How do you determine value? A relatively easy exercise is to start with a value stream map. Provide a graphical representation of the process flow, and then above it map the information flow that enables the process to occur. This will allow you to understand not only the activity of the service or product but also the flow of information or material as it makes its way through the value stream.

DESIGN OF A BASIC DRIP MARKETING SYSTEM - Click To Read Article
Do you have an automated system that kicks in that will give you the best opportunity to nurture and develop that lead into a solid prospect? Or, increase your conversion rate? However you obtain new leads, it is important to follow-through with them and in a consistent way.

Do you leave your Sales People control their destiny? - Click To Read Article
You pay a significant amount for a sales call, why not reinforce it. If you are making a sales call, maybe even introducing a new line what would you think about this scenario?

Design of a Basic Drip Marketing Program - Click To Read Article
With a Drip system you can send series of correspondence walking them through the marketing funnel, addressing questions and promoting the benefits of your offering. You can also...

Do you have a telephone script! - Click To Read Article
All the pros have one, what about you? Best way to handle the gatekeeper: Try to say as little as possible about why you are calling. End your response to any question asked with, "So may I please speak with Mr(s). ________?”

Do you understand your market? - Click To Read Article
You must determine if there is a market for your products or services. It may be the most critical item of planning. You must analyze your market which is a process involving interviewing competitors, suppliers and new customers.

Developing A Business Plan - Quick Overview - Click To Read Article
Putting together a business plan forces you to take an objective and critical look at your business idea. Even more, the finished product is an operational tool that will help move your business toward success.

Develop your Sales Presentation using the Balance Scorecard - Click To Read Article
Most of us know the strategic use of the Balance Scorecard. We use it or at least a variation of it, to run our business. If it is good for your business, would it not be something that is simple and straight forward for your customer. A quick overview of the four areas of the Balance Scorecard:

Do you understand how to price your products/merchandise? - Click To Read Article
There are a number of pricing strategies you can use to achieve your growth goal. Each has the potential of producing a profit, and most are tied to the critical relationship of price-to-sales volume and stock turnover. Some strategies you may want to consider are listed below.

Business Turnaround - Do it with Lean - Click To Read Article
Is anything working? Are you in trouble yet? Is it you, or is it the economy? In a past blog post, I went over this issue and the fact of the matter is, IT'S YOU! Why? You are the one that has to survive, it is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY. Without change, things will stay the same, so how do you go about initiating change?

Can you satisfy these customer segments or who wants You? - Click To Read Article
Not every segment can be profitable to you. Not every segment is worth the risk. You must remember what allows you to make margin and not try to be someone that you are not. You may want to look at it this way, Who want's you?

Can you retain this customer? - Click To Read Article
Do you really look at this as a consideration when developing your marketing segments and the value you place on acquiring a certain type of customer? Most of us look at repeat and referral strategies across the board for every segment. Consider the segment or that type of customer that you acquire that always seems to give you the benefit of the doubt or refer business to you. Should you not be biased in how you allocate your resources to that segment?

Boost Your Business With Blogging! - Click To Read Article
Business blog is an incredible online marketing tool that saves you thousands of dollars but provides great business opportunities in just one click. Blogs are user-friendly, customized and flexible medium for disseminating useful information for effective positioning of your products in the market.

Beginners Guide to Blogging - Click To Read Article
A blog is basically an online journal wherein you can digitally pen down your thoughts, ideas, opinions and practically anything that you want people to read. Blogs come in different styles, formats, and settings, depending on the preference of the user. Many blogging sites, offer built in features such as hyperlink, straight texts, pictures etc.

Blogs should have some basic essentials - Click To Read Article
If your company is to establish a business blogging program, considerable options should be made available by the hosting companies shortlisted for the services. Free blog hosting services are popular but they are much appropriate for individual online journals. Paid blog hosting services offer unlimited packages best for your company's needs. You may want to suggest checking out some blogs that use the host first, read and examine their layout and design. Another important thing to consider is a reliable technical support the host has.

Build a Referral Program for your E-zine - Click To Read Article
I have made just about every mistake possible in e-mail marketing and I am still learning. I have a list of 2500 but only get open rates of 20%. But I also have a client that gets open rates of over 50%. That list is only 600. Who has the better list? Without a doubt the one with 600 and it create s business. Why? It was created solely with

Building a Lean Healthcare Value Stream - Click To Read Article
Many or most Lean teachings come from the Toyota Production System - which is why it is common for Lean practitioners to assume that the thing being processed is a physical inventory item (like a car). But it doesn't have to be. Literally 99% of Lean concepts apply to ANY industry.

ANOTHER WORD FOR MARKETING - HOW ABOUT VOICE OF THE CUSTOMER? - Click To Read Article
I think the smartest companies ask their customers what the requirements should be for the product or service and then work backwards? The not so smart, designs a product/service and then figures out ways to market and sell it. Which one are you?

ANALYZING A COMPLEX PROBLEM, MAKE IT SIMPLE BY USING… - Click To Read Article
One of the most often used cause-and-effect diagrams is a Fishbone Diagram. It appears very simple but the results are outstanding. As a result, it is used very often and one that should be mastered. Why would you use it?

Are you on the same path as your customer? - Click To Read Article
They usually have some type of marketing in place, and we are looking at improving the system not dismantling it. After the marketing calendar has been constructed, I start moving, sometimes just the post-it-notes from a chronological order to a marketing flow stream based on the customers' viewpoint.

Address your customers cost drivers to increase sales! - Click To Read Article
Diagnostic Selling is a methodology that will allow your salespeople to systematically address the customer’s cost drivers.

A Customer Centric Marketing Budget! - Click To Read Article
Take your marketing dollars and define what you are willing to spend to get a customer to know you, like you, trust you, etc. The easiest way to start is to use your past six months. I think it might be quite alarming to see where the money has been spent.

A Guide to RSS Aggregators - Click To Read Article
The specially made computer programs called "RSS aggregators" were created to automatically find and retrieve the RSS feeds of pre-selected internet sites on behalf of the user and organize the results accordingly. (RSS feeds and aggregators are also sometimes referred to as "RSS Channels" and "RSS Readers".) The RSS aggregator is like a web browser for RSS content.

A few internet marketing tools - Click To Read Article
In this day and age when advertising your business online is the way to go, it's a must that you avail of internet marketing tools at the lowest cost possible. How can you avail of them? How can you make the most out of these low cost internet marketing tools?

Agressive Marketing on the WEB - Click To Read Article
Aggressive internet marketing means full-blown marketing and promotions that exceed any businessman's expectations. A business needs fierce internet marketing. No more, no less. But to make it low cost? Is that even possible? How can something so aggressive be affordable? Luckily, you can avail of inexpensive aggressive internet marketing if you just look hard and good enough. Be keen and alert and know what's going on in the online industry. The following questions will help you discern if your chosen internet site to do the marketing fits the bill.

Alternatives to writing articles! - Click To Read Article
Well, for starters if you hate writing articles and you can't afford to hire people to write for you then don't. Get free articles. The first place to look at for free articles is the public domain. Here you won't have problems with copyright infringement and the following penalties and fines if you get caught for plagiarism.

8 STEPS TO GET LEANER IN A TOUGH ECONOMY! - Click To Read Article
Most savings/expense is created in the design of the product/process. How many times have you told an engineer we are not designing a space shuttle? How many times do you come under budget?

6 step process to Lean Marketing - Click To Read Article
In lean marketing a company should only have two components: An introduction to a new lead and the acceptance of an order. All other components would be considered wasteful and are candidates for elimination.


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