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Six Sigma Sales And Marketing

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For better understanding, let's discuss some of the similarities that exist between them.

Voice of the Customer (VOC)

Both Six Sigma and marketing make it a point to give due consideration to the Voice of the Customer (VOC), although their ultimate goals vary. For example,6Sigma treats VOC as a representation of customer needs and expectations whereas marketing treats VOC as requirements that can be met with effective marketing and advertising. Based on the VOC,6 Sigma aims at reducing costs, improving quality or adding new features as desired by customers.

In comparison, the marketing department treats VOC by increasing ad spends, hiring celebrities as brand ambassadors, or reworking the external features and packaging. Both these functionalities may treat the VOC differently, but that is not a problem for business organizations because ultimately both aim at increasing sales and customer satisfaction.

In today's highly competitive marketplace, it will be very difficult to determine what will work and what will not - and as such, it is always better to have a two-pronged strategy for attracting and retaining customers.

Cost Reductions

Six Sigma always aims at reducing operational costs, but that is not always the case for the marketing department. Also true is the fact that the marketing department does not reduce costs in the real sense, that it merely utilizes marketing techniques such as discounts and freebies that have more or less the same affect on customers as a real reduction in prices can have.

However, since both the functionalities aim at getting the attention of customers, we can say that cost reductions are a similarity, even though they might be real in the domain of 6 Sigma and superficial in the domain of marketing.

Continuity

Both Six Sigma and marketing are continuous functions (i.e., they aim at making continuous improvements so as to attract more customers and increase market share). Since both stress making continuous improvements in order to make way for increased efficiencies, we can say that "continuity" is a similarity between 6 Sigma and marketing.

However, their actual working differs in that Six Sigma aims at making continuous quality improvements in the product, service or process whereas marketing aims at making continuous improvements in the organizational marketing strategy.

Even though both functionalities have a lot in common, they are quite different from each other - and this is why we do not normally see marketing professionals joining the Six Sigma implementation team members. Exceptions are always possible, but since both the functionalities follow completely different procedures for achieving more or less the same goals and objectives, it is better to leave the two functionalities alone and not try to join things together, something that can spell disaster both for the marketing department and the 6 Sigma team.

Specialization holds the key for success in today's age of globalization and as such, needs to be respected.

Six Sigma Sales And Marketing

The Six Sigma management practice had its origin at Motorola in response to the challenge posed by its Chief Executive Officer back in the early part of the 1980s. He wanted the company to reduce its product-failure rates tenfold within the next five years. The Motorola CEO issued this challenge because the company was consistently defeated in the competitive marketplace by its foreign competitors that produced higher quality goods at lower costs. It was only in the middle of the 1990s that the company revealed how it was able to achieve their objective of eliminating defects in their manufacturing process. Since then, many manufacturing companies have adopted the quality improvement framework used by Motorola. The main goal of Six Sigma is to improve the level of customer satisfaction. Over the two decades that it had been practiced, the definition of Six Sigma had evolved. Some consider it as only a metric while others consider it a methodology or management system.

The Six Sigma management approach contends that with improved customer satisfaction, a company will benefit from increased profits, and at the same time, enjoy reduced costs that arise from defective products and processes. Aside from being a crucial factor in achieving customer satisfaction, reduction, and elimination of defects, it also influences such factors as high product quality, cost minimization, and schedule adherence. In order to achieve the goal of defect-free products and processes, the Six Sigma methodology is designed. The steps for this approach are ?define?, ?measure?, ?analyze?, ?improve?, and ?control?. Usually, an improvement team is formed and tasked to oversee and identify processes, define what will be considered a defect, and come up with applicable measurements.

The ?define? stage of Six Sigma requires the benchmarking of processes that need to be improved or its division into sub-processes. Potential effects of any organizational change are also studied at this stage. Once processes or projects have already been defined, it is easier to proceed to the succeeding Six Sigma steps. The use of certain performance measures or Six Sigma metrics is also crucial so as to easily monitor and assess the improvements undertaken. When choosing which metrics to use, it is important to distinguish and determine those that have an effect on the end result. Moreover, the use of the Six Sigma principle require that ?quality? be given a new definition as is applicable. Quality is generally assessed through two concepts namely, actual quality and potential quality. Actual quality is defined as the current value added for each input unit. Potential quality, on the other hand, is the determined maximum value added for each input unit. The difference between these two is considered ?waste.? In relation to Six Sigma metrics, the costs that are proven to be of no value to customers are eliminated. Quality is improved by reducing waste thereby, allowing organizations to produce goods and services faster, better, and cheaper.

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About Author

Both Tony Jacowski & Sam Miller are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Tony Jacowski has sinced written about articles on various topics from University, Six Sigma and Information Technology. Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solution's Six Sigma Online offers online and certification classes for lean six sigm. Tony Jacowski's top article generates over 90500 views. to your Favourites.

Sam Miller has sinced written about articles on various topics from Debts Loans, Computers and The Internet and Customer Service. If you are interested in , check this web-site to learn more about six sigma scorecard.. Sam Miller's top article generates over 550000 views. to your Favourites.

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