Even when used outside of manufacturing, process improvement methodologies such as Lean Six Sigma typically focus on making operations more efficient and effective. Business leaders seem to rarely apply them to areas such as sales, marketing and customer service.

However, more experts are seeing this as a missed opportunity. While the tools and techniques of Six Sigma and continuous process improvement may seem more suited for the factory floor or improving the flow of patients through a hospital, salespeople and marketers are beginning to see the value as well.

Lean Six Sigma can work in what is known as the demand chain, creating the opportunity for revenue growth.

“Consistency may be boring, but it represents a manageable path to value creation,” authors Stephen Diorio and Chris K. Hummel write in a new book set for release in April 2022, titled Revenue Operations.

They continue: “If businesses like Toyota, GE and countless others can create hundreds of billions of dollars of firm value by applying continuous process improvement to their operations and supply chains – why not take a similar approach to the customer-facing part of the business? Consistent, repeatable revenue growth would be the reward.”

What Is the Demand Chain?

Demand chain is a term that encompasses three areas of a business – sales, marketing and customer service – that focus on driving customer demand for a company’s products and services. It’s one half of what is known as the value chain.

The other half, the supply chain, involves manufacturing, purchasing and distribution of products. Businesses have put Lean and process improvement, often aligned with advances in technology, into use to improve supply chains.

That’s happened less frequently in customer-facing areas. Leaders there have been slower to adapt revenue growth strategies involving the use of continuous process improvement.

Reasons for Not Using Process Improvement in Sales, Marketing

In an article for Forbes, Diorio, director of the Revenue Enablement Institute, wrote that sales and marketing leaders have long felt their areas are too unique to apply continuous process improvement. Some of the reasons often used include:

  • Constant change of customers and markets and lack of data and feedback loops make it impracticable
  • The “intangibles” of branding, relationship building, and buyer psychology make growing a business more art than science
  • Investments in “rock star sales reps,” ad campaigns and brand building defy conventional management systems

“These arguments may have held water in the 20th century. Not so in a digital age where selling has become more capital intensive, data-driven, and digital,” Diorio wrote.

Lean Six Sigma and Digital Marketing

Because Lean Six Sigma is data driven, the demand chain is positioned better than ever to benefit from process improvement. Diorio writes that sales enablement technology gives sales leaders more ability to “enforce process discipline” in every revenue cycle step.

Data analytics software also allows those in the demand chain to assess customer sentiment, predict customer response and allocate resources, among other benefits.

Consistency is key, according to Diorio and Hummel. Much as Six Sigma focuses on reducing variation in a process, thereby reducing errors and mistakes, the same principles can apply to the demand chain. They will produce predictable returns and outcomes, whether it’s practiced sales presentations or the process companies use to contact potential clients. By analyzing these practices and removing potential errors and wasted steps, sales and marketing can become more efficient.

Applying process improvement principles can not only cut waste and reduce costs in sales, marketing and customer service, but also help build drive revenue growth and the effectiveness of sales and marketing strategies.