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Dollar coins, when first struck through the US Mint in 1794, have been supposed to incredible signify the new country to the world and to information the domestic economy. The early dollars, when introduced, have been no longer received with generic acclaim.

You can additionally be wondering, how would one describe the first dollar?

As a fifteenth century German coin, which in fact it was. The greenback was once no longer invented in America. Nor used to be the phrase dollar, for that matter.

Substantial silver deposits had been positioned in the late 1400s in the Joachimsthal Valley in what would one day be Germany. This coincided with developing European trade with the East, as the Middle Ages receded.

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The large silver Joachimsthaler was once an immediately success as a change coin. It grew to be stated more truly as a taler. Soon the coin was once copied by using way of different European nations. Taler grew to become daalder (Danish) and daler (Dutch).

By the 1600s Spanish colonial mints in Mexico and Peru were coining a big eight reale coin that superior in the early 1700s into the Spanish Milled Dollars so popular, and necessary, in the English colonies of North America.

Now, better knowledgeable on the origination of greenback coins, you can additionally however be wondering, what did the first United States dollar cash appear like?

They had been notably the equal dimension and weight as the omnipresent Spanish dollars. Their sketch used to be every other matter. No monarchial emblems or trappings here, the obverse, or the front side, of the new US greenbacks bore a youthful, upward searching Liberty head with loose, windblown hair. These dollar cash are for that reason identified as Flowing Hair dollars.

The word Liberty regarded at the pinnacle of the coin, with the four digits of the date at the bottom. A border of stars representing the states accomplished the design. The reverse displayed an eagle surrounded by skill of a wreath with United States of America encircling all.

The appear of the Flowing Hair coin was once criticized through those who felt that the unbound hair that adorned the head of Liberty lacked a trip of dignity notion unseemly for the foundation coin of a new nation. The eagle, as rendered, used to be once notion to be missing in majesty (scrawny and turkey had been the phrases in many instances applied.)

The Liberty head used to be changed late in 1795 to a more refined image, from a portrait thru famed artist Gilbert Stuart of Anne Willing Bingham, a individual Philadelphia socialite. Dollar money with this image are known as the Draped Bust dollars.

This graph was typically daily via way of the public as an improvement, although the larger timid amongst college students of heraldry pointed out that the arrows held in the right talon may also be interpreted as a predisposition to war.

Beautiful European gold coins are simply a clever preference to contemporary bullion cash such as the gold American Eagle, Canadian Maple Leaf, or the South African.

A extensive variety of gold bullion coins from Europe are available. You can find out golden coinage from European nations such as Austria, Great Britain, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Greece and Italy.

Trade Your Cards And Get Free Spin Daily Summery

Europe's gold cash are internationally recognized and can be traded at some stage in the world with relative ease.

These strikes are 1/4 ounce or smaller. The cause for this is due to the fact that these pieces had been once surely used as money. Their small fractional dimension is specially convenient when it comes time to sell, barter, or liquidate the coins.

Gold coinage such as the British Sovereign, French 20 Franc, the German 20 Marks, and the Austrian Ducat, to title only a few, offer all of the advantages of existing day bullion, plus brought leverage to the gold market due to the fact of their shortage and collectibility factors.

For almost the equal charge per ounce as modern-day bullion, common gold bullion money from Europe offer many more benefits. Market availability is challenge strictly to what is handy on the open market and what has survived the ravages of time, melt downs, hoarding and different functionality of attrition.

When the United States authorities closing confiscated gold from its residents with the useful resource of presidential decree in 1933, coins having a recognized exclusive fee to collectors of distinguished and extraordinary charge had been exempt. If the government as soon as once more outlaws and confiscates gold bullion, rare portions such as European gold money have to be exempt.

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The accumulating of coins, gold, silver and unique treasured metals can be fun and financially rewarding. These tangible objects are normally referred to as "hard assets" due to the truth they are heavier than most specific commodities or collectibles. Someone as quickly as quipped, "if you drop an asset on your toes, and it hurts, then it is probable a hard asset and valuable.

The renewed interest in valuable metals has been built upon their price upward shove all thru the previous few years. In fact, there is been a bull market in gold and silver for 5-6 years. Coincident with the lows of the final undergo market for shares in 2002, gold rose from below $300 to virtually over $1,000 per ounce. That run bested the really useful homes considered by way of the usage of most of the common lessons of financial assets - stocks, bonds, money markets. Silver, being the principal industrial metal, rose almost four-fold, per ounce, equating to a larger percent reap than gold over the previous 5 years.

Basically, there are a virtually a few approaches to go about accumulating or investing in this arena. You can purchase the bodily metallic and keep it hoping it will go up in value, or you can gather numismatic (fancy phrase for coin collecting) portions that have both collector price and some gold or silver content fee or both. I opt for cash considering the reality that that is the way I acquired myself commenced out as a teenager. 

Of course, decrease back then wages have been low for a teen (as they are today), so I used to be limited to a few silver cash and some one ounce silver ingots; gold was out of my rate range. My father signed up as a silver provider with a mining organisation that used to be the use of the wave of investor hypothesis as silver shot to over $50. When I located to recognize the smallish cache of cash I accumulated with my money, my mom and father later gifted me a bag of silver dollars. During the 1940's and '50's, Las Vegas slot machines regular them when you gambled. My Grandpa was prescient, he had stored them all these years in his Ohio domestic and handed them on to my Father. It was once enjoyable to kind them and show up catalog their value. They dated from the 1870's to the 1920's. I viewed it a activity and not often offered or traded many coins. I understood the United States' frequent sequence of cents, nickels, dimes and dollars, so that is what I collected.

Gold and silver have now not proven us a top notch song report to profits over longer intervals of time, however. The price rises in modern years got here after a lengthy size of struggling - gold was once as soon as $850 in 1980 when the Dow Jones inventory index used to be beneath 1,000. So overall, you have lost huge simply retaining bodily gold or silver the past 25 years due to the fact inflation has stripped away your earnings if you had any to tally.

The metals appears to alternate in fits and spurts, and regularly upward push in time of investor panic in specific areas of finance (recent personal loan and banking mess). Owning collectible coins, in my opinion, has yielded greater and extra predictable returns over long periods of time, even coins now now not containing gold or silver, such as early coppers cents.

This study following that I embarked upon should showcase you that cash can be enjoyable and rewarding if you have some patience. I took a listing of a few USA coins that I now personal or desire I owned, and computed their charge of return over the previous 8-9 years. Surprisingly, a collector can collect a whole set of most American cash going lower back nearly a hundred years in cents, nickels, dimes and quarters because most dates are very typical in all but the greater grades. Few exceptions exist, so I will key on these few semi-precious key dates which are however pretty low price presently that most collectors want to finish their collection. 

These are money with low mintage's that are the key dates in its collection. I used the pricing at, a specific and straightforward reference source. Shown are the date and mint of the coin, the fee rise over 8-9 years, and lastly, the compounded cost per year average gain, so you can measure the high quality elements apples to apples. Coin grades used hovered round incredible to extra fine condition.

1909-S Indian 1 cent, $435 to $950 in 9 years = +9%

1909-S VDB Lincoln 1 cent, $650 to $1,600 in 9 years = +10%

1914-D Lincoln 1 cent, $425 to $1,100 in 9 years = +11%

1921-S Liberty 5 cent, $675 to $1,000 in 9 years = +4.5%

1932-D Washington 25 cent, $155 to $400 in eight years = +12.5%

As you can see, the common fee understanding has registered around 10% or higher for most of the selections. The past few years, there is been a renewed pastime in the Lincoln penny, and older Morgan Silver Dollars. Since mintages are consistent and known, as soon as demand choices up, charges upward push every now and then fast. The increased grades command king's ransom's of $5,000-$10,000. That's +11.5% per year gain, additionally in line with the effects above. My research about is now not definitely scientific, so I'm fantastic you can also favor to punch some holes in it the use of specific cash and time frames. 

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Coin costs go spherical with demand and investor interest. Also, remember, collectibles usually now no longer represent a massive issue of your retirement property except you are an professional in that area. It's challenging to keep cash and precious metals internal IRA's for instance till they are US Mint authorized. 

Coins and treasured metals do no longer pay any dividends or interest like stocks or bonds. Lastly, as collectibles, coins, gold and even gold cash are taxed at a increased 28% capital advantageous elements rate vs. the 15% price most inventory merchants enjoy. With all that aside, once you seize the collector bug, you will certainly experience the technique of collecting, and with any success the monetary rewards also. It's a brilliant hobby to ignore alongside to your children someday, or to money in and retire on.

The USA is one of the biggest nations in the world, but like any exceptional state it has also chosen to mint gold coins, for industrial purposes. Many of these coins are very ancient even as others have only been minted in the past years as bullion for traders and collectors.

There are two lessons of American gold coins: the gold buffalo and the gold eagle. Both of them have fractional sizes and selections made of silver or platinum. But they are very unique from many factors of view.

As some distance as purity is worried Buffaloes have priority at this point. Being issued mainly as bullion they have a 99,99% purity simply like most of the gold bars. The American Eagle is a good deal much less preferred by way of merchants having solely 91,67% pure gold in it. This is the very cause why buffaloes have appeared: to provide buyers a fair American choice to the Chinese pandas, or to the Canadian maple leafs.

They date returned in 1795 when eagles and half of eagles have been minted for circulation. The quarters have been completely issued one 12 months after. Being issued for alternate the gold alloy wished to be sturdy ample to resist exact all through a variety of transactions. But in 1933 gold used to be no longer used to buy merchandise and that is when the eagle manufacturing was once discontinued. On the exceptional hand buffaloes have appeared in 2006. The commemorative eagles issued in 1984 and 2003 had been now not enough to guarantee an equal share of gold bullion transactions for the USA. That is why high purity cash had been minted having a face fee of $50.

The format of these coins reminds of the records of this nation. The eagle benefits from the Genius of Auguste St Gaudens. It indicates the proud profile of an American-Indian chief who amazes by way of the usage of the factors reminding of Greek statues. On some money he is changed by the photo of Lady Liberty. For sure variations the eagle on the one of a kind aspect is pictured standing equipped to take flight, while on others it is depicted flying.

How You Can Make a B2B Marketing Strategy in B2B Lead Generation Services

One of the recommended ways to engage in a method is to plan for it in advance. Regardless whether it may be in-house or outsourced B2B prospecting services, you'll want to procure and plan a B2B marketing plan and carry it out correctly. A reliable B2B marketing strategy could help you in analyzing your current business position and a develop performance criteria to gauge, keep track of, and acquire your profit objective.

To begin with, you may want to have a GOAL. This indicates a concrete meaning of how to define your business marketing accomplishment. Considering your company and your strategy, aims, and budget to paper is the first step in a strong marketing plan. The plan will also help you get rid of unwarranted expenditure that does not produce return of investment. Here is a overview of a B2B marketing plan:

Common Goals and Objectives in a B2B Marketing Plan

It truly is painstakingly vital that you define your purpose. Whether it's B2B prospecting services or any form of B2B, your primary goal and objectives need to be clearly defined. 

How You Can Make a B2B Marketing Strategy in B2B Lead Generation Services

First, you need to present your company as well as your services and products to the industry - especially to the specified industry that you are currently on. Other targets consist of upping your market share, avoiding other competing firms from share erosion, improve new areas, increase profit, and of course make sales.Defining your primary goal would also mean interpreting your target market. Identify your target in relation to area, company size, etc.

The B2B Marketing Plan Procedure:

1. Researching on current business trends

2. Assessing competitors' marketing activities / materials / positioning

3. Evaluating company materials and actions

4. Reviewing your company's strong points and weak points

5. Addressing present business problems and issues

6. Summarizing sturdy client solutions

7. Having a customer-centric method

8. Composing customer-centric communication messages on the following points:

a. Why your enterprise is ideal

b. Services, solutions, and benefits you offer

c. One of a kind selling proposition that distinguishes you from competitors

9. Producing particular marketing solutions

10. Searching for experts - outsource to B2B prospecting services.

B2B Prospecting Services

It's also possible to contract out B2B prospecting solutions to reliable partners. You can explore your marketing plan to your outsourcing partner and get rid of concerns related to hr. It has been discovered that outsourcing diminishes operational costs for up to 50% - this involves massive cost savings in workforce, facilities, and technology. Outsourcing to a B2B prospecting team doesn't mean you could no longer intervene - this will only supply you with time to concentrate on central areas whilst you entrust manpower and human resource to an offshore partner.

72Solutions Outbound Telemarketing Services is a well-established lead generation service provider dedicated in lead generation, appointment setting, data cleanup and profiling, and outbound marketing. 72Solutions values relationship, we are wholeheartedly dedicated in our services and sincerely devoted to both our clients and their customers.

Written By: Umair

Network Marketing Sales Training - How to Profit More Than Anybody

The direct sales business and network marketing industry is has seen its share of network marketing sales trainers that have over promised and under delivered. To be honest it is hard to know who to trust these days. That is why I want to give you free extremely valuable information that will help you in your MLM home based business. The 5 key points that I am sharing below are pillars that are essential to your success. My word of caution is that this only works if you are plugged into a MLM system online.

1. Your own customizable capture page

This allows you to stand out from everybody else in your company. Most people are marketing company replicated sites and are not getting the network marketing sales they want. Learning this one internet marketing strategy alone will separate you from the masses. This will allow you to brand yourself and not your company.

2. Build your own list

Your list are people that you can build relationships with down the road. Of course it may start out small but imagine it growing to 300, 1000, and soon into tens of thousands. This is how the top network marketing sales trainers make serious money. They have their own list and they market to them. Keep in mind you can't just market anything so I'll teach you what to market.

Network Marketing Sales Training - How to Profit More Than Anybody

3. Streamline Sales Funnel

This is another secret of the top marketers. Having a guided sales funnel that you send your prospects through is critical. Reason being because you can monetize as much as possible from your list. Not everyone will join you in your business. So having a way to make money off those that don't join you will keep you in the game long enough till your residual kicks in from your primary company.

4. Duplicatable Training Platform

Let's face it. There are only 24 hours in a day. Contrary to popular belief you do not make money for training nor have time to train everyone. You only make network marketing sales doing two things: marketing and talking to qualified prospects on the phone so they can join your direct sales business. Having a web based internet marketing system in place will help remove you from the equation. Just point your downline in the right direction. Teach them to do the same for their teammates and that is what I call duplication.

5. Proven way to get your primary opportunity in front of people

After you have shown so much value to your prospects, who by the way are those in network marketing, they will be open to look at your primary opportunity. This is where the magic kicks in. At this point they will feel like they owe you. So some will actually join you in business without even calling you.

This type of network marketing sales training I know is different from what is being taught in traditional MLM. If this way of network marketing is more appealing to you and you want to learn internet marketing strategies then don't waste anymore time. Don't procrastinate take action now.

Written By: Umair

7 Tips a Marketing Strategy Will Expand Your Business

"What is the best money I can spend in marketing to grow my business?" Without a doubt, this is the question I'm most frequently asked by small business owners. It may seem like a question that is promptly followed by an "it depends" type of answer, however, it's actually quite easy to pinpoint one tool that is relatively inexpensive, delivers a high ROI and, sadly, is not commonly found in a small businesses' toolbox. It's a marketing strategy.

Why is a marketing strategy the most powerful tool for growing business? The straight-forward answer is that a solid marketing strategy will address current challenges and map out paths by which a business can grow in the future. It will audit a business's brand and message, but isn't limited to branding alone. Rather, a marketing strategy is a combination of big picture and detail analysis that incorporates a wide range of marketing channels tailored for that business's industry, market, and budget. The majority of marketing strategies I write for small businesses include a high number of items that can be performed for free by current in-house staff, resulting in a plan that won't lead to a fortune spent. In fact, a good marketing strategy is an investment in saving money because it targets a business's efforts and helps avoid waste.

At this point I need to qualify my earlier statement; the best money spent in marketing is a smart marketing strategy written by an experienced marketer on behalf of a specific business, not something sketched out by a rep at a service shop (think printer or web firm) or from a generic, 'small business strategy' check list. For a marketing strategy to be truly effective, it needs to be a customized effort involving research, analysis and a careful matching of opportunities with the business's resources and budget. This can never be a quick or off the shelf effort - a smart marketing strategy takes some time to develop properly. My own typically take less than a month and are generally under $2,000.

It's important to keep in mind that while a smart marketing strategy won't force a business beyond its means, it will present a mix of opportunities that meet immediate goals and show paths for growth. A marketing strategy's advantage is that it paints a picture of a business, highlights who that business is targeting, focuses its marketing budget, and develops a schedule for reaching out to buyers. It accomplishes this in 7 key ways:

1. Develops Brand & Message

A brand is simply a business's public look and message. Businesses all have the beginning of a brand - an official name - and some have taken steps to identify a logo, tagline, and possibly a general color scheme or style guide. In small businesses, these are often a reflection of the owner's personal taste rather than an evaluation of the market and targeted buyers (years ago I had a client who chose her corporation's color scheme from her kitchen wall's paint chip). They may be a result of a family brainstorming effort or an owner's flash of inspiration. Sometimes they are geographically influenced or an attempt at gimmickry. The point is that while it's rare to find a small business that developed its name, logo, and message as the result of true market research, it's a universal rule that, for good or bad, small businesses will refer to these items as their business's brand.

7 Tips a Marketing Strategy Will Expand Your Business

And this is where a marketing strategy steps in. A smart marketing strategy will thoroughly evaluate a business's brand through experienced and unbiased eyes. The marketer is not (hopefully) a member of the family and most likely hasn't seen the kitchen's walls. Instead, an experienced marketer will audit the brand as both a buyer and a marketer, and evaluate its ability to quickly convey the business's story, whether or not it targets the appropriate buyer, and if it is unique enough within the marketplace to set the business apart from the competition. The marketing strategy will highlight any brand challenges, inconsistencies, or weaknesses before suggesting modifications and improvements.

Unfortunately, 'brand' seems to be a point at which many small businesses abandon their strategic efforts. A business's brand is essential and well worth a hefty effort, but 'branding' isn't enough of an action item to grow a business and isn't where a smart strategy ends...

2. Audits Current Program

Which segues nicely into the next stage of a strategy: auditing the current marketing program. This stage goes beyond branding to review all of the business's marketing efforts and is an essential component to any smart strategy. It's at this stage that wasted money or effort is discovered, missed opportunities highlighted, or where I find that a client had started down a positive path in the past but either abandoned it too early or was off in its message. Has the business's marketing program been well thought out or has it been a shotgun approach through a series of one-off efforts spread over time? This is where we find out.

My audits look for strengths as well as holes and weaknesses in a business's marketing program by dissecting the marketing channel mix, promotional locations (both online and traditional), frequency, and more, then matching the entire program to the targeted buyer profile. I spend quite a bit of time looking through the business's marketing tools such as its web site, brochures, newsletters, and social media and evaluate the business's staff resources, factoring any strengths into the final evaluation.

3. Profiles Buyers & Marketplace

It may be hard to fathom but there are small businesses that face each year without knowing much about their own marketplace and the very buyers upon which their livelihoods depend. As a marketer, it baffles me how any business can hang its shingle without taking the time to first evaluate who it will sell to and from whom it will grab market share. Questions such as, "how many buyers are out there?", "how do they like to be reached?" and, "who am I competing against?" are all fundamental to business success because it's only through this knowledge that a company can adapt and grow. The only way to create this profile is through research!

I start by pulling information directly from my clients through a combination of interviews and surveys filled with carefully crafted questions. I'll ask then re-ask until I've developed a complete profile from my client's perspective. My work then turns to generating a buyer profile from a marketing perspective that stems from my client's high level buyer description. I'll dig and research until my profile is complete, then compare my profile with that of my client's. Hopefully we're in synch, but if not, I'll point out where we differ and evaluate where my client can hone his or her efforts.

At this point I'll also want to look at the marketplace from my buyer profile's point of view, and will "shop" the competition. I'll look at the business's geographic reach and investigate both demographic data and local economic growth plans. All of this data will play into the final evaluation of whether my client should continue in its current market or branch out into an area that's buyer-rich.

4. Evaluates Competition

"Who is my competition and how do we differ?" That's a question every business owner should be able to answer at any given time! Business owners should be aware of who is snagging market share from them and how each competitor compares in services, quality, customer service, messaging, and overall marketing efforts. It's wonderful to be the best service provider available, but that won't mean anything if the competition is signing more buyers!

For this stage of a marketing strategy, I like to shop the competition from a buyer's perspective before comparing my findings to my own "client shop". Since I'm an outside consultant, it's fairly easy for me to assume an unbiased buyer's approach to most shopping efforts, be it B to B or B to C, and I look for easy shopping situations, who could satisfy my buyer needs, would entice me to make a purchase or conversely would turn me off as a buyer. I use these results to suggest ways my client could improve his or own business's message and to...

5. Determine Marketing Mix

This stage of a marketing strategy is a game of, 'find the buyers'. After all, what is marketing if it isn't an effort to communicate with buyers and lure them to a business? To me, this is the truly strategic stage of a strategy, but one that could not exist without all the previous steps. It is at this point that the strategy should answer questions such as, "should a business adopt the latest trends or stick to more traditional methods?" or, "what will provide the biggest bang for a limited budget?"

It's also the stage where experience really pays off as there are many, many ways to spend money in marketing and only so many options that will reach the right buyers. I enjoy this stage the most and spend time looking under rocks to discover new options and find cost effective solutions. No two strategies should be ever be the same at this stage, making this the most custom portion of the entire process. A good strategy will look beyond paid search and Facebook ads and find new ways to present the business - within budget.

This is also the most flexible portion of a smart marketing strategy. I like to include a variety of options that range from 'incorporate immediately' to more longer term efforts that make sense once the business has grown or has put other marketing tools in place. A good mix will pull in multiple marketing channels and allow a business to reach buyers on many levels.

6. Finds Internal & Low Cost Options

Many businesses have low cost and free marketing options already at their disposal and may not realize it. A good marketing strategy reviews a business's internal options, evaluates the business as a whole, and discover resources that can be used in the marketing plan. I like to empower my clients and give them the chance to save their budget for bigger ticket items down the road.

7. Designs 1 - 5 Years Marketing Plan

I wrap up every marketing strategy with a 1 year, month by month, marketing plan. This marketing plan lists carefully selected marketing efforts determined in the strategy and provide a schedule for when they should be launched and evaluated. For smaller businesses, I try to stick to the low cost options that can be maintained internally with optional efforts that may cost more money or should happen after an early goal has been achieved. More expensive or involved opportunities are generally reserved for a 2-5 year plan and are contingent upon achieving goals.

By incorporating the above 7 stages into a thoroughly researched and carefully crafted strategy, a small business will have a map by which it can achieve its goals and grow its business. It's money well spent and something a business really shouldn't exist without!

Crafting a Successful B2B Marketing Strategy

For many B2B marketers, the traditional marketing funnel that motivates prospects to self-identify and then move to a sales funnel, is ingrained in our minds. However, in the Age of the Customer, Forrester Research's phrase for a customer-driven marketing landscape, the funnel has evolved to reflect a new customer expectation requiring sales and marketing to work in tandem.

With this in mind, B2B marketers must evaluate how their current B2B marketing strategy is aligned with the psychology of their buyer journey. In other words, B2B marketers must know how to craft a marketing strategy based on the predominance of the customer.

So, we have outlined a series of steps to follow when crafting a customer-centric B2B marketing strategy. Ask yourself and your team, "have we checked the following boxes when crafting our B2B marketing strategy?"

IDENTIFY TARGET PERSONAS IN YOUR B2B MARKETING STRATEGY

Going through the exercise to develop personas based on market and customer research is fundamental to understanding not only who is your audience but how to engage them in the buyer journey. Incorporating marketing personas makes websites two to five times more effective and easier to use by targeted users. However, only 44% of B2B marketers use buyer personas. So, ensure your B2B marketing strategy includes persona-based experiences that moves buyers forward in their journey with your brand.

MAP A PERSONA-BASED CUSTOMER JOURNEY TO DRIVE YOUR B2B MARKETING STRATEGY

Building out your influencer and decision personas to understand your target audience is only part of the process of laying a customer-centric foundation for your strategy. Next is to map the touch points of your buyer journey through all buyer stages. In order to close the loop from awareness to revenue it's critical to know the touch points along the journey that are motivators and detractors in order to influence all parts of the customer experience. When developing your B2B marketing strategy answer the following, "How do I craft a strategy with the framework that aligns with your customer's journey to gain clarity and define priority?"

Crafting a Successful B2B Marketing Strategy

DEFINE AND MEASURE B2B MARKETING STRATEGY GOALS & METRICS

Perhaps a no-brainer for a data-driven B2B marketer is clearly-defined metrics for success. With a heightened emphasis on personalization and customer experience (CX), B2B marketing goals and metrics must be established to measure the success of the marketing efforts supporting a customer's progression through the buyer journey. Your B2B marketing strategy must outline how it will create direct contribution to revenue with a return and fuel high growth.

A recent case study example from one of our technology platform and services clients is Viewpointe, a leading private cloud managed services provider. Viewpointe was challenged with continuing to engage customers over the course of a 6+ month sales cycle. After clearly defining their B2B marketing goals, they aligned their content marketing plan with their persona-based customer journey. As a result, Viewpointe stayed engaged with their customers throughout the buyer journey and closed more deals. One way Viewpointe measured customer engagement lift was a 52% increase in persona aligned website content and 164% increase in blog content engagement from organic search referrals.

YOUR B2B MARKETING STRATEGY INCORPORATES ACTIONABLE INSIGHTS WITH SALES

Referring back to our earlier customer funnel illustration, the traditional hand-off from marketing to sales, with no feedback loop when a lead is "flipped over the fence to sales", causing misalignment between B2B marketing and sales teams. In fact, 25% of B2B marketers have no idea what is their customer conversion rate. In the Age of the Customer, your marketing strategy should outline how to rip out the proverbial fence and instead encourage inter-team collaboration. Ensuring this marketing and sales alignment is crucial to creating a consistent customer experience along a buyer's journey. Being intentional about sharing insights between teams is one way to encourage broad acceptance of a successful B2B marketing strategy execution.

YOUR NEXT STEP

With only 45% of B2B marketers confident that they have decent, if not high, levels of customer centricity, the time to is now to author your new B2B marketing strategy that elevates you above your competition.

7 MLM Tips - How To Explode Your MLM Business

The following tips are struggles that I personally went through. I'm sharing these 7 MLM Tips with you in hopes that I can help you cut some corners in your journey in network marketing

MLM Tip #1 Master One Marketing Strategy - When jumping into on-line marketing you really want to have one marketing strategy mastered before you start jumping into others. Let me help you see this so that its loud and clear. I recommend indulging your self in a "buffet" of strategies for roughly six to seven days. Explore all avenues of attraction marketing and choose one that resonates best with you it being online or offline marketing. This MLM tip is great if you get it down.

MLM Tip #2 Create Leaders (Alphas) Not Followers (Betas) - Don't hear me wrong, betas are awesome, but if you're new to network marketing you want to prospect people who have leader qualities (Alphas). Create ten leader in your down-line, then fish out betas. Betas take time build up to alpha state, if you have the time to build that, it's a very powerful long-term strategy. Look to see who shines in your crowd of friends or local networking events.

MLM Tip #3 Know That Your First Year In MLM Will Be A Learning Experience - Ninety-five percent of new network marketers quit within their first six-to-twelve months. I found that one needs to educate them self in the industry to know what to expect before plowing in to MLM. This industry is about NET-WORKING, it's a people business. One must listen, see whats going on around them and take action. Basic "things" to master right off the bat are: Prospecting, Rapport-Building, Follow-Up, Follow-Up, Follow-Up and Closing The Deal! I learned this MLM tip through experience, the hard way.

7 MLM Tips - How To Explode Your MLM Business

MLM Tip #4 Envision Your Success - This Is Extremely Hardcore - You have to - have to envision your self succeeding at this game. One needs to envision the results that one is desiring in conjunction with taking action every day. Every day you should be doing something - anything that is getting you closer to your dream. Find the reason WHY... you're doing this business, that's the motivation behind everything anyone does. We all do something for a reason, that reason is the WHY we do anything and everything in life. FIND YOUR WHY

MLM Tip #5 Follow the Formula - Every MLM company out there for the most part has a training system, if your company doesn't have one you have to ask your self "Am I with the right company?". What I consider a great "FORMULA" is a training system has Rapport, Prospecting and Closing modules, goal setting training, weekly training events available to you 24/7... Your company has a system - follow it. Talk to your leaders and start cranking the wheel...hard. My personal recommendation is creating 1-2 pieces of content everyday [article & video], Invite as many qualified prospects to watch your company presentation online or offline, attend every MAJOR event, NEVER pitching your opportunity, grab everyone elses business card and follow-up...

MLM Tip #6 Get Money in the hands of others - If you're doing online marketing I recommend promoting other peoples product. Get attention from the people you want to be like. They will help if and when you put money in their pockets, trust. Now, if you get cash into the hands of your new recruiters and teach them how to make cash online to give them a return in their investment, trust me when say you will be successful in this business. This builds a great down-line culture.

MLM Tip #7 Work on your mindset 15-20 min per day - Personal growth is something I strive for on a daily basis. For fifteen-to-twenty minutes a day I work on my mindset and envision how I would like my day and future to manifest, similar to tip number four, but different. My mindset is How I started gaining the confidence to approach and invite anyone I thought would make a great fit in my personal team on top of that my mindset allowed me to receive money from others yes receive money. Many have issues allowing money in their life. Not having enough or having more than enough is a mindset. I Love this MLM tip, if you haven't yet, pick up "Think And Grow Rich" from your local book store.

These MLM tips and strategies are worth as much as you apply them. These MLM Tips can make or break your business. Absorb these MLM 7 Tips to explode your down-line.

Written By: Umair

5 Business Tips Every Business Person Should Know

There are a lot of business tips that are written, published and told to bring us success in business and in entrepreneurship. Some of them may work for you, but others may not. So you should be wise to choose and use what will bring you the best results. The business world is just like any world - a place yet to be fully discovered. The market seems to be crowded, but the actual market can actually be a place with many empty spaces. The following are five secret business tips you should know in doing business and getting its real success.

1. The market is too wide to focus on competition.

In business, you can't be too greedy. The market is so wide to share with others. There are still many untapped markets that we need to explore. So instead of focusing on how to beat your business competitors, you can rather concentrate on exploring your mind and imagination. You just need to be creative to discover the several unexploited markets and opportunities out there. Doing business is not all about winning against your competitors, but it's all about winning your customers, your people and yourself. You can do that by always being the best of yourself at your service.

2. You can lose business even before starting it.

Holding and not quitting on your business is one of the most important secrets of business success. That is why before you start any business, you should assure that it is strategically planned, well assessed and backed up with all the quantitative (money and time) and qualitative (skills, manpower, passion, etc.,) resources. If you cannot do that, you are just like a soldier who has already lost the war even before going to the battle.

5 Business Tips Every Business Person Should Know

3. It's not all about passion.

Business success doesn't equals passion. The formula to success includes many qualities that should be added to your passion. One of these qualities is your intention and action to help and make your costumers satisfied. Passion can't be the only ingredient to any business triumph because it only involves your own happiness. You need to ask and determine what makes your customers happy, and then provide them those things even if it means sacrificing your own enthusiasm. Take note that it's more important to give passion rather than to indulge it on your own.

4. Business development should start on your personal development

You can't develop your business if you can't develop yourself. The reason is that a developed business is one that can develop the lives of its consumers. Thus, it takes a lot of personal development and self growth to develop a business. This includes devoting oneself to quality, integrity, honesty and usability. Remember that greed, lack of self-control, deceit, indolence and procrastination cannot help a business to succeed.

5. You can't always charge it all to your experience.

I heard many people saying it's just okay to make mistakes. The truth is it's surely okay to learn from mistakes, but not seems to be okay to just make mistakes. Besides, we do not only acquire lessons from our mistakes, but we can also learn even without committing them. Business errors can be so risky and destructive to the extent that you cannot already recover your lost business. Moreover, many business mistakes are only discovered when it's already too late to save your business. That is why it is very essential that an entrepreneur should always exercise prudence to commit these kinds of mistakes. You cannot charge all your mistakes to your experience. Experience is not only a room for all your mistakes; it is also a room for accurate experiences.

Best Marketing Tips For Business Marketers 2018

No matter how passionate someone may be about something, the end result will still meet with a major exchange and/or sacrifice. For the average Joe.. well, that might be a little hard to swallow but it makes scientific sense. Don't worry though, I won't get too crazy on you with algebraic formulas with glass beaks.. but for sure this science will make sense.

Let's start with this marketing tip... In order to receive you must give; now chances are when you are dealing with a business & want to make a strong investment into marketing tips & information, the exchange of money for information has to take place.

You know something, I once stepped into network marketing, very shy of the blind truth behind the industry that produces the most wealthiest 6 figure & 7 figure earners Ever! So what makes these marketing Guru's so wealthy in the network marketing industry? Well let's just stay tuned for the best marketing tips.

Marketing Tips That Have To Be Taken Into Serious Consideration

Now we can actually start narrowing down some marketing tips that will help you in the long journey to prosperity. Everyone has this theory of making money for free, I honestly have to agree with a few of them, because here is the deal.. The truth is freedom doesn't start until you are willing to invest into yourself.

When talking about investing into you, don't use a lot of short-cut terms.. think about some very broad connections with the right type of tools. If you are looking for proper leadership & that particular person calling themselves a "Marketing Coach" tells you that you don't need to make any type of purchases and/or invest into proper marketing tools.. you should run away very fast.

Here's some "I heard it all before" marketing tips that will awake your nerves a little bit, You have to spend money in order to make money & wait here's a good one.. You get out what you put in. Now let's elaborate on these moral marketing tips just a tiny bit ok.. you can't expect the best when you don't put in the best; See i told you it was only a tiny bit. Make sure you head over to the bank & put those marketing tips in a saving account forever because trust and believe they will always be needed for emergency purposes.

Marketing Tips Broken Down To A Science

I will break down the science behind the best marketing tips when it comes down to finding out what is necessary in regards to applying proper business marketing investments.. Alright so here it goes:

1). Always be prepared to make financial business investments- Remember my friend.. this is business, a business does not operate without the proper tools to produce revenue(money). So the truth behind the hype of not needing financial commodities for exchange of marketing tools is a Big fat lie. So make sure you have your head on straight when it comes to having the proper mindset for a business to properly establish itself.

Best Marketing Tips For Business Marketers 2018

2). Seek mind-set improvement material- I can't stress to you how important the asset of the mind is when it comes to becoming successful at anything you do in life. You have to be willing to invest into personal development material that will help you keep your mind sharp for progression. The reality behind it all is that you must experience failure in order to become successful, You can minimize your bad ways of thinking when troubled times arouse & convert those negative thoughts into positive thoughts. Your mind & your way of thinking will determine the type of results you produce externally from within yourself for your business.. and that's real.

3). Have a consistent motive with no excuses- So listen my friend... here's the bigger picture of the marketing tips: Do what it takes to make it happen without making excuses about things not happening in you business. Be willing to invest the time when it comes down to your market & business venture. Another reality is that you won't put in the time to see the results that you dream of if you are not passionate about your investment.

Six Sigma Jobs

The demand for people with Six Sigma expertise is constantly increasing. More and more organizations are discovering the many ways that the Six Sigma methodology can help them grow and improve. As the methodology spreads to many different industries beyond its genesis in manufacturing, you can now find many service and government organizations advertising for Six Sigma help. Plus, it is no longer the largest corporations looking for Six Sigma help. Smaller companies also are taking on the projects and hiring people as consultants or permanent staff. The need for full-time Six Sigma professionals will only increase.

Types of Six Sigma Jobs

There are many Six Sigma jobs in many industries at junior and senior levels. The positions have descriptions and requirements unique to that organization and its requirements. It is true that many positions are filled internally as organizations train their own people already familiar with the organization's culture in Six Sigma skills. However, organizations frequently reach outside to add personnel with Six Sigma expertise to lead projects or even the full-scale implementation of Six Sigma throughout the organization. These positions are usually dedicated full-time to Six Sigma projects.

Six Sigma jobs are advertised under many titles, not always as obvious as "Six Sigma Black Belt," "Six Sigma Consultant," or "Six Sigma Analyst." Other possible titles include things like "Functional Project Lead" "Six Sigma Program Manager," "Lead Analyst/Project Manager," "Director of Operational Excellence," "Business Process Manager," or "Senior Projects Manager." Whatever the exact title, the organization is looking for someone with the skills of a Six Sigma Black Belt. A Black Belt is an individual trained in the Six Sigma methodology and experienced leading cross-functional process improvement teams. They will lead individual Six Sigma projects.

Six Sigma Jobs

Very senior Six Sigma positions are sometimes advertised. These are Master Black Belts, individuals trained in the Six Sigma methodology who acts as the organization-wide Six Sigma program manager. They will lead Six Sigma implementation at the organization and will oversee Black Belts and process improvement projects and provides guidance to Black Belts as required. Master Black Belt positions understandably demand the highest level of Six Sigma experience and qualifications.

Qualifying for Six Sigma Jobs

To be considered for a Six Sigma job, you need a combination of relevant academic and work experience. The first and foremost qualification is to be trained in Six Sigma, ideally as a certified Six Sigma Black Belt. This means formal training from qualified Six Sigma consultants who have extensive experience in training and implementation of Six Sigma. Specific training in Six Sigma DMAIC and/or DFSS methodology is often requested. The best teacher is, of course, experience and organizations will strongly prefer, if not insist, on people who have completed at least one Six Sigma project.

In addition to possessing Six Sigma training and project experience, organizations will ask that you have experience working in the industry of the organization's business. So if the company is a manufacturer, they will usually want you to have direct experience in a manufacturing environment. Organizations will ask that you have a certain minimum period of experience (often five years) in that particular industry.

Management experience is a huge plus and will almost certainly be a requirement for a Six Sigma project team leader. Having on your resume proven project management success within a structured environment and being able to demonstrate good managerial skills will take you a long way. That's because leading and facilitating Black Belts, Green Belts, and business teams through a Six Sigma project is often the role organizations are seeking to fill.

There are also essential personal skills. You need to be able to demonstrate a good understanding of processes and quality methodologies and a willingness to take an initiative and lead change. Another crucial skill is the ability to link strategy to execution. The aptitude to look beyond the surface and be creative to think conceptually about strategic business issues and develop creative but practical solutions is key.

Defining the Six Sigma Infrastructure

Any major change initiative requires a clearly defined supporting infrastructure to drive the program. Infrastructure is defined as the underlying foundation and basic framework of personnel and supporting systems needed to support Six Sigma deployment activities. Because every part of a company participates in Six Sigma activities, the infrastructure must be clear, consistent, and comprehensive.

An effective infrastructure facilitates the development of the core competency that will establish and link Six Sigma project teams to (1) projects, (2) financial targets, and (3) the strategic plan. These project teams will be multifunctional and will need multi-functional support to execute the projects.

If Six Sigma has any chance of being successful, the infrastructure will span from the CEO and his leadership team to business leaders and to people executing the projects. Remember we learned earlier that one of Kotter's eight stages of leader change is "Create a Guiding Coalition." Thus, there is the goal of the Six Sigma infrastructure.

The infrastructure creates a strong network among the Executive Team, the Six Sigma Champions, the Belts, and the functions and businesses. This makes sense because the CEO's leadership team holds the accountability for executing the corporate strategic plan, and Six Sigma projects are instrumental in moving along the strategic plan.

One learning challenge of a Six Sigma deployment involves training the Six Sigma project teams. The human resources on these teams must learn how to work as a Six Sigma team. A new roadmap and a new set of tools, plus a more distinct focus on project accountability, add to the changes confronted by an organization when creating a Six Sigma environment.

Equally more important and complex is the learning challenge of the senior executives. Teaching the leadership team to learn how to lead a team-based organization is essential to strategic and long-term success. Because executing the strategy is a clear responsibility to which the senior executives are accountable, it follows that becoming a dynamic team leader within the Six Sigma deployment will support the strategic efforts.

Executing a good strategic plan entails the coordination of multifunctional internal activities. Senior executives must learn to deal with a multifunctional arena rather than the traditional functions. Hundreds of Six Sigma teams launched simultaneously is the outcome of an exemplary deployment of Six Sigma. Each of these teams need at minimum

1. Clear purpose for the Six Sigma team structure.

2. Clear Six Sigma program expectations.

3. Six Sigma project charters.

4. Six Sigma infrastructure tracking the number of teams.

5. Centralized repository for project results.

6. Six Sigma team goals.

7. Six Sigma team reporting mechanism.

8. Rewards and recognition alignment.

9. Six Sigma training and development plan.

10. Six Sigma team performance measures.

11. Deployment management of Six Sigma teams.

To accomplish all of the preceding requirements demands an extensive infrastructure with supporting systems. Preexisting resources are largely used to staff this infrastructure. Deploying a Six Sigma program, however, does not assume a requirement to add outside resources in a lot of new positions. The additional costs will usually have to do with the external consulting group you hire.

Defining the Six Sigma Infrastructure

For example, the only resource that Larry Bossidy added when he launched Six Sigma into Allied Signal was a corporate program leader. Larry brought in Richard Schroeder from ABB to drive the program. All the other resources for AlliedSignal's Six Sigma program already existed within the company. A small number of additional resources were added by the businesses as needed.

Because accountability represents the hallmark of successful Six Sigma deployments, defining the Six Sigma infrastructure and staffing and training the infrastructure players should happen very early in the Six Sigma deployment. Training is essential since, as Larry Bossidy has advised in his book, Confronting Reality, you must "Learn the guts of the initiative." He also adds that key members of the leadership team should learn the guts of the initiative. Early leadership training becomes a natural part of Six Sigma deployments to allow the program leaders to learn the guts of Six Sigma before the program gets too far along.

Defining the Six Sigma infrastructure is a little tricky. There should be a small centralized unit to ensure consistency and cost effectiveness of Six Sigma activities across the businesses and functions. There should also be a decentralized process that allows each business and function to tailor the Six Sigma deployment to its special needs. There is a big difference in deploying Six Sigma into the Human Resources function when compared to deploying into product development and R&D. So, our recommended infrastructure has both centralized and decentralized elements in it.

Six Sigma Careers - Setting Up the Organization For Success

One reason for the growth in popularity of the Six Sigma methodology is its evolution into a process that finds use in a number of different industries, from services to government organizations.

All of these niches require the use of Six Sigma professionals in order to implement the process so that it achieves its fullest potential.

Organizations both large and small have begun to implement Six Sigma, and as a result, there are more and more open positions for trained Six Sigma professionals as permanent employees or consultants.

Six Sigma Training

The requirements of Six Sigma professionals will be unique, and are dependent on the organization that does the hiring. There are jobs at both junior and senior levels, with many organizations preferring to train their own Six Sigma professionals in house.

This helps when it comes to saving time in training employees in specific processes in house, but many organizations look at hiring externally when they need to implement a large scale Six Sigma program throughout the entire business.

Job Titles

As we said in the previous paragraph, the job titles needed as far as Six Sigma professionals will vary from one organization to another.

You may hear terms such as "Six Sigma consultant", "Six Sigma Analyst", "Six Sigma Black Belt", and so on. In addition, titles may vary according to degree; "Senior Project Manager", "Lead Analyst Projector", "Senior Projects Manager", "Director of Operational Excellence", "Business Process Manager", "Six Sigma Program Manager", and so on will all be floated around when it comes to hiring.

What they all refer to, basically, are the skills of a Six Sigma professional who has been certified as a Black Belt under the Six Sigma training program.

Six Sigma Careers - Setting Up the Organization For Success

These professionals must have training in the Six Sigma methodologies as well as experience in handling cross functional process involvement teams.

Senior Level Professionals

If you come across an advertisement looking for senior level Six Sigma jobs, you can bet that the business is looking for those who have been certified as Master Black Belts.

When hired, these Six Sigma professionals will oversee a corporation wide implementation of Six Sigma, usually in the capacity of program manager. Master Black Belts have been trained in the various Six Sigma methodologies.

They must provide guidance to the Black Belts throughout the process when required, and this position is usually filled by those with the highest levels of Six Sigma experience and qualifications.

Most organizations will prefer to hire people who have been certified as a Six Sigma Black Belt. The certification indicates that the professional has passed training held by competent Six Sigma consultants with relevant exposure to training and implementation of Six Sigma, with a focus on Six Sigma DMAIC and DFSS methodology.

While some companies may not insist on candidates who have completed at least one Six Sigma project, experience is usually an asset.

Experience Counts

Another common expectation when it comes to companies who hire Six Sigma professionals is that those professionals have experience in a similar industry. As an example, a bank will prefer to hire a professional who has background within the financial sector.

Another big advantage for a Six Sigma professional is management experience as a large part of implementation includes contact with people and organizational abilities.

Organizations love to hire professionals who they know have the experience required when it comes to facilitating efforts between Green Belts, business teams, and Black Belts throughout the projects.

In addition to a deep understanding of business process and business methodologies, successful candidates must also demonstrate creative skills and an ability to take initiative.


Written By: Umair

Business Process Management and Six Sigma: Why Neither Can Stand Alone

What is Business Process Management (BPM)?

BPM is a comprehensive methodology that helps design and maintains all aspects of an organization with the sole purpose of meeting and/or exceeding their customer's wants and needs both effectively and efficiently. BPM attempts to continuously improve the business processes either in incremental steps or with radical changes. One way or the other, such ambitious endeavors requires equipping BPM practitioners with powerful computerized tools and an overarching infrastructure to enable a wide range of problem solving solutions. BPM tools can be classified in four groups:

(a) Strategy - utilizing tools like environmental influence and goal models, problem and opportunities models;

(b) Analysis - using tools like business interaction models, organization and communication models, and process simulation;

(c) Design - workflow and process models, use case and event models; (d) Implementation / Execution - creating sequence and operation models, business classes and system models.

BPM is a combination of these tools (and some more) helping the business to document, understand, measure and improve their business processes. BPM help to create well documented and streamlined processes, which are essential to ensure consistency, traceability and focus towards shared strategy and performance goals.

What is Lean Six Sigma (SS)?

Six Sigma (or its newer offspring Lean Six Sigma, LSS) is also a comprehensive and highly disciplined methodology that helps us focus on developing and delivering near-perfect products and services, by analyzing the underlying business processes and preventing and / or removing defects before reaching the customer. LSS also is a wide range tool set that is used under organized the following "problem- solving" cuasi sequential steps:

(a) Define -some of the deliverables in this step are project charters, CTQs, house of quality, Kano models;

(b) Measure - statistical descriptive and graphical tools, process and value stream mapping, capability analysis, data gathering tools;

(c) Analyze -statistical analysis tools, brainstorming, Pugh matrices, House of Quality (QFD),FMEA, Muda;

(d) Improve - Pugh matrices, mistake proofing, 5S, design of experiments; (e) Control - Process Control plans and Statistical Process Control (SPC).

Given the different origins, skill sets and backgrounds of a "typical" BPM and "typical" Lean Six Sigma practitioner, there are some deployment facts working against both methodologies:

1. Lack of knowledge of each other: Most BPM teams and BPM Software Companies know very little about Lean Six Sigma and vice versa. BPM traditionally has been used and deployed as an information technology effort. LSS has been viewed as an operational tool for manufacturing and / or back office processes, not software development.

2. BPM is almost all the time accompanied by an enterprise-wide software tool, and requires a software vendor on a periodical basis for training, new releases, technical support, etc.

3. BPM is usually deployed as a technology management direction or from higher up management levels. 4. Six Sigma and Lean have been for the most part manufacturing efforts; and most recently operations management directives. As a foot note, some of the most successful Six Sigma deployments were executive management mandates (Motorola, Allied, Bank of America, to mention a few).

5. Six Sigma tools do not have a large technology foot print, with software requirements mostly at some of the organization's desktops. Its deployment is typically driven at the beginning by consulting organizations and then passes to internal resources (a Program Office is a typical modus operandi).

6. Neither BPM nor Lean Six Sigma specialist is traditional a Change and Integration Management expert or trained specialist. This knowledge vacuum causes hiccups in the deployment and acceptance of either methodology by the stakeholders.

7. Neither BPM nor Six Sigma have an integrated data collection tool, creating always a delay in data gathering which hampers a quick deployment and execution. Both rely on a third party layer to perform data gathering and data readying for analysis.

Business Process Management and Six Sigma: Why Neither Can Stand Alone

What does BPM lack?

BPM tools are very effective in creating business interactions and communications models, mapping processes and workflows, as well as capturing key metrics and resources relevant to those processes. However, many BPM teams struggle to understand which processes are the top priority for the business and which defects are the most critical to solve for any given process. BPM lacks of quantitative ranking methods and statistical tools to prove significance. Teams sometimes use a series of "hunches" and past experiences to decide how prioritize design and implementation strategies for new or improved processes. LSS has much to offer BPM teams in this area - through tools like Failure Mode Effect Analysis (FMEA), risk prioritization index and Value Stream Mapping (VSM). So, conceptually, BPM and LSS should be a great fit.

BPM is also a thin methodology to monitor the sustainability of any process change after implementation of such changes. Once process changes have been deployed, a project is closed and the consultant systems analyst goes home, or starts a new project. Tools like statistical process control and non-existent in the BPM tool set, leaving the operational leadership with (maybe) a wealth of reports, at best real-time. LSS offers via SPC, a wealth of proven and robust tools specifically tailored to particular quantitative variables; designed to monitor stability, trending and within control operational status.

BPM tools allows for storage of key data and key metrics for the different artifacts that are created and used in a project. However, does not allow for a strong statistical analysis of the data. As a matter of fact, most of the BPM data stores are for simple figures (like an average), curtailing itself for a more accurate data analysis, like hypothesis testing or a regression model to forecast future process performance. And the few software tools equipped with discrete or Monte Carlo simulators are rarely deployed.

What does Six Sigma lack?

By definition and key to its success, LSS tackles specific defects in a specific set of operations within a specific business process. This approach is very effective in eliminating defects. However, in general LSS lacks of a wealth of enterprise-wide view of the organization strategy, objective and goals, its actors and the organization surroundings. This is an area where BPM has a very strong showing. So, conceptually, BPM and LSS should be a great fit.

Lean Six Sigma also falls short when tries to incorporate tools for computer automation and information technology designs (both vital is most of our business processes with high integration and automation). BPM lends a helpful hand with use cases, event modeling, business class models, subtype and package models. Conceptually, again BPM and LSS should be a great fit.

It becomes very apparent that Six Sigma Lean and Business Process Management (BPM) neither can stand alone. Organizations that master the integration of both will have a higher rate of financial success when designing and implementing process to take any organization for a closer level of customer satisfaction and global competition.

What both methodologies lack?

BPM or LSS do not consider Change nor Integration Management or any of its derivatives when communicating changes to their stakeholders and much less to their customers. These important aspects of buying into the changes and managing smooth transitions and changes are not considered at all in any project plan, or are left to the assumed knowledge of the project manager.

The last section of this paper will present actionable tips to both BPM and Six Sigma practitioners to counter any natural resistance to change that will typically emerge from any organization when facing changes.

Core Reasons why companies don't want to implement BPM

In our experience these are the top reasons as of why there is no need for a formal BPM approach to process problem solving:

1. We have so much low hanging fruit that we know already what to do and where to start, we don't need a Business Process Architecture
2. Mapping out Processes slow things down, and is really over engineering our processes
3. We need savings now and don't have time to map out all of our processes
4. Why don't we just work on Process Control?
5. We don't know how to do Process Owners but we know how to improve processes, we've improved them before, and we can do it again.

If you are a Six Sigma Lean Resource and want a rapid tip to overcome BPM Resistance

One can help frame Six Sigma DMAIC project or initiatives in the larger organization strategy context by quickly leveraging BPM's communication models, opportunity models, business interaction models, etc. as part of the analysis phase of DMAIC.

BPM tools with the appropriate team of analysts and subject matter experts can create process maps and workflows in working sessions on average under one day of duration.

Business Interaction Models show more strategic views than the conventional process model utilized in LSS.

Opportunity models are a powerful tool to quickly establish and detect any missing component or gaps in the deployment of multiple DMAIV projects.

At Metaspire, we develop current and future Business Interaction Models (BIMs) to scope the work for the current organization leading to the future BIM indicating how the various elements of the organization would interact in the future. Without these BIMs, we have seen duplication of efforts and the change one department was hoping for, quickly becomes undone by another department or conflicting priorities or initiatives.

Core Reasons why companies don't want to implement Lean SS

During our consulting activities some of the reasons as of why there is no need for a LSS implementation:

1. Didn't Six Sigma bring down Motorola and became non-competitive - too cumbersome
2. Six Sigma has little to offer and the tools and methods can be found elsewhere
3. Six Sigma stifles creativity and innovation
4. It's too expensive and too slow to implement
5. Too much specialized training and high maintenance of the six sigma group
6. Sounds to me like it would introduce too much bureaucracy
7. I don't understand why I need it in the first place

If you are a Process Improvement Resource and want a rapid tip to overcome Lean SS Resistance

Motorola's Six Sigma methodology has now reached what internally is called Second Generation Motorola Six Sigma, with a process for governance, moving the tool from counting defects in manufacturing processes to an overall business improvement methodology, and in 2006 started Motorola Lean transformation and Software Design for Six Sigma. Thereby integrating Six Sigma tools with Business Process Management mindset.

It is true that Six Sigma have incorporated tools that have been useful in previous quality initiatives (nothing wrong with that). However, the older methods do not magnify the impact of defects using millions of opportunities as a measure of quality, nor move from the traditional three-sigma to our six-sigma as a goal of perfection. Under Six Sigma, defect and defectives counts provide tangible, measurable results that we can use. Rather than being too costly, Six Sigma detractors are very unaware or ignorant of the cost of poor quality (COPQ) in their organizations. They have no baseline, and therefore any number is a high figure. A well-documented fact is that average companies perform at a 3 to 3.5 sigma level, with a COPQ ranging between 24% - 40% of their sales. Companies performing at a 5 sigma level lower their COPQ between 5% - 10% of their sales.

Six Sigma consultants can bring the expertise for a quick proof of concept of LSS effectiveness within the organization. They will help to determine and prioritize any apparent low hanging fruits.

Six Sigma is a business process improvement methodology, and unless deployed within a BPM architecture, has a hard time supporting strategic decision making. We can have a near perfection, defect free process producing Chocolate Cupcakes, and still the company will go down as the horse Chocolate Cupcakes market vanishes (God Forbid!).

Best approaches to LSS deployment happens when the operations staff -project managers, supervisors, managers, directors are the six sigma practitioners. They continue to perform their traditional job related functions, but now they have a quantitative and statistical thinking and they decisions are supported with data facts.

Often times, companies have a multitude of disparate measures and metrics. The Lean SS tool "House of Quality", helps companies focus on identifying customer requirements, where improvement is needed to meet or leapfrog competition, and strategies for making those improvements. As a result of this exercise core customer process measures and metrics are identified and can be re-weighted with a higher significance or introduced to the company.

Why use Six Sigma at all? Most companies gather data and perform statistical analysis and forecasting of some sort, why not use statistically significant tools from Six Sigma to outperform your competitors? Six Sigma tools answer questions like: How do I know that I am measuring the right thing? How do I know that we are satisfying Customers and Shareholders? How can I measure and report the right processes? How do I stop defects before they occur? Six Sigma offers 10-12 tools where you can pick the right tools for the right question.