Insights For Your Business
Things are going well in your business (or on your team) and some of these questions begin flooding your head: Should I hire someone? Where […]
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Breakthrough 4-Step Marketing Plan
If sales is the lifeblood of every company, then marketing is the heart that keeps a steady flow going so that we don’t run out. Unfortunately, many small business owners discredit the value of marketing and see it as either an unnecessary expense or something for the bigger guys. This couldn’t be further from the truth, and this short-sightedness could certainly be a key contributing factor explaining why 50% of all businesses fail within their first 5 years. Fortunately, we have a simple approach to marketing to meet any company’s budget, no matter the size…
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The Survey Says
Now more than ever, small business owners rely on information to make sound business decisions. Whether trying to determine the market potential of a new product or service, or to gain a better understanding of needs within their target market, this information is not only nice to have, but essential for small business success. While there are many ways to obtain this valuable information, surveys remain a leading method due to their convenience and relatively low cost. However, business owners must also be aware of the short comings when considering conducting surveys and interpreting the results. Case Study In an effort to teach students a real-world example of the scientific method and probabilities, we conducted a brief study on Facebook where we simply stated our hypothesis, that >10% of the population owns a small business. We then asked my network of over 600 individuals, “Do you currently own a […]
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That’s Not What I Ordered
Remember the first time you went to that new restaurant down the block and it was SO GOOD! It was so good, you just had to take your friend there, but then… it wasn’t as good. Something was different. While this might make your dinner experience less than it could be, it (usually) won’t hurt you. In some industries, however, this amount of variation is unacceptable, because it could be deadly. Consider an airplane manufacturer. The processes they use to manufacture must be designed with the highest standards in mind and the tightest tolerances. A mistake on your plate at dinner is annoying. A mistake on your engine 32,000 feet in the air is lethal. So, we need a way to anticipate and test for issues in our processes and products to a specific, quantifiable standard. Processes in Review When discussing process design a few weeks ago, we examined the IPO […]
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Marketing is the beginning of the process that turns a stranger into a customer. This process includes conducting client and market research, aligning strategies with organizational goals, and ongoing content creation. BIG pursues an integrated marketing approach that seeks to quantifiably tie marketing efforts to your firm's end game.
Sales exist both downstream of marketing and within its own functional area. When working with marketing, sales takes the leads provided - along with the brand perceptions marketing has created - and attempts to convert them. Working independent of marketing, sales performs its own prospecting, seeking to identify and convert leads through separate channels. BIG works to maximize the ROI of both approaches by creating a structured process of planting, nurturing, and harvesting leads.
Once sales and marketing bring customers in the door, you must deliver a timely product or service of the quality expected within budget. With so many different variables influencing these three final factors, all businesses can benefit from having a Six Sigma Master Black Belt review their processes and operations to ensure they are performing at optimum efficiency
Big Data touches every aspect of business today. And with business' ability to capture and store even more data on even more subjects, the need for timely and accurate insights will only rise with the number of zettabytes of data stored. BIG unites descriptive and prescriptive analytics with forecasting to help your organization arrive at the best decisions.