That’s when your boss says, “Process? Did I say ‘process’? I meant processezzz! Plural!”  And before you can blurt out, “What do you mean?”, the boss says you need to develop procedures for all accounting processes, not just the one.  Oh, and he wants them by the end of the month!

A weak “Sure, boss…” escapes from your lips as “el jefe” turns and leaves, but an instant later, you’re thinking, “No way!”  You can’t possibly get all your accounting processes documented that quickly!  Or can you?

Break Down the Documentation Process into Its Component Parts

Start by mapping out the business process you need to document.  The process map acts as an outline for your procedure writing: you have to know the steps in the process that need documenting before you start writing.  With process maps in hand — one for each business process — you’re ready to start writing procedures.  Here’s where using pre-written procedures can save you time.

How You Can Use a Pre-Written Procedure to Save Time

If you’re looking for sample accounting procedures for your accounting processes, the Bizmanualz CFO Accounting Policies-Procedures Manuals set contains many sample accounting procedures you can use as starting points.  The CFO bundle contains 239 prewritten accounting procedure templates and 373 accounting forms, organized into five functional areas, or business manuals.  The CFO set covers the ten core accounting cycles.

Once the manuals arrive, the next step is “find an example procedure – a model for the one you need to write”.  All Bizmanualz procedures are in Microsoft Word format and can be easily tailored to fit your specific business process.  Let’s say you’re writing a procedure for vendor acquisition, or the “new vendor” process.  Where would you start?

The vendor process map you wrote shows eight steps:

1. Evaluate business requirements;
2. Identify qualified vendors;
3. Interview, Inspect and test vendor;
4. Review results and approve vendor;
5. Order from vendors;
6. Log orders and delivery performance;
7. Review performance against specifications; and
8. Vendor-related corrective and preventive actions.

Accounting Manual Index

The Accounting Policies, Procedures, and Forms manual contains a Vendor Selection procedure that you can customize.  How do you find it?  In the back of the manual, you’ll find the “Index”.  Search the index for your keyword, “vendor”.  (You could also look through the table of contents in the front of the manual.)  You find the Vendor Selection procedure, containing three steps, or activities (Vendor Selection, Vendor Inspection, and Vendor Files), in the “Purchasing” section.

Your process consists of eight activities, so you expand the prewritten procedure, adding the other five steps, or otherwise modify the Bizmanualz procedure to reflect your actual situation.  Add your process map (a handy visual aid) to the front of the procedure, and you’re done!

Writing a new procedure can take between 4 and 40 hours, depending on the complexity of the process you’re documenting and whether forms are required.  The complexity of a process, as well as your level of expertise in that subject, determines the amount of research — into standards, laws or regulations, references, and the like — you need to do.  Forms also require time and effort to research and produce, assuming you don’t already have them.  The Bizmanualz Vendor Selection procedure contains six pages of forms, including a detailed vendor inspection checklist.  Many Bizmanualz procedures also include a “References” section, which can help you as you research certain topics.

Let’s say this is a 40-hour procedure to create, with forms.  If you use the Bizmanualz procedure, with minor modifications you could have the same procedure ready in less than a day, saving yourself a great deal of time (and your eyes, a lot of wear).  Using a single procedure, saving 38 hours of time off the 40 you planned on, practically pays for the entire five-manual CFO series.

And you’re going to find more than one procedure you can adapt to your business requirements.  Most companies find dozens of useful procedures, which translates to hundreds of hours of time saved, before you factor in the opportunity cost of waiting for the procedures to be completed.

So, the next time you need to write procedures fast, take a look at the complete collection of Bizmanualz business policies and procedures.  Get your procedures project done now…before the end-of-month deadline your boss gave you.

St. Louis, MO (April 24, 2009) - Bizmanualz, Inc., a business strategy consulting and quality publishing company based in Clayton, Missouri, today announced the successful certification to ISO 9001:2008 for the design, development, realization, and delivery of its policy and procedure publications, training courses, and consulting services.  The certification demonstrates the Bizmanualz commitment to continually improve its ability to assist business owners achieve the growth they envision. 

“We developed a Lean visual management approach to implementing our Quality Management System (QMS) to dispel the notion that an ISO system requires a lot of paperwork,” explained Chris Anderson, Bizmanualz, Inc., Managing Director. “Now we can show clients the benefits of a working ISO-compliant quality system using Lean visual techniques to streamline the operations, focus employees on the objectives, and reduce wasted efforts.”

Bizmanualz ISO 9001:2008 Registration

Bizmanualz received its ISO 9001:2008 certification on April 10,2009, from Platinum Registration.  Auditor Colin Gray noted particular areas of excellence, including Bizmanualz customer feedback, corrective action, and internal communication methods, which involve morning staff meetings around the company’s “scoreboard” — a bulletin board listing the company’s main processes, projects, action items, and metrics.  Mr. Gray also praised the Bizmanualz Internal Audit process, saying in his report that the company’s internal audits are “thorough, effective, and meaningful.”

Kaizens/Corrective Actions are posted on the Bizmanualz "Kaizen Wall"

With the new lean implementation, Dan Davison, Vice President of Sales and Marketing has noticed a difference, saying, “clients are seeing tighter project definition, project management, status reports, and budget forecasts by job for the coming weeks. Tracking tasks posted on the wall increase our communication’s effectiveness.”

ISO 9001:2008 is an internationally recognized QMS standard, which ISO Secretary General Rob Steele said has “an estimated one million users worldwide.”  Certification is obtained through independent registrars that audit every aspect of a company’s QMS.  Lean is a quality system approach that seeks improvement through the elimination of waste, a focus on the customer, and systems of visual management.

Bizmanualz has been at the forefront of deploying business best practices since 1995, delivering Policies and Procedures publications, Lean ISO Quality Management Systems, and strategic marketing implementation services to help business owners achieve growth and expansion.

Bizmanualz Policies and Procedures publications are available through Amazon.com, calling Bizmanualz at 800-466-9953 (outside the USA, 314-863-5079), faxing your request to 314-863-6571, e-mailing sales@Bizmanualz.com, or by logging onto store.bizmanualz.com.  Bizmanualz® is a registered trademark of Bizmanualz, Inc.

At Bizmanualz, we see a lot of business owners who confuse their own perception of their value with that of their customers. Frankly, it doesn’t matter what you think of your product or service if your customers’ don’t see it that way.

Creating a Value Strategy for a New MarketAdvanced Tooling Solutions, a Boeing spin-out, had already fabricated and tested a prototype tool that would save automobile manufacturers time and money. But the team was unsure about how to sell into the automobile industry.

Dan, now VP of sales and marketing for Bizmanualz, met with ATS to work on the company’s value proposition—the selling story that describes what value the company is providing its customer. Dan documented the team’s assumptions about the economic challenges of automotive suppliers, thus gauging their presumptions about the problems the new technology would address.

Dan and the team then took the draft value proposition to the automotive manufacturers and suppliers to test the value story’s validity. The team learned that issues varied depending on the position of who they talked to—manufacturers, suppliers, engineers, or marketing executives.

After speaking with the manufacturers, the ATS team realized they needed to aim their story-selling efforts at the suppliers instead. Generally, the automobile manufacturers buy parts, not tools that fabricate parts. The new tool would have to be proven in suppliers’ production lines.

Tell Your Value Story with Specific Customers in Mind

Having gained concrete market intelligence through the process of value proposition testing, Dan and the team could justify shifting the focus of the value story from manufacturers to parts suppliers.

Dan and the ATS team worked with suppliers and were able to test the new technology on actual supplier lines. Discussing the selling story with suppliers, they learned that by saving them time and money, they could differentiate their product in the highly competitive automotive component business. So the team adjusted their selling strategy to stress those cost and flexibility advantages in their selling story.

“We got into this as a technical team,” ATS team leader William Smith said. “Not having made lots of sales calls, we did not understand the selling process. We did not understand what we needed at each step in the sale.”

But as Dan and the team jointly engaged parts makers and automotive executives in discussions around their particular economic situation, the team gained the insight to tailor its sales approach. The focus shifted to be most relevant depending on the perspective of the particular customer.

“Our early pitches had too much information, too many details. And it was confusing for our audience. [Dan] helped us be clear, simplifying on key messages for the audience at hand,” Smith said. “It’s not just about feeling good about a meeting and agreeing to meet again. It’s about actually getting something out of the meeting.”

New Selling Story, New Strategic Growth BusinessNow focused on providing cost and time advantages for leading automotive component suppliers, Advanced Tooling Solutions offered suppliers an opportunity to invest plant time and expertise in a test of the new tooling. Two accepted. The tests helped the tools become qualified for production-rate manufacturing.
The team gained valuable experience on live parts manufacturing lines that will validate the method for rate production and further refine the team’s sales and marketing focus.

If your company is having difficulty entering into a new market, or if you are unsure about the perspective of your customer, creating and testing a value proposition is essential.

For more information about how Bizmanualz can help you create and test a relevant and customer-focused value story, contact us or visit our Value Proposition web page.

“After working with Bizmanualz, our consistency increased, we cut waste, and we saved money.”
Michael J. Brooks, Ardent CEO

Process Changes for Increased Production

Bizmanualz has seen positive results from many of these process change cases. Steve Mundwiller, operational improvement consultant at Bizmanualz, said he normally expects to double the level of consistency and/or organization improvement at most of the companies he helps. And he did just that last year here in Missouri.

Ardent Outdoors was successfully developing high-end spinning and casting reels and accessories built with quality and American craftsmanship.

In 2007, Ardent President and CEO Michael Brooks and his staff planned for an increase in sales, and to expand their number of products and number of employees. But they realized that any additional growth in production would require some kind of organization improvement.

Because each of the company’s reels is handmade—a value unique in the industry that Brooks did not want to compromise—rates of inconsistency among products could be high. For example, the methods used to assemble the products ranged from person to person. The engineer had one method in mind when designing them, but that was not communicated to the Plant Manager or to those actually involved with assembly. And depending on the tools and background of the employee, even those assembling the same product could do so differently.

Ardent approached Bizmanualz to help plot a strategy for product growth and increased consistency.

“For me, consistency is quality,” Brooks said.

If Brooks intended to create production growth and maintain that quality, Ardent needed to focus their efforts on quality management to increase consistency.

Steve assessed the company’s areas for organization improvement and created a game plan to address the problems. He estimated that the cumulative consistency of all production—assembly, testing, design, supplies, etc.—was only 30 percent. The goal was to increase that cumulative level to at least 50 percent.

Steve established three organization improvement areas that would dramatically increase consistency: assembly processing, document control and quality engineering.

He listed the action items in each area that would lead to overall consistency. For instance, to improve operations in assembly processing, Steve showed factory leadership how process changes—such as developing job aids, developing tooling and fixtures, improving the floor layout, labeling bins for defective parts, and relocating extra inventory –would improve Ardent’s bottom line and increase production capability.

And it did.

Quality Management for Increased Customer Quality

By merging engineering diagrams and work instructions and physically attaching them to each work station, employees knew the requirements for assembly and were able to train new hires in less time.

By giving each employee his own complete set of tools, employees spent less time looking for missing tools and assembled the products using the correct instruments.

By changing the layout of work stations, cross-traffic decreased, saving time.

By simply buying bins at a local hardware store and labeling them “Defective Materials,” employees had a process for discarding damaged supplies, and it decreased the risk that another employee would use those supplies.

By relocating excess inventory, the company had a dedicated space to test products and made room for additional work stations in the future.

All of these and several other small process changes led to big results. Steve estimated that organization improvement saved the company 30 work minutes per day, per employee, which translates to saving 130 man hours per year, per employee.

Results of Process Changes

Within three months, Steve led the team to more than double their cumulative consistency. And in 2008, Ardent’s production increased dramatically when Alton Jones used Ardent’s XS1000 bait casting reel to win the Bassmaster Classic. Even with the unexpected spike in sales, the company was able to maintain its production growth and consistency.

“With Steve’s help, we were able to handle the increase in production smoothly and effectively,” Brooks said. “After working with Bizmanualz, our consistency increased, we cut waste, and we saved money.”

Is your company’s leadership worried that taking on organization improvement projects will mean too much work and too much money? It doesn’t have to.

For more information on techniques Bizmanualz uses to improve company processes, or for details on a Gap Analysis that will assess your company’s improvement needs, call Bizmanualz at 314-863-5079 or contact us here.

That was the challenge that software consulting firm Brown Smith Wallace faced when it sought more buyers for its second annual online trade fair.

BSW knew that the weeks leading up to the show would be the prime time to get in front of buyers, and stay there, as that elusive 10 percent planned their vendor research. So, keeping in front of the industry with a lead-generation program would assure that buyers would get the message.

BSW wanted a story that would resonate with distribution software executives, one that would reflect the buyer’s state of mind during the research phase of their buying cycle, and yet be easy to understand. And they would need frequent and ongoing communications to keep in front of the industry.

So our approach was to gather BSW’s assumptions about how its buyers thought about software, test the assumptions by talking to BSW’s customers and prospects, and then tell a story reflecting our improved understanding.

Based on what we learned from interviews with BSW and their clients, we illustrated story that paralleled the buyer’s journey, metaphorically speaking. We kept the writing simple, with an emphasis on key words that customers said searched for.

We sent e-mails frequently, especially in the weeks leading up to the show. Colorful icons and illustrations engaged visitors to the site. We further enticed them to sign up for the show with a free, full-page illustration of the buyer’s journey to a new solution.

As show day approached, sign-ups were up over the previous year. Leads increased and so did quality.

Attendees were more highly qualified and more closely fit the buyer’s profile than in the prior year. Advertisers at the show found they were engaged more seriously by attendees, increasing the value of the event to them.

Ram Jack has developed innovative ways to repair foundations and to stop or prevent structural damage.  Their plan for growth focused on creating distributorships that leverage their innovative products and techniques for construction and foundation repair. But, how could Ram Jack maintain its revenue growth?  Given such an excellent company with excellent products, an excellent staff, and an excellent reputation, they had potential for sales that was several times their current annual revenue. 

Ram Jack called Bizmanualz to help them standardize their operations with standard operating procedures that would allow them to realize their potential for growth.  Bizmanualz started by collecting and analyzing data about the distributorship operations. 

Success Can Mean Change

Chris Anderson, Managing Director of Bizmanualz, made an analogy to a high school track star.  “His is already the fastest guy in the school, so everything he does is working for him,” said Chris, “there is no need to change.“  Then the track star goes on to compete at the college level, and suddenly being the fastest isn’t so easy anymore.  “He needs to learn improved training regimens, race strategies and techniques, and other new habits.”  He is still a fast, top notch athlete, but he needs to make some important changes if he is going reach his full potential and compete at the next level.

It was clear that some of Ram Jack’s processes could be improved with documented policies, procedures, and metrics, but to what goal?  The first step was obtaining agreement on a clear vision and mission from the management leadership.  The next step was to document and communicate the vision and mission in ways that express a unified strategy that all departments and business segments could align their activities to.  Only then could policies and procedures be put in place that reinforced the vision, mission, and strategies on a routine basis in the daily operations. 

Making It at the Next Level

While Ram Jack was already a very successful and growing company, they faced a critical question.  At what level did they want to compete?  Ram Jack’s management made the important yet sometimes difficult decision that they were ready to embrace change to obtain substantial growth. 

After re-thinking their business model, strategy and their alignment between business sectors, Ram Jack developed a plan to improve the dealer channel with a new look, a new attitude, and a new approach.  This new realization brought with it the understanding that more changes were needed than documented procedures.  Some staff responsibilities shifted, new positions were created, and some new procedures were implemented to affect the change. 

The result: growth is continuing, but now there is a plan to realize their potential.  With an action plan in place, growth appears to be more manageable and employees are more confident.  The atmosphere has changed, not just because procedures were developed, but because the vision is clearer to everyone.

Ram Jack is well on their way to reaching important milestones in their distributorship, and they are now starting to focus on strategies and alignment within their manufacturing operations.  The next question is how to produce more products more effectively and more efficiently using lean manufacturing.

How quickly are you reaching your goals?  Sometimes it can take an objective and expert third party to help you challenge your assumptions and assist you in reevaluating your mission and strategy, just like a good college coach can help the high school athlete take his or her skills to the next level.  Bizmanualz can help you to focus on doing the right things right.

To learn more about using process improvement programs for your organization, attend the next Implementing Lean Thinking  or How to Align a System of People and Processes for Results class.  If you are eager to learn more about creating more order out of the chaos you are feeling at work, then the How to Create Well-Defined Processes class is right for you.

CTMT is one of the nation’s most successful real estate and facility management companies, but their responsibilities at a data center facility for a prominent finance company in St. Louis exceeded the usual management company’s duties.  For this important client, CTMT had to meet very strict requirements in order to prevent power outages and mechanical failures, as well as reduce human error. 

Power loss at any data center is a critical risk.  A loss of processing ability and a loss of information are simply unacceptable.  As facility managers of the data center, the task of ensuring that the data center did not lose power or mechanical systems fell to the CTMT Data Facilities Team led by Senior Manager John Scheer and Data Center Manager Chris Wanger.  How could they improve on a system that was already very effective?  They didn’t want to wait for a system failure to learn where they were vulnerable.  

Designing an Internal Control System to Meet Their Needs

The facility managers at the site determined that one of the best options for maintaining control of such a critical area is to institute a Quality Management System like that specified by ISO 9000.  Instituting a Quality Management System would help them assure that they were assessing risks and addressing the critical areas needed to reach their goals and satisfy their customer.

CTMT called on Bizmanualz to help them evaluate their current internal control systems and to plot a course for implementing a Quality Management System.  They needed a system that fit their particular needs and that would lead them toward ISO 9000 Certification.  CTMT began their journey in early June 2006, and by early that December they had become only the second data center facility in the U. S. to achieve ISO 9000 Certification.

“While they were meeting their goals, putting an ISO 9000 Quality Management System in place raised their level of confidence significantly” said Steve Mundwiller, the Lead Project Consultant from Bizmanualz.  “They are more in control and more prepared, and therefore more capable of fulfilling their responsibility.”

ISO Certification is More Than a Piece of Paper

Some important benefits of being ISO 9000 Certified for CTMT related to their system of standardized procedures and document control.  Frequency and consistency of preventative maintenance activities, for example, were more controlled and documented.  Plus, documents that described the corrective actions taken to address equipment problems became a valuable resource for ongoing repair and maintenance activities.  The required routine testing and checking of the power system and its back-ups were now well-documented as well, so critical activities were not just left to the initiative of individual employees.   A well-documented training program ensured that team members were aware of, and used, procedures and forms.

Another important facet of implementing a Quality Management System was the control CTMT gained over their materials.  Incoming inspection and testing procedures, along with proper storage mechanisms, played an important role in separating known-good or conforming material from non-conforming or untested materials.  Now replacement parts could be installed quickly and efficiently without any concern about their effectiveness.

Company owners and managers that see ISO 9000 Certification as just a piece of paper to frame and hang on the wall are missing an opportunity to improve their business.  A quality management system can be more than a system of checks and controls, it can be a system of continual improvement that institutionalizes learning and propagates innovation.  CTMT used ISO 9000 Certification to not only feel more confident about being able to satisfy their customer now, they used it to ensure that they would only get better in the future. 

“Our new system is centered on continual improvement,” said Chris Wanger.  “Our old system provided operating procedures and training manuals, but the ISO system is structured in a way that grows with the business and continually improves.”  Chris explains that CTMT had the right idea by documenting procedures, but without the level of control built into the ISO system they were outdated and ineffective in a matter of months.  Following the ISO system ensures that does not happen.

Now, with the continuing assistance of Bizmanualz, CTMT is proceeding with ISO 9000 Certification at its sister Data Center facility in Tempe, Arizona.   Do you feel in control of your internal processes?  Do you have systems in place to make the most of your resources?  Do you want your business to be in that same place in five years that it is now?  If the answer to any or all of the above questions is “no”, then answer the most important question of all.  What are you going to do to be better? 

To learn more about using process improvement programs for your organization, attend the next Implementing Lean Thinking  or How to Align a System of People and Processes for Results class.  If you are eager to learn more about creating more order out of the chaos you are feeling at work, then the How to Create Well-Defined Processes class is right for you. 

ISO 9000 Quality Auditor classes are forming now for Internal Auditor or Lead Auditor.  Call for information on having your own private in-house classes today.

Precoat Metals is a leading provider of metal coating services, and much of their production process is geared around painting large coils of raw steel or aluminum. The pre-painted coils will later be stamped or cut into pieces and assembled into products by their customers.

Precoat Metals has always been focused on serving customer needs, but the demands of a rapidly changing market place were starting to put a strain on their manufacturing capabilities.

The problem was that, even though Precoat had a continuously running production line capable of changing coating types and colors on the fly, they were not able to conduct change-overs as fast as they wanted. The market place was demanding smaller orders, less inventory, and a broader variety of colors and coating types, which meant more frequent change-overs.

Tackling the Problem Head-On

Change-over speed was not an issue when customers wanted fewer color and metal choices, but the demand for smaller quantities of a wide product assortment was jeopardizing their ability to maintain their continuous line rate.

Chris Anderson (center) of Bizmanualz works with the Precoat Metals production staff

“When they learned the methods we used to analyze and improve their processes, they really took the ball and ran with it.”

Precoat could have avoided the change-over issue by queuing production orders until there could be longer runs of the same color, but that would have meant a longer turn-around time for orders. Avoiding the issue did not match their business philosophy of serving the customer. They turned to Bizmanualz for help.

Bizmanualz consultants began with an analysis of the current process. Data was collected on all the steps, equipment, and ancillary issues required for change-overs. The entire process was mapped and analyzed in order to find areas for improvement.

Waste and unnecessary actions were identified and eliminated, some steps were combined, and a control panel was moved. Then training and documentation ensured consistency among different operators. Average change-over times decreased from about 13 minutes to about 5 minutes.

Lean Thinking Can Improve Your Business

“We changed more than just a process step in their production line,” said Chris Anderson, managing director of Bizmanualz and leader of the consultation task. “When they learned the methods we used to analyze and improve their processes, they really took the ball and ran with it. They are using this approach to improve how they do things all over their facility.”

A philosophy of improving processes and lean thinking is not just about the factory floor, it can improve operations throughout your business. Sales and Marketing, Human Resources, Quality Assurance, Customer Service, Accounting, and Finance operations can all become more effective and consistent using a lean, continually improving process approach. Plus, processes from different business segments can be aligned to create a more efficient business operation.

Why wait until market conditions force to you address waste? Taking control of your business processes means releasing existing but unutilized capacity, which then leads to increased profitability, motivated employees, and improved customer satisfaction. Innovation in products is very important, but innovation in your processes can help make you a strong competitor in the long run.

To learn more about using process improvement programs for your organization, attend the next Implementing Lean Thinking or How to Align a System of People and Processes for Results class. If you are eager to learn more about creating more order out of the chaos you are feeling at work, then the How to Create Well-Defined Processes class is right for you.

ISO 9000 Quality Auditor classes are forming now for Internal Auditor or Lead Auditor. Call for information on having your own private in-house classes today.

Our first challenge was to develop a value proposition for the automotive industry. We documented the team’s assumptions about the economic challenges of automotive suppliers, thus documenting the team’s assumptions about the business pains that the new tooling technology was addressing.

By reviewing the value proposition with automotive manufacturers and suppliers, the team tested its understanding of the operational and economic issues as they existed at the time. The team learned that the issues varied depending on the position of who they talked to—manufacturers, suppliers, engineers or marketing executives.

In meetings with the major automobile manufacturers, it became clear that buy-in for the new tooling approach would have to come from their suppliers of major automotive body panels. Generally, automobile manufacturers buy automotive parts and assemblies, not tools that fabricate parts. The new tool would have to be proven in suppliers’ production lines.

Having gained concrete market intelligence through our process of value proposition testing, we could justify shifting the focus of the team’s value story from manufacturers to parts suppliers.

Our consultant led the team toward getting one or two suppliers to use the tool in suitable production runs. Discussing the value story with suppliers, we learned that small but sustainable cost and schedule advantages could help supplies differentiate themselves in the highly commoditized automotive component business. We therefore stressed the cost and flexibility advantages for suppliers that adopted the new method.

“We got into this as a technical team,” Smith said. “Not having made lots of sales calls, we did not understand the selling process. We did not understand what we needed at each step in the sale.”

But as our consultant and the team jointly engaged parts makers and automotive executives in discussion around their particular economic situation, the team gained the insight needed to tailor its sales approach. The focus shifted to the perspective of the audience.

“Our early pitches had too much information, too many details, and it was confusing for our audience. [The consultant] helped us be clear, simplifying key messages for the audience at hand,” Smith said. “It’s not just about feeling good about a meeting, and agreeing to meet again. It’s about actually getting something out of the meeting.”

Now focused on providing competitive advantage for leading automotive component suppliers, Advanced Tooling Solutions offered suppliers an opportunity to invest plant time and expertise in a test of the new tooling. Two accepted. The tests will help the tools become qualified for production-rate manufacturing.

The team is gaining valuable experience on live parts manufacturing lines that will validate the method for rate production and further refine the team’s sales and marketing focus.

Are you providing sales coaching and tools for your technical teams to succeed with customers? Or, will they become frustrated?

The first step was to define the competencies of the people of infūz. The company had career brand marketers on staff — Katie O’Dell had launched and managed pet food brands as a brand marketer for Nestlé Purina Petcare Company. Software analysts and developers on staff had a range of certifications and experience developing web-based applications. So infūz leveraged its consumer packaged goods experience and focused on developing relationships with marketing and brand executives there.

Our consultant developed a visual summary of the infūz value proposition. Then he and infūz met together with brand executives and marketers to listen to what they liked and didn’t like about their interactive agency relationships. Customers helped us tailor the value proposition by reacting to the story depicted in the sketches.

In interviews, marketing executives said they were unhappy with agencies whose opaque technical and creative approaches seemed disjoined from a brand’s marketing goals. Marketers questioned the value they received for maintenance and retainer fees which seemed disjointed from a brand’s objectives and unrelated to separately billed tactical marketing programs. This “Pain” played nicely to infūz’s marketing experience and technical processes.

From the interviews, our consultant revised the value proposition and tested it with customers. Customer’s dissatisfaction with the typical agency model became apparent. Differentiation strategies emerged. To its credit, infūz allowed the customer’s definition of value to largely drive staffing and technology investments. It became apparent that truly differentiating infūz would require significant investment in people and infrastructure, investments that the company has made.

As value proposition and capabilities came online, we developed sales process and tools to support it. Our consultant and the principals of infūz used the tools to bring in early sales and flesh out the sales model.

As infūz built up its capabilities, marketing executives who had provided input invited us back to address their specific needs. Research meetings were gradually superseded by sales calls, and agency of record assignments began closing.