![\"Mobile](\"http:\/\/theqmpgroup.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/17\/discovering-the-gold-within-easy-reach\/iStock_000025238068Small.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cLean (as applied to marketing & sales) is the process of maximizing the value delivered to customers by eliminating any wasted activity or expense in the marketing or sales process that does not create or enhance relevant customer-perceived value.<\/em>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Depending on your market circumstances, Lean has the ability to reduce your marketing and sales expenses, while increasing sales and market share and enabling increases in selling prices and margins. Lean is not<\/em> too good to be true. The benefits are real and borne out by strategic research and real life success stories.<\/span><\/p>\n Lean is not simply a slash and burn offensive on the sales and marketing budget. It needs to be applied strategically and in a targeted way. It requires the re-allocation of resources and assets to the most important customer-perceived values and away from non-value-delivering capabilities and activities.<\/span><\/p>\n So, here are three principles to use when considering the application of lean principles within your Marketing and Sales function.<\/span><\/p>\n That law states, \u201cAll economic value accruing to your firm has as its source, the customer\u2019s perception that they will receive more economic, emotional, political or physical value from your product or service, than it costs them economically, emotionally, politically or physically to acquire and use.\u201d\u00a9<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Amazon got its foothold because the value of the traditional brick and mortar bookstore was irrelevant to a large segment of the book buying market. Bricks and mortar, attached Starbuck\u2019s, store clerks and reading couches simply did not deliver value to buyers in that segment. Yet they cost book stores a lot to maintain.<\/span><\/p>\n If there is any place in your product or service offering, marketing, customer service process or sales approach that customers consciously or subconsciously perceive as not providing the highest value possible, that gap will be the place you are most vulnerable to competitive attack.<\/span><\/p>\nFirst: The Law of Economic Value\u00a9 is Always at Work<\/span><\/h3>\n
Second: The Lack of Lean Creates Vulnerabilities in Your Business that Competitors Will Exploit<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n
Third: When assessing the relative importance and value of deploying a specific lean initiative in a specific part of your Marketing & Sales function, use the first and second principles above to guide your decisions.\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n