Process improvement starts with a desire to make things better in your business. In this guide, you’ll learn how to accomplish that, including what process improvement is, how it works, how to identify opportunities, its failures, steps, how to choose techniques, and how to apply useful software in healthcare. Plus, experts provide valuable advice on how to implement a program in your business.
Sometimes referred to as business process improvement (BPI), process improvement means breaking down all the activities and procedures in your company and identifying where you can implement efficiencies and enhancements. Process improvement should be performed during regular organizational development, and when businesses are restructured.
Practitioners identify, analyze, and improve upon existing business processes to meet new standards or goals by modifying or eliminating a process, or complementing with sub-processes. After making decisions about what to change, conduct an analysis on any tangible improvements.
Process improvement is more complex and challenging than most managers realize and requires using a systematic approach with one of the available methodologies. Without this structured approach, momentum for change is near impossible to maintain. Further, bad habits and poor workflows become normalized in a busy working environment. One example of a structured methodology is benchmarking, which is a continuous improvement methodology that compares performance metrics and best practices across companies and industries. This ten to twelve step approach capitalizes on what companies are doing in a similar industry that can help shepherd improvement into another industry’s companies.
Practitioners of process improvement should always incorporate change management principles, so they can have a systematic way of dealing with any process changes. Change management seeks to ensure that any changes made to processes are implemented correctly and its benefits are realized over time. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, about 60 percent of improvement initiatives fail over time due to team resistance and poor communication. Change management principles ensure that your initiatives succeed by removing these roadblocks and implementing a plan to avoid the typical mistakes.
One helpful concept in process improvement is process mapping, which is the creation of workflow diagrams that show all steps in a process and any parallel processes. Before changes are made, practitioners can visually show where processes are and what steps they involve, which can possibly reveal bottlenecks.
In healthcare, process improvement focuses on moving towards a value-based model for treating patients. Process improvement and its methodologies are a key component in the future of healthcare. Healthcare administrators will use data, standardization, and the reduction of process variation, and will benefit from using the same methodologies as business, such as Lean and Six Sigma.
There is much debate about process improvement as a discipline and whether one specific methodology is best. Process improvement is a generic term that refers to the simple principles of identifying opportunities, making changes, and measuring the changes’ affects. Some practitioners add a methodology to their terminology, such as continuous improvement (Kaizen), which is a Lean process improvement methodology.
Below are the key concepts of this this type of process improvement:
Every type and facet of business can benefit from process improvement. Some specific examples include the following:
Businesses are in business to thrive and make money. Whether a company is trying to remove waste and friction or improve customers satisfaction, performing basic process improvement initiatives in a measured, structured way can make a difference. Other goals or objectives for process improvement projects can include the following:
When process improvement is successful, the business’ goals and needs, as supported by processes, are optimized. Practitioners start with the business needs and then figure out which processes support them. Next, they analyze the processes for any necessary improvements, gaps, and bottlenecks. Leaders can then focus on redesigning and reorganizing the processes where necessary, and possibly designating different staff or departments to own them. Innovative technology to support these processes may be considered or determined.
Sophie Miles is the CEO & Co-Founder of elMejorTrato.com. “Organizations have an obligation to continuously improve their business management processes,” she explains. “For this they must measure the performance and the value added to the company, using corrective actions when necessary. This management is the most effective to improve the quality and efficiency of companies, and thus achieve the initial objectives. Improvement should be applied to all the processes that are crucial for a company's development, although it is also good to have optimized every last process that is carried out. The latter is more complicated, but if we improve the bulk of the processes we usually work with, the benefits will be enormous.”
Miles recommends taking the following five generic steps:
1. Define the processes that make up the organization and the most important key indicators of each phase of the process. It is necessary to know the indicators and measure them to know where the improvements should be carried out. For example, if you are digitizing the administrative part of the company, the key indicators would be the reduction of time in manual tasks and cost savings, among others.
2. Determine the phase(s) of the process in which it will seek to improve the indicator that was initially chosen. It is better to modify the phases one by one, as this will show the accuracy of the results achieved. If too many things are changed simultaneously, you will not be able to tell whether or not the change was positive.
3. Once you plan the phase(s) that must be improved, design the process. Be clear about what objectives you want to achieve. Once the design has been established, choose the technological resources to carry out the processes, measure their results, etc. Next, define the timings of the process and respect it when you start. Finally, involve the team from the beginning of the improvement process.
4. Mark the appropriate objectives you want to reach and identify opportunities for improvement and what resources are needed to achieve those objectives.
5. Using metrics, constantly monitor and follow the process. The objectives that were given in an improvement process may change over time. Consistently review the processes and see if they change, in addition to noting if they have achieved the improvements they wanted.
As the world changes and technologies evolve, so does process improvement. More formally, and regardless of discipline, practitioners can follow four steps for regular or continuous process improvement:
David Chaudron, Ph.D. and Managing Partner at Organized Change Consultancy, advises, “Prioritizing what needs to be improved is one of the most important decisions a company can make when implementing process improvement. The questions to ask are:
“It is easy to overtrain employees and inundate them with tools and techniques they may rarely use. Senior management needs to be trained to identify the systems in a company and focus on getting them aligned with company strategy. Once specific issues are identified, simple problem solving and measurement techniques are best. If there are specific operational issues where results are easily quantified and manipulated, more sophisticated techniques, such as experiments, can be used.”
In the global business climate, companies are always looking for ways to usurp their market rivals. To help your company be competitive, process improvements are a critical component of your overall strategic plan of growth and expansion. Whether you have a staff improvement specialist, or have a culture of improvement throughout, someone should be familiar with all your business processes. A firm grounding in how your business works overall should not just be left to employees, however. Higher-level management should have enough engagement that they can identify opportunities. Outside improvement consultants should interview as many employees as possible, especially those in key positions.
All company process should be charted out visually. Whether you choose casual workflows or more formal BPMN diagrams, identify the core business processes first. Gather and earmark data that describes inputs and outputs of the processes with each visual. These could include things like inventory, costs, monthly sales, customer demand, production lead time, labor hours required, and space requirements.
Ask the experts (also known as your employees) where they think waste occurs. They can help you determine processes or portions of processes that do not add value. Conduct a root cause analysis to identify opportunities for process improvements.
There are many opinions on how to prioritize your improvement processes and possible projects. One way is to rank opportunities based on the following:
Robert D. Sollars, is a consultant and the author of Unconventional Customer Service. He offers another way to begin process improvement: “Look at your procedures and figure out what isn’t needed or can be tossed out because it is outdated and virtually unworkable. Defy conventional wisdom and plow your own field to get the job accomplished. You need an outstanding knowledge of your company and its processes before you can try to change it. Usually this takes, even for managers, at least six months before they feel comfortable at even suggesting change. Some people make the mistake of attempting to make changes that they do not know anything about immediately after taking over. This only makes the law of unintended consequences apply and things get more messed up than ever. Know as much as possible before you begin trying to change anything.”
Even with the best of intentions and resources, businesses get embroiled in process improvement projects that fail. If you have already developed a culture of improvement, and have buy-in and the right tools, you can be successful—in theory. In a qualitative study, researchers identified the below top ten reasons for initiative failure:
These may be self-evident, but there are still some questions to consider:
Every consulting firm and process improvement practitioner will tell you that their preferred methodology is the best. This can leave an organization at a loss when considering the substantial number of competing disciplines all meant to achieve a similar goal. In this section, you will find an overview of the most popular and well-researched methodologies, including Kaizen, Total Quality Management, Six Sigma, Lean, and more.
A Japanese word for improvement, Kaizen refers to all the activities that constitute a continuous improvement and involves everyone in the company from the top down. This strategy, born in the Toyota company after World War II, is part plan and part philosophy. In a manufacturing facility, the action engages everyone in specific improvement events, especially those on the manufacturing floor, and the philosophy pushes the culture to constantly ask for suggestions and improvements until it is a natural way of thinking. Kaizen works together with standardized work, known as the best current practices.
To run your own Kaizen event, use this template to keep track of your work.
Download Lean Rapid Improvement (Kaizen) Event Results Template
Kaizen events usually last about a week, and have a facilitator focusing on a specific problem. This graphic depicts the seven steps to getting a Kaizen event off the ground:
With theory that predates both Lean and Six Sigma, Total Quality Management (TQM) practitioners have four tenets:
Developed by William Deming, TQM comprehensively reviews the internal guidelines and process standards to decrease errors. The methodology is mainly used in manufacturing, but is also applied in the military, manufacturing, medicine, and finance, as it targets line production, its corresponding practices, and industry standards. Decisions are made based on facts and performance metrics, and organizational communication is encouraged to maintain employee buy-in. For more on TQM, see “A Quality Principle: Everything You Need to Know about Total Quality Management.”
The goal of Six Sigma is to eliminate defects and thereby improve the bottom line. The methodology borrows from TQM heavily, but shows a true improvement over TQM. According to researchers, Six Sigma targets TQM’s weaknesses and improves upon them. Six Sigma takes from the mathematical concept of standard deviation (referred to as the Sigma), which is a statistic that tells you how closely all the data points are to the mean (the central tendency) for a given process. When all the data is tightly clustered around the mean, the variation is small; When the data is spread apart, the variation is large — standard deviation is measured by this distance. On a bell-shaped curve, one standard deviation from the mean in either direction accounts for 68.2 percent of all the data in a group. Two standard deviations account for 95 percent of the data. Three standard deviations account for 99 percent of the data, and so forth.
The goal is Six Sigma, which means that all the data is as close to being tightly aligned with the mean as possible, so that defects are less than four in one million measured. In the manufacturing world, this means that less than four in one million products manufactured have defects. This mathematical model evolved to not only decrease manufacturing defects, but also to decrease defects company-wide. To learn more about Six Sigma, review “Six Sigma for Beginners.”
At first blush, Lean seems like a collection of different techniques and tools. The two main tenets of Lean are continuous improvement and valuing people. Starting as a manufacturing process, Lean quickly became a business methodology. In Lean, practitioners try to find waste and remove it. Techniques include team exercises, error proofing, and cross-training. Waste comes in all shapes and sizes. The seven main examples of waste are show below:
Adam Ward, an Associate Partner at Simpler Consulting (an IBM Company) and author of Lean Design in Healthcare is a Lean expert. He believes that Lean is the number one tool for improving repetitive operations. “I have a bias for eliminating the waste first before reducing variation, as there is little reason to make a wasteful process more efficient,” Ward explains. “As such, I like to apply Lean principles beginning with value stream mapping to identify key waste areas and establish flow cells that match takt (customer demand). Once the process is leaned out, then Six Sigma principles can be used to reduce variation with various tools, such as control charts and DMAIC.”
Ward has experience with Lean in a variety of fields, but one story stands out. “One of my favorite stories was with one of the branches of the military. Before we came in, the troops were pushing a torpedo the equivalent of a marathon during rebuilds. We got everything set up in the waste-free manner and reduced that number to several hundred yards.”
If you’re just getting started using Lean to help eliminate waste, Ward advises, “I would advise new practitioners to just keep doing good work and the results will speak for themselves. Once you have a core group of practitioners the momentum will build. Make sure you keep the business leader in your corner and that they are your biggest evangelist. be patient and do the right thing.”
Not necessarily a discipline on its own, rapid improvement can include Kaizen and the Just-Do-It frameworks. The point of rapid improvement is to quickly put solutions into place once you identify the problem and the solution. Not every problem in a company will require the rigor of Six Sigma, and using that methodology in every instance can give your process improvement initiatives a negative cast.
Mainly used in software development, Agile is the project management technique that helps with unpredictable environments. Agile uses incremental, iterative steps arranged in sprints, or development cycles. Teams build in rapid feedback, continuous development, and quality assurance into these iterations. Decisions must be made quickly in an Agile environment, but proponents of Agile say that resources are used more efficiently, problems are identified and fixed quicker, and there is increased collaboration among users.
The simplest way to decide approach to use is to either leverage your senior leadership’s experience or hire a consultant. Many consultants use routine strategies that are meant to implement, train, and provide short-term support.
You can also use the following problem-solving approach:
If your organization is more mature, you’ve likely already completed some improvement exercises. As a part of your assessment and strategy, use this historical information to determine what worked and did not.
When selecting a process improvement approach, consider the different methodologies. Sometimes, methodologies are used interchangeably. For example, Kaizen and Six Sigma are both continuous improvement methodologies that focus on improving efficiency. Six Sigma focuses on output, or the final product, rather than the culture. Lean concentrates on eliminating waste, and the rapid improvement methodologies start with the end in mind. Lean and Six Sigma have been combined into a methodology that has had success for many companies that some researchers consider to be the gold standard.
According to some experts, if the problem is complex, has been difficult to solve in the past, or causes a lot of variance in your products, you should use Six Sigma to solve it. If you want to get more done quickly, or want to eliminate non-value-add activities, turn to Lean. You can also combine Lean and Six Sigma. If you need to approach the issue quickly and get quick results, consider a Kaizen event. If you know the answer to a problem and can make the change within 24 hours (and return to the original state in 24 hours if it does not work), then apply rapid improvement. These are a few of the many methodologies available presented at a high level.
Sometimes a methodology speaks to a practitioner and as such, choosing one is more a matter of what someone has learned, rather than a methodical review. At a minimum, all process improvement methodologies share the philosophy that businesses and their process can be improved. Earlier methodologies subscribe to the idea that statistics and measurements are essential. Finally, they all share the idea that the people closest to the work have the best insight into how to improve it.
There are several different cycles you can tap into to lend structure to your process improvement projects. The difference between these “cycles” is in the definition of the steps. The following chart shows the differences:
The goal of TQM, Lean, and any continuous process improvement methodology is to speed up and increase the value passed to customers. This is a continuous cycle of four steps: plan, do, check, act. Regardless of the actual term used in each step, it involves the following:
Associated with Six Sigma, DMAIC stands for define, measure, analyze, improve, and control. This scalable process is similar to the PDCA cycle in that it is an improvement cycle that focuses on existing processes.
Below are the DMAIC components:
Alex Membrillo is the CEO of Cardinal Digital Marketing advises. “Be sure to have a project management plan in place, as you’ll need to effectively manage the teams or individuals working through your improvement process,” he says. “The other aspect to consider, not outlined in the DMAIC method, is available budget for implementing your improvement process. Often, it can be easy to identify a problem, but you may not have the needed resources or capital to correct it. Factoring your available budget into the process improvement plan can allow you to develop solutions that the company can afford. Often, we develop plans that are set up in phases to help keep project costs on budget and include provisions for reallocating increases in revenue or earning generated by your previous improvements.”
Whether you choose the PDCA or the DMAIC cycle is up to you and the needs of your project. PDCA is the basic, cyclic methodology that predates others and relies on a qualitative approach. DMAIC relies more heavily on data and is better for projects that pose more risk or expense. Use a quantitative approach and statistics to problem solve using DMAIC and think of it as a flowchart with an endpoint.
The DMADV cycle is the same as the DMAIC cycle in Six Sigma, except it is used for new processes. Since you are developing a process, the last two steps are necessarily different.
The basic steps in DMADV are as follows:
DRIVE is another approach to the PDCA and DMAIC cycles, except it is not a cycle of a flowchart with an end. DRIVE is formatted as separate things to consider during process improvement, which can help you to analyze a problem using different approaches. If possible, put different people in charge of each step.
DRIVE includes the following aspects:
To pick the right tools for your project, first become acquainted with what is available and what the tool does. Next, get to know your project. Irrespective of the process improvement methodology you choose, you can always dip in and out of other methodologies and use the tools and techniques that suit your situation. The following are different tools and techniques, why one would use them, and what methodology they derive from.
Process mapping, also called brown paper process mapping and analysis, refers to creating detailed visual displays of all the steps from beginning to end. These visuals help to manage workflows. Examples of process maps include flowcharts, swim lane diagrams built in BPMN, state diagrams, data flow diagrams, and value stream mapping. Assembling process maps enables organizations to understand and picture the steps, inputs, outputs, resources, team members, strengths, and weaknesses in each process. For more information see “Essential Guide to Business Process Mapping.”
Statistical process control (SPC) is the tool of TQM that mathematically reduces the variation. SPC uses statistics to scrutinize and control a process. Using industry standards, quality data is compiled in real time during manufacturing and graphed with control limits set by the process capabilities. When data falls in the control limits, it means the operations are working as expected.
Acting as a powerful tool for process improvement, simulation is an efficient way to scrutinize your operations under a variety of conditions. Most simulation is done with a software program targeted to the specific process. You can insert randomness and experimentation into a simulation to help your business figure out what they would do and possible breakpoints.
One of the tools of continuous process improvement methodologies is a visual workflow tool called Kanban. You can also use this tool for projects that require rapid improvement on specific projects and teams. Write each step (in the case of one project) or project on sticky notes, notecards, or tickets, and arrange the visual cards in columns that display the stage of each task or project (examples include ready, doing, and done, and to do, in progress, and completed). Other concepts for Kanban boards include work in progress (WIP) limits, which limit the maximum number of work steps or projects in each column — this helps keep your teams narrowly focused. Others include a backlog for ideas and projects (often called the parking lot), and the delivery point that details the amount of time each task takes to move from the first stage to the last. This is where the continuous improvement comes in: the time from the first to last column should decrease. Read more on Kanban here.
Sometimes called operational research or industrial engineering, operations analysis is the study of an operational system to improve it. There are six steps to operational analysis:
This simple concept ensures that in any issue, you look behind the face value and ask “Why?” five times until you get to the root of a problem. Each answer to a why question forms the basis for the next question, and is meant to be used when troubleshooting, problem solving, or in quality improvement projects. The five whys is most effective with simple or moderately difficult problems. This tool urges you to follow a specific track when there could be several tracks that you need to follow.
Download Five Whys Template
Here is one example of how a five whys process might look:
1. Why did the software fail?
The database overloaded, causing it to seize.
2. Why is the database overloaded?
There is insufficient space, so it seized.
3. Why is there insufficient space?
We have another piece of software that used the space.
4. Why do we have another piece of software using the space?
We planned to have them share.
5. Why are they sharing?
Because we do not have a dedicated database for the new software yet.
This is a simplistic example, but what you do not see in the questions is embedded solutions. You see a portion of the answer drilling down into the next question. This method is popular, particularly with Lean practitioners, when trying to find out why something unexpected has happened. The purpose of this exercise is not to place blame, but rather to uncover a root cause. You can use this technique on its own, or as a part of a fishbone diagram (shown below).
A fishbone diagram is a visualization tool helps you categorize all the potential causes of a problem so you can identify its root causes. The head of the diagram states the problem, and you can have many different branches for the causes.
In this example, you see four potential causes. Beneath each are the sub-causes. In this case, there are three for each cause, but these can range from one sub-cause to many. If you are using the five whys, choose which cause you want to start with on one of the fins and then ask the questions. In this example, “Method” was chosen for the first cause. You can see where to add the answers to your five questions. Fill in more fins to review all the plausible causes.
If you want to draw a single process map for the sake of simplicity, consider using swim lanes. As evidenced by the name, swim lanes connotate straight, narrow lanes of ownership. A part of Business Process and Modeling Notation (BPMN), swim lanes are a standardized way of looking at a process for who “owns” it, and where handoffs occur. BPMN is a straightforward, standardized language. There are hundreds of symbols that may be used, but the vast majority of professionals use only a handful. As you can see in the diagram below, the “Lanes” (or swim lanes) signify who owns that portion of the process and where the process dips to other owners.
A SIPOC analysis diagram looks at suppliers, inputs, processes, outputs, and customers to define your process. These five process definers head each of the columns in a SIPOC diagram, as specified swim lanes, and show how each interact. The process’ scope is clear with this diagram, and it offers a high-level view. Design your own SIPOC analysis diagram using the below free template in Excel.
One aspect of Lean is value stream mapping, which is a way to to visualize the flow of materials and information as the product or service goes through its value stream. Every step of the process is accounted for in detail. The state that you start with is the as-is or current state, and you can use another model to develop your to-be or future state. In the example below, time is detailed for each step of a process.
There are three main measurement techniques (financial results, an assessment tool, and a stakeholder’s opinion) to determine whether your improvement projects are successful. Before launching a project, you should have an obvious line of sight and measurement from your project to your outcomes. Any one of these may be used, but the best scenario is to include all three.
From a change management perspective, measuring your initiative’s relative success can increase organizational awareness, drive further change, and reinforce the value and desire for improvement.
Two main sources of process improvement materials, knowledge, and practices are the Lean Enterprise Institute (LEI) and the Lean Six Sigma Academy (LSSA). LEI is a nonprofit that researches, educates, and publishes Lean materials, collaborating with universities and other organizations to develop a wide network for Lean practitioners. Membership with LEI keeps Lean practitioners current with their practice and learning materials, and it offers them access to approved materials and other Lean professionals. If you want to get a certification with Lean, there are several programs you can pursue, although you do not need to be certified to practice Lean. SME has a program that is comprehensive in their concepts and offers various levels of training.
LSSA is a training academy for Lean Six Sigma practitioners. They are the Universal Certification Organization and Scheme Owner for Lean Six Sigma and offer training for each of the five belt levels of Lean Six Sigma, three belt levels of Lean, and an Automotive Engineer certification. The organization also provides training on other improvement methods such as Kaizen and TQM. This academy partners with other academies worldwide for consistent standards and offers tutoring.
Software that supports your process improvement initiatives should be able to be used through every stage of development. Whether you are new to process improvement, are expanding your program, or are sustaining a thriving culture, software can help. Some organizations look for business process management (BPM) suites of software, and others prefer using in-house software that provides the tools needed to manage projects and provides some flexibility to choose their own path. If you want to have a large, comprehensive system, learn more about BPM here, as well as how to choose software for your company.
You can also review enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, especially if your company is operations-focused. These solutions struggle with continuous improvement, but the software is rapidly improving. Quality management systems (QMS) seem like a natural choice for businesses that want to install continuous improvement programs. They are wonderful if you need ISO compliance, but they may not meet your operational needs. For more information on ISO requirements that prescribe using a QMS, see “The Ultimate Guide to ISO 9000.”
Most project management software includes features that can help you assemble good process improvement projects, using tools like Gantt charts, dashboards, and resource management without the strain of a large system whose purpose is to run all your operations. A good, lightweight solution should provide flexibility to manage initiatives, and respect how each of your leads performs their necessary functions.
Healthcare is one of the most rapidly changing industries. Providing high-quality healthcare requires continuous improvement, and results in more lives saved and a better quality of care. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) mandated quality improvement in its report titled, Across the Chasm: Six Aims for Changing the Healthcare System. This report details how healthcare misses the boat when serving their patients and needs to change dramatically. This call to action asks healthcare to not only pay attention to stakeholders, but to constantly find ways to reduce waste and pass those savings onto patients. In other words, the healthcare industry needs to continuously improve their processes. According to IOM’s Committee on Quality of Health Care in America, a leading cause of death in the United States is a preventable adverse medical error. They expect that somewhere between 44,000 and 98,000 Americans die annually because of medical errors. Johns Hopkins estimates that more than 250,000 people die due to medical errors annually in the U.S.
As such, leaders in healthcare process improvement are tasked with a critical function: While in many industries, decreasing errors saves money and improves customer satisfaction, in healthcare, decreasing error saves lives. These leaders need many skills, the least of which is to be able to take the data they or their departments have gathered and operationalize it. Other requirements necessary for a successful process improvement leader in healthcare include the following:
The final requirement for healthcare process improvement leaders is to be the right leader, in the right place, at the right time. Healthcare systems need to be as perfect as possible. Leaders should use the tools available to meet this task. Collecting the right data, using that data in analytics, appropriately storing that data, and putting forth constant improvement beg the best person for the job. Below are the top required skills for a healthcare process improvement leader:
Finally, process improvement leaders in healthcare should have some formal training. The business of process improvement is a science, after all, and the concepts may be taught. Experience is the best teacher in how to apply this science and training, but they must start somewhere. All the tools, techniques, and methodologies found in this guide are a good place to start.
Successful process improvement never comes about accidentally. Behind each success is a solid plan, meticulously developed and executed. A process improvement plan is the steps you follow to cover all your process improvement bases and needs. To succeed with a process improvement plan, keep two main ideas in mind: involve staff early and make processes local where possible. Then, you need to do the following:
To get these three things accomplished, you must think through some groundwork:
Now, you can follow these steps to developing a good process improvement plan.
For more information on improvement plans, to develop your own improvement plans using free Word templates, and to see sample improvement plans, see “Performance Improvement Plan Templates.”
Many experts recommend not just leaving process improvement to the process owners to develop intervals for improvement. Said another way, you can and should consider having scheduled events or workshops for process improvement away from regular work. The length of these events or workshops can vary based on how many processes you are hoping to improve at once and the complexity of the issues. You could also designate one day per month or a few days in a row for the workshop. To get started, follow these steps:
The following are brief overviews of topics related to process improvement meant to expand your interest and knowledge around process improvement:
An example of this, comes from Alex Weinbaum, Inbound Marketing Manager at CNG Digital Marketing. “As a digital marketing agency, we noticed there was a disconnect when we onboard new clients,” he says. “Our sales team would successfully close deals and bring on new customers, but our marketing team would need an adjustment period. They needed to get comfortable with the new responsibilities, strategies, and expectations now at hand. Our sales team spent days, even weeks explaining things to the marketing team. To change this disconnect, we now involve our marketing team during the initial sales process. We combine both sales and marketing minds to understand the client and come up with strategies that ultimately make the deal-close process more efficient and successful. They meet with the potential client firsthand and outline a strategic game plan of what the relationship might look like once successfully onboard. We found out our marketing team was now more prepared and comfortable to take on the new responsibilities at hand.”
