Six Sigma is a structured, five-step problem solving approach (DMAIC) that incorporates a number of proven analytical process improvement tools, many of which existed before Six Sigma was invented.  The Fishbone Diagram is one of the more common tools in the Six Sigma toolbox, and is used for organizing potential causes into a simple, graphical format.

Approach

The bones in a fishbone diagram represent all known potential causes for a given problem, and bones are grouped into logical problem categories such as “Materials,” “Methods,” “Software,” etc.  At the “head” of the fish lies the problem being addressed, for example, “Overdue Orders,” or, “Scrap in Process ABC.”

Usefulness

Fishbone diagrams are very useful when working on complex problems that have multiple possible causes.   By documenting all potential causes in the fishbone format, the team ensures that all causes/categories are captured and retained for further analysis.

Making a Fishbone Diagram

• Fishbone diagrams are most easily constructed in a team setting that includes those who are the most knowledgeable of the process or problem being studied.
• A strong facilitator should be identified to lead the session, someone who can keep the team focused on the task while maintaining a quality discussion.  Most fishbone diagrams can be constructed in one to two hours.
• Prior to the session, the team should be briefed on the problem that will be discussed, and asked to bring their experience/ideas around potential causes.
• It’s best to conduct the fishbone session using a brainstorming format, where team members communicate their ideas, but those ideas are not debated during the session.
• As ideas are communicated, the facilitator should start grouping them into logical categories to build the diagram

Follow-Up and Prioritization of Potential Causes

Additional steps in Six Sigma’s Analyze phase includes narrowing the list of potential causes through small experiments or other means.  As causes are ruled in or out as significant contributors, the fishbone diagram is updated to preserve the team’s work for the future.

Fishbone diagrams are great business process improvement tools for organizing causes to complex problems. Consider using one the next time you face a challenging problem.

Sales Lead Generation

Are you looking into more trendy, potent, and lucrative sales lead generation methods for your small and medium businesses (SMBs)? Social media has a lot going for it, and the argument to capitalize on its current prevalence is reinforced by the evolution of the Web itself.

The Web and Internet Marketing

While it was not until the boom of the search engines that Internet marketing skyrocketed in terms of activity and profitability, it was obvious from the interconnectivity the World Wide Web offered that advertising online had real potential. Today, SEO and SEM are mainstays of online advertising for SMBs, and social media advertising is becoming an increasingly significant front.

In light of recent developments like CRM and CMS systems offering full social media integration, the era of social media has irrefutably begun. What this means for your sales process is that the social facet will always be relevant, if not significant and even central.

Direct Advertising

During the days of direct advertising where most, if not all, advertising was direct either through interruption marketing or opt-in based target marketing, generating sales lead lists and potential business relied heavily on pitches and squeeze pages. While most companies have reduced their efforts of outbound marketing, it remains a vital aspect of any marketing campaign.

Indeed, companies like SaleSpiderMedia.com which offer marketing assistance and services to direct marketers and media agencies will remain relevant and profitable for a long time to come. Beyond focusing on direct advertising, however, a more modern way of generating leads is to integrate social media into advertising campaigns.

Social Media Marketing and Integration

Do you have a Twitter account? A Facebook, or LinkedIn account? Everybody does, these days. That is exactly why social media marketing has transformed into a priority instead of an option for SMBs and advertisers. Comparing sales lead generation of simple direct marketing and social media integrated campaigns, we can easily see that there are the advantages in reduced costs or increased revenue:

There are reduced costs in:
- Member management and customer service in terms of staff time.
- Direct expenses for advertising in both print and online – especially online.
- Email marketing and email newsletter fees.

There are increased revenues in:
- Registration and membership.
- Word of mouth and member engagement in terms of influence in revenue.
- Exhibit, sponsorship, and advertising.

Of course, this is not to say that businesses should shy away completely from other cost-efficient means to engage in email marketing or print advertising or whatnot. The point is that with social media integration, a sales campaign will be doubly powerful and profitable, and much less costly.

The continued growth and success of SaleSpider.com, a business social network for SMB, is a good example of how powerful social media is. SaleSpider.com is the top US business social network.

Small Business Grants For Women

Being in tough economic times is forcing more and more women to think outside the box when it comes to finding meaningful, worthy employment.  As a result, more and more women are seeking out ways to make money as business owners.  The great thing about being a business owner is there are multitudes of ways you can make money. 

Getting started may seem like an uphill battle.  I mean, you’ve to consider things like hiring people, your work location, phone system, business license, etc.  In addition to that, you must figure out exactly how you will fund your business.  Now, this is the most crucial step because if you don’t have the cash to get started, you won’t get very far.  There are books and articles about small business grants for women, but let me tell you, there’s no such thing as a free lunch.

The government rarely hands out government small business grants for women.  Why would they?  The better option if you’re looking for free money in the form of grants is to pursue private organizations who hand out grants unique to your industry.  

A simple internet search will yield plenty of options.  Now, getting grant money, as I’m sure you can imagine is not easy.  The key is to clearly express to them the reason for the need for whatever amount of money you are requesting.  On top of that, you must make sure you fill out the proper documents and whatever other requirements they deem necessary for the application process.

After that, it’s simply a waiting game.  “Hurry up and wait!”, as they say in Hollywood.  Be patient.  Make sure you follow up as well.  If you apply, and don’t hear anything after a month or so, call them.  It’s expected.  They will probably take you even that much more seriously.

If nothing else, consider a business startup loan.

Jobs For Stay At Home Moms

As a parent, there are many financial matters to consider like rent or mortgage payment, food, utilities, car payment, insurance, and the list goes on and on.  As a mother you may carry the burden not only of the well-being of your children, but you may also have all or at least partial responsibility of maintaining financial stability in your household.  If you are forced to go to work, whether it is part time or full time and you’ve got little ones, in some cases, the cost of day care alone can take most of your paycheck.  Apart from the financial toll, going to work means less time with your children.  As you’ve considered these realities, I’m sure at some point you’ve thought about looking for jobs for stay at home moms.

Now, this may seem like a non-conventional way to earn money, and you may not think that there are any real, legitimate opportunities out there, but I can assure you there are.  Now, I’m talking about buying some online money make mystery machine, I’m talking about real, honest jobs for stay at home moms.  I’ve done some research myself, and here are some opportunities that I not only feel are great ways to make money from home, I know people personally who do them.  I hope you enjoy.

1)      Data Entry and Typing

If you have reasonably good typing skills, you may find yourself making money from home sooner than you thought.  Companies like www.keyforcash.com will allow you to work when you want and however much you want right from home.

2)      Article Writing For Money

There are a number of companies like About.com that will pay well for your writing expertise in selected areas.  Do some research, and you may find this to be a great source of revenue to write about what you love.

3)      Tutoring From Your Computer

There are some companies like Sylvan that hire teachers in certain fields to offer live, on-line tutoring in areas like math and English.  While certain education may be required, this could be an excellent way to not only make money from home, but to be a blessing to children.

4)      Make Money As a Virtual Assistant

While companies, of course, still hire secretaries and other types of administrative professionals, it’s becoming more and more popular for these companies to hire individuals with these skills to work from home.  Simply do a search for companies seeking virtual assistants, and you could be on your way to working from home very quickly.

Business Intelligence Systems

All businesses need a system that can help determine if productivity improvements can be made using a set of historical data collected from data mining (customer purchases, for example). Your goal in analyzing productivity data is to help your organization identify its key strengths – departments with higher returns, and weaknesses – areas associated with high costs and overhead.

Getting started.. the basics

A business intelligence system is a computer-based application which identifies, extracts, and analyzes business data for the purpose of increased productivity. The data extracted can be used for decision making purposes in the organization.

A business intelligence system is made up of business intelligence tools that aid in the retrieval analysis and extraction of data. These tools are broadly classified into: Open source and Proprietary tools. Open source products can be altered by the users without copyright infringement while the proprietary tools are generally protected by copyright and mainly used by large enterprises.

Putting it simply, open source tools can be more rapidly integrated into your own business environment to pull back results. Proprietary tools are often the primary option for companies that need to integrate business intelligence software into their current data mining activities.

Understand the types of tools available

The business intelligence tools currently available can be broadly classified into the following areas:

1. Spreadsheets: Spreadsheets come with in-built arithmetic functions that can help you calculate data by using Cell reference. Spreadsheets are mainly used for goal tracking and reporting business operations. In this category you will find interactive versions like Apple numbers, Gnu Numeric and VisiCalc, though Microsoft Excel has the biggest share of the spreadsheet market.
2. OLAP: This abbreviation stands for Online Analytical Processing. This business intelligence tool makes use of a multi-dimensional data front from different perspectives to perform diverse functions such as consolidation, slicing & dicing and down-drill of data.
3. Digital Dashboards: Similar to a vehicle’s dashboard this executive information system interface monitors how the business process flows. Users of this system are able to view high level data processes with the capability of drilling down to low level data.
4. Data Mining: This is the process of collecting data from diverse perspectives and condensing it into valuable information. By using relational databases you will be able to determine your business progress. These are just a few business intelligence systems that you should consider in running your business.

Finding the right system for your company’s needs requires careful analysis before making any purchases. Each of these solutions will provide effective use depending on the type of user you are. For example, spreadsheets are often used by small companies or startups that don’t wish to spend a large amount of money on expensive software. Larger commercial organizations will lean more towards using data mining on an ongoing basis. This is something which the likes of Amazon make great use of in assessing past customer buying behavior.

Weigh the pros and cons of each business intelligence system while keeping an eye on your firm’s future growth plans and therefore what tools may be needed long term. Ultimately, you have to choose the right tool for the data analysis you want done, not only today, but for future planning horizons.

Performance Management Process

It is crucial that companies work to provide superior products and services to their clients. Teams that manage projects should continue to develop and design exceptional products and make sure that the production and delivery procedures will go beyond industry requirements. But how to accomplish this?

Some methods focus on specific areas in which businesses can decrease the number of defective products that are being made. Other methods like the performance management process focus on the usefulness of each employee. This way the company can work to decrease the amount of unused resources they have overproduced and reduce the problem of having too much inventory.

The Importance of Maintaining Quality

It is crucial that once processes have taken root companies should use reporting and measurement tools that can help develop projects in the future. They should continue to review the efficiency of any changes and adapt to them properly. Businesses should also try to remain positive in their ability to create high-quality products that have proven customer satisfaction.

It is also important that companies should carry out a performance management process that involves reviewing the employee performance. This way the manager and employee will have the opportunity to share in the collective goals of the company.

The Benefits of Quality Development

Business professionals can also take up an important role in implementing the right tools and programs that are made to enhance communications and develop more effective data processing methods. Looking at innovative ways to give products and services to customers more effectively should be a continual practice. Improved performance in technology will usually lead to improved productivity throughout the work environment.

Employees devote less time to handling and processing information and devote more of their time doing other tasks. Also shipping and delivery will be affordable yet meet the needs of the customer. Overall the quality improvement process plays a large part in ensuring the happiness of the customer and improving customer satisfaction.

For businesses to keep growing and remain competitive within their market it is important that they take up a broad approach to the quality improvement process. Exceptional products and effective processes can help save a business a great deal of time and money. Also customer satisfaction and product development should stay at the top of the priority list.

Business Process Modeling Notation

Having business process modeling notation taken by a professional would be a very simple way for you to begin looking at the flaws within your business. It is very easy for a business owner to simply turn a blind eye towards the dead weight that goes into achieving the final product that is turned out.

However the reality is that every business has a lot of wasted time and effort in the process that they are currently using. In order to turn around your business and begin increasing your profits it is important that you have the current operation mapped out and noted by someone that understands how to put these into action.

Another effective tool that can help eliminate waste within the process that they are currently using would be computer network consulting. Having a sound computer network in place allows you to eliminate the need for extra employees and other expenses that waste time and money.

Additionally, computer network consulting can help you find productivity improvements within your organization while also helping you lower the amount of money that you spend in order to achieve the results that you are currently getting. Employees must be able to communicate effectively and get work done in the shortest amount of time possible. When you have the right network in place it is possible to streamline this process and save money.

When having a business process modeling notation done it is important to look at the current way that you are doing business and find a solution for doing things in a simpler way in the future. Once you have the visual representation of these processes in front of your eyes, your business decision making will become much easier. You’ll be able to fix the flaws that keep you from making money.

New Product Development Process

There are several distinct and important stages that need to be addressed in the new product development process. Often, however, companies do not take this into consideration when tackling the process of bringing a new product to market. In order to develop a quality product that receives high acclaim around the world it is vital to have the right people working with you each step of the way. The quality of the product that you release depends on having skilled professionals developing it and bringing it to market. These key people will be responsible for the impression your new product makes and a product roadmap will help you get there.

The packaging and visual appeal of your item is a vital part of the new product development process. A great deal of research has been carried out on why people buy and it has been found that presentation is a major factor. If a company employs experts who can design attractive and eye-catching products the likelihood of long term profits is greatly increased.

Another vital piece of the new product development process is the commitment to an advertising strategy to make customers aware of your products. Too often companies rely on the strength of the whole brand rather than investing in advertising for all of their products. However the products will not be profitable if customers do not know that they exist and may make significant losses if they are not properly marketed. By incorporating print and other forms of advertising into the new product development process awareness and ultimately sales can be increased from both existing and new customers.

Developing a product from an idea all the way through to making sales is a process that requires a lot of hard work and dedication. Throughout the new product development process it is crucial that there are people in place who understand every single step.

Customer Satisfaction Survey Questions

The use of a proper marketing strategy is essential for a business to be able to understand it’s effectiveness in the marketplace. Many marketing strategies incorporate customer satisfaction survey questions that poll customers about specific products, service, and general level of satisfaction with the overall purchasing experience. Some satisfaction surveys can get very detailed but this really depends on the requirements of the marketing strategy and how involved the data is required to be.

Online customers can often have many questions surrounding their online transactions and these questions can also concern the area of ethics in business. Because many online purchasers can not see the products that they are buying they have to rely on the word of the company that is selling it. The online merchant has to be completely honest with with the prospective customer in their product descriptions.

Being an honest merchant also affects the shipping and handling process. It is common these days for online merchants to say that a product has shipped when it has not just to make the customer feel that progress is being made on the order. This problem is also exacerbated by the fact that tracking numbers are sent to the customers via email when the item has been entered into the shippers database even though it has yet to ship. Companies should always be up front with their customers.

Those companies that are keen on using the results of customer satisfaction survey questions are those companies that are really concerned about their business and want to make sure that they have repeat business. Companies that can identify problems in the sales process can resolve those problems and maintain a happy customer base that returns to purchase more goods. In addition to return customer sales, keeping a good customer relationship can help advertise a business through word of mouth advertising.

Article Marketing

Money can be made very easily online but many people are not picking the right type of business. Either that or they are not choosing the proper marketing technique. The article marketing strategy is a system that revolves around the written material contained in articles. The articles are written around some part of the online company.

The subject of the article could either be the business itself or some of the products and services it has to offer. Sometimes the articles may go into detail about the products and services but not the specific offers from the business website.

The trick to developing successful articles is to incorporate certain words and phrases into the material that users will type into search engines when looking for these types of services or products. Several variations of the keywords and phrases should be used just in case the customers misspell things or use word combination that is different but would have the same meaning.

The object is to bring in as many people as possible. The more varied the keywords and phrases are the more potential that specific article has to bring in new customers. A new product design should be mentioned in such articles.

Another wonderful thing that can be used with this kind of online marketing is links. Links can be used in conjunction with the keyword phrases and words. For example a company that sells baseball bats may want have the phrase “buy baseball bats” on their website. The keyword phrase is “buy baseball bats” because it is used to draw in people who are looking to purchase that specific equipment.

The company could add a link to that phrases so that once the customer is brought the page he or she would be able to click on it to perform the action that he or she is looking to perform. He or she would be led to the home page of the company that is being advertised. This marketing system is ingenious.