Much has been written over the years about the principles of Lean – whether it be in a manufacturing, stock, management or distribution-type application. From Lean Six Sigma to Kaizan, the amount of information available in this area is colossal. However, the concept of Lean Marketing is only just emerging. In its basic form, it takes those same principles alluded to above and applies them to the marketing strategy of an organisation. The fundamentals of lean incorporate complex theories which are too in-depth to explain in detail here. There are, however, a number of common components. We examine here how a properly implemented and well managed CRM system can apply each of these components to help acheive Lean Marketing.

Identify your Value Stream
If you have a range of products, each with its own range of marketing campaigns and messages, it is critical that we identify what products our customers want, but more importantly what message different customers respond to. For example, customers in construction might respond to a campaign that can help them work in bad weather. Using CRM, we can create more efficient methods to deliver targeted messages in the particular manner that customers wish to receive it. It must be remembered that it is our job as marketers to deliver the message in a manner a customer wishes to receive. Lean marketing is a system focused on and driven by customers. Review your past sales to your ideal customers. Determine when and what was of value to them. That is your value stream and your vision.

Measurable results
Any lean marketing campaign must deliver measurable results. You need to be able to identify the response rate out of every 10, 100 and 1000 direct mail pieces. However,the measurements you use determine your success. Having good measurements are the key. Once you have identified the measurement rate, we need to be able to improve on it. Constant tweaking of the campaign in an incremental manner should improve the response rate. If an individual change causes the rate to go down, we immediately revert. CRM assists here by allowing us to measure responses to campaigns and identify over time whether we are improving, and to what extent.

Benchmark where you are
If we want something to measure results against, we need a benchmark for where we are. This is critical in to acheiving a well-balanced lean marketing strategy. Where are we at currently? Take stock, and use the system to keep an eye on the metrics identified.

Where are you going?
Having identified a baseline at a point in time, we now need to measure results against this periodically. Generally, we want to see the response rates going up. But we also need to set targets. We can use CRM in this regard to establish targets at each stage of the sales pipeline. Objective, realistic goals are the key. Too many marketers and sales people generally are overly optimistic. It has to be real or the results will not be measurable.

Continuous Improvement
The final element in an effective Lean Marketing Strategy discussed here is Continuous Improvement. We must always strive to improve. The fundamental theory of Continuous Improvement or Kaizen in Japanese was developed by Toyota. Every single element involved in the process, even the smallest, should be improved upon. For a direct mail campaign, if I can produce 1,000 letters in 3 hours this month, I should strive to do it in 2 hours 50 minutes next month. CRM helps to automate the processes and speed up repetitive tasks.