The IUP Journal of Business Strategy, Vol. XIV, No. 2, 201740.docx

The IUP Journal of Business Strategy, Vol. XIV, No. 2, 201740
Six Sigma Deployment in Sales and Marketing:
Enhancing Competitive Advantages
Six Sigma deployment can bring a valuable process discipline
and emphasis on performance measurement
to sales and marketing activities. Six Sigma approach adds
measurable value to sales and marketing
performance and helps in increasing market share and top line
revenue in targeted product/markets. These
are external objectives as opposed to the internal objectives of
defect reduction and cost cutting for Six
Sigma deployment in production and operations. For successful
deployment of Six Sigma in sales and
marketing, there is a need for removing departmental silos;
developing a passion for measuring company
performance; investment in training at all levels; and active role
of senior management. The benefit of
Six Sigma deployment in sales and marketing includes better
information sharing to make improved
decisions and ultimately sustain the growth as it reduces the
uncertainty inherent in sales and marketing.
This paper emphasizes importance of Six Sigma deployment in
sales and marketing and provides various
tools and frameworks for its successful deployment.
Pankaj M Madhani*
* Associate Dean and Professor, ICFAI Business School (IB S),
Ahmedabad 380060, Gujarat, India.
E-mail: [email protected]

© 2017 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Introduction
Organizations face constant competition to attract and retain
customers, hence, revenue
and profitability of some of the organizations are at risk. One
method of reducing this risk is
to increase the customer satisfaction and overall customer value
by streamlining sales and
marketing efforts. Six Sigma is well-suited to contribute to and
support these efforts of sales
and marketing due to its focus on problem identification,
process improvement, and its
emphasis on the customer. Organizations can use Six Sigma in
the reengineering of sales and
marketing operations to increase customer satisfaction by
increasing the speed, quality and
efficiency of its services.
Six Sigma deployment in sales and marketing will depend on its
ability to change and
adapt to the organizational needs, as sales and marketing
require a disciplined and strategic
approach for value creation and market-share growth. Six Sigma
approach helps sales and
marketing in increasing market share and top line revenue in
targeted product/markets by
providing superior value. These are external objectives as
opposed to the internal objectives
of defect reduction and cost-cutting for Six Sigma deployment
in production and operation.
In short, Six Sigma is a disciplined, data-driven approach and
methodology for eliminating
defects in any process—from manufacturing to transactional and
from product to service.
This paper focuses on deployment of Six Sigma in sales and

marketing and provides various
frameworks and methodologies.
41Six Sigma Deployment in Sales and Marketing: Enhancing
Competitive Advantages
Literature Review
Six Sigma is a business improvement program that targets
process variation. Traditionally,
Six Sigma has been used in the manufacturing for reducing
defects. Krishna et al. (2008)
conducted a case study illustrating how a multinational Indian
corporation was able to
successfully implement Six Sigma principles to improve its
manufacturing operations. Six
Sigma problem-solving methodologies in manufacturing process
were studied by Kumar et al.
(2007) to identify and control the parameters causing casting
defects.
Six Sigma is not only for manufacturing, but any process where
an opportunity exists for
error and hence can be used in diverse business areas to
improve on time delivery; reduce
cycle time for hiring and training new employees; improve sales
forecasting ability; and
improve quality of customer service (Mehrjerdi, 2013). Kumar
et al. (2008b) presented a case
of implementation of the Six Sigma approach for improvement
in service system by a major
consumer electronics and appliance retailing company in the
USA. Six Sigma practices share
common quality principles of customer-focus and continuous
improvement. Six Sigma

benefits are related to various areas such as reduction in process
variability, increase in
profitability, reduction of operational costs, and increase in
productivity, reduction of customer
complaints and improved sales (Antony et al., 2007).
Li et al. (2008) studied a specific case on implementation of Six
Sigma approach to improve
the capability of the solder paste printing process by reducing
variations in thickness from a
nominal value. Six Sigma methodology was also applied to
specific case of thermal power
plant for conservation of energy (Kaushik and Khanduja, 2008).
They implemented Six Sigma
project recommendations to reduce the consumption of
Demineralized (DM) make-up water
from 0.90% to 0.54% of Maximum Continuous Rating (MCR)
resulting in a comprehensive
energy saving of 0.305 mn per annum. Kumar and Sosnoski
(2009) studied the potential of
Six Sigma in realizing the cost savings and improved quality by
using the case study of a
leading manufacturer of tooling.
A case study on improvement of the Sigma level at the
screening process, which is regarded
as the most critical process in Printed Circuit Boards (PCB)
manufacturing was conducted by
Tong et al. (2004). Chen et al. (2005) presented a case study in
the context of automobile
industry in Taiwan. The study used Six Sigma to measure the
performance of customer
requirements. Dreachslin and Lee (2007) designed a case on
application of Six Sigma techniques
in determining the effectiveness of diversity initiatives in
healthcare management in the

USA. Taner et al. (2007) conducted five case studies in
healthcare to show the performance
improvement accomplished by Six Sigma presenting a road map
for problem-solving and
service/process improvement. The research outcome showed
that the healthcare
organizations gained a greater ability to address challenges
across the system; maximized
resource utilization; reduced redundancies, waste and rework;
diminished bottlenecks related
to scheduling; and improved working conditions for healthcare
personnel. The findings
showed that healthcare organizations are able to increase their
market share in the long run
after Six Sigma implementation.
Many organizations have adopted Six Sigma to develop and
strive for excellence in quality
standards and innovations. Six Sigma is a total quality system
developed by Motorola, a US-
based company to identify tools, methods and best practices for
generating innovation and
driving revenue growth (Creveling et al., 2006). Six Sigma
focuses on variation and defect
reduction (Naslund, 2008; and Kumar et al., 2009), process
improvement (Buch and Tolentino,
2006; and Lee-Mortimer, 2006), customer satisfaction and
financial enhancement (Kumar
et al., 2008a).
Six Sigma is described as a business excellence strategy
(Antony et al., 2007); customer-

driven (Nakhai and Neves, 2009), a project-driven (Assarlind et
al., 2012) or a business-
driven (Savolainen and Haikonen, 2007) methodology, which
focuses on decision making
based on statistical and non-statistical tools (Manville et al.,
2012), to lead towards improving
the organization’s product, process and service (Savolainen and
Haikonen, 2007) or financial
performance (Nakhai and Neves, 2009).
Six Sigma is a powerful strategy that enables companies to use
simple and powerful
statistical methods to drastically improve their performance
(Nabhani and Shokri, 2009).
Six Sigma-based methodology is used to reduce cost of poor
quality by improving already
existing processes, reducing costs, eliminating defects, raising
customer satisfaction and
significantly increasing profitability of organizations (Tong et
al., 2004). A major difference
between Six Sigma and other quality approaches is that Six
Sigma aims to achieve 3.4 defective
parts per million (Smith et al., 2002). According to Antony and
Banuelas (2001), Six Sigma
focuses on reducing the number of opportunities that could
result in defects by shifting the
emphasis from fixing defective products to making perfect
products.
The deployment of Six Sigma in the manufacturing and supply
chain arena has led to
next-generation supply chain solutions (Keene et al., 2006; and
Yeh et al., 2007). The impacts
of aligning supply chain and quality management strategies with
manufacturing goals and
business performance have been investigated by Kanji and

Wong (1999) and Tan et al. (1999).
According to Wang et al. (2004), improving the quality of all
supply chain processes leads to
cost reduction, improved resource utilization and improved
process efficiency. Yeung et al.
(2005) and Yeung (2008) have studied quality-based supply
chain strategies. Six Sigma metrics
has been used as a framework for evaluating and benchmarking
the performance of supply
chain (Dasgupta, 2003).
Using Six Sigma methodology, quality management can be
employed in Supply Chain
Management (SCM) to improve the performance of various
components in the whole supply
chain network (Wang et al., 2004). Six Sigma does have
something novel to offer organizations
over the contribution of existing approaches to supply chain
improvement (Knowles et al.,
2005). Wei and Yi-zhong (2013) proposed a framework based
on Six Sigma metrics to measure
and improve supply chain performance.
Six Sigma has been applied in the context of supply chain
design to analyze mitigation of
container security risk (Kumar et al., 2008c). Researchers have
emphasized the importance of
the concept of Six Sigma as an effective methodology for
monitoring and controlling supply
chain variables (Yousef et al., 2008). Chang and Wang (2008)

presented a case study to show
the benefits of Six Sigma improvement model on replenishment
forecasting. Liu (2006)
offered an application of Six Sigma to reduce cycle time and
defects in clinical report entry.
Nabhani and Shokri (2009) used a case study to highlight
reduction of the delivery lead time
with the implementation of the Six Sigma methodology. Chang
et al. (2012) applied the Six
Sigma to improve the performance of the production planning
procedures.
Six Sigma is gaining recognition not only in a product and
manufacturing environment
but also in transactional activities. Six Sigma is flexible enough
to be applied to different
challenges throughout business, also in diverse areas such as
sales and marketing. Six Sigma
can and should be applied to sales and marketing processes with
the ultimate goal being
customer satisfaction (De Mast and Bisgaard, 2007; and
Redenbacher, 2009c). Morgan (2006)
has identified three key elements in achieving Six Sigma
performance related directly to the
customer: focus on the customer and identify their Critical to
Quality (CTQ) factors; ensure
that processes are designed to meet the CTQs; ensure there are
measurements to understand
how well the customer requirements are being met and the
customers’ perception about how
well they are being met. In CTQ concept, only process,
outcome, or service characteristics
vital to customer satisfaction are investigated for improvement
(Black and Revere, 2006).
Companies deploying Six Sigma company-wide have also

realized efficiencies in their
marketing processes (Maddox, 2004b). Applications of Six
Sigma to sales and marketing are
not common, but the potential for huge benefits exists
(Pestorius, 2006 and 2007). Six Sigma
can lead to improved customer relationships by improving the
process that delivers the
product or service to the customer, and the key is for companies
to recognize the entire
system, and not to focus on optimizing individual departments
such as advertising, sales, or
operations (Donath, 2005).
With Six Sigma deployment marketing program, yields can be
improved, sales cycle times
can be reduced, and service can produce better results (for
example, reduced customer
defections). Young & Rubicam Brands is an example of a firm
that has successfully deployed
Six Sigma in the following sales and marketing applications:
• The fulfillment of customer responses to a mail-in promotion,
• Ensuring that shipments to distributors are timely and
accurate,
• Efficient responses to customer warranty claims, and
• The proper completion of market research interviews.
At Young & Rubicam Brands, new metrics such as process cycle
time and rework levels
were introduced and the organization benefitted. The company
achieved reductions in both
process cycle time and rework of between 25% and 40%
(Quelch and Harris, 2005). Dow

Chemical Co. and Honeywell have realized efficiencies in
marketing processes by applying
Six Sigma concepts. GE Healthcare Technologies has applied
Six Sigma to sales force
effectiveness and customer research as critical components of
developing marketing excellence
(Maddox, 2004b).
Six Sigma deployment in sales and marketing is important for
overall performance and
growth of business as it leads to improved market performance,
competitiveness and superior
value creation. While Six Sigma is popular in manufacturing
and services, its use in sales and
marketing has not received much attention in academic
literature. This paper works in this
direction, explores the potential for applying Six Sigma
principles in sales and marketing and
provides insights of sales and marketing process improvement
in terms of efficiency and
effectiveness and the resultant business value created.
Six Sigma Concept and Evolution: An Overview
Six Sigma Concept
The central idea behind Six Sigma is that if organizations can
measure how many ‘defects’
they have in a process, they can systematically figure out how
to eliminate them and get as
close to ‘zero defects’ as possible. For customer-oriented
organizations, defect is anything
that caused customer dissatisfaction. The Six-Sigma quality

level is equal to 3.4 Defects Per
Million Opportunities (DPMO) and can be shown as 3.4 DPMO.
An ‘opportunity’ is defined
as any chance for nonconformance or not meeting the required
specifications. This reduces
waste and hence saves money whilst improving customer
satisfaction. Sigma is a statistical
term that measures how far a given process deviates from
perfection. The name of the Six
Sigma methodology is derived from the Greek alphabet symbol
atistics
for standard deviation; a measure of the variability within a
population around the mean, a
measurement to quantify variation and process inconsistency
(Pande et al., 2000). Six Sigma
focuses to obtain the same result every time and utilizes the
well-defined problem-solving
approach via statistical tools.
Six Sigma provides a quantitative, statistical notion of quality
useful in understanding,
measuring, and reducing variation. Let U and L be the upper
and lower specification limits,
respectively. In the case of a supply chain process, they
represent the maximum and minimum
lead times tolerated for an individual business process or the
overall supply chain process. Let
C
p
measure the potential of a process to meet the requirements.
Then,
C
p
= U –

The numerator above represents the specification width whereas
the denominator captures
the total width of the 3 sigma limits of the process distribution.
Assume that the process is
normally distributed; the denominator then represents 99.73%
limits for the process
distribution.
The Six-Sigma method allows firms to reduce things to a
common denominator—defects
per unit and sigma and hence provides a common language and
the ability to benchmark
themselves against like products, processes and practices
(Harry, 1997). Most organizations
produce at a level of two to three sigma, meaning that between
66,807 and 308,537 defects
occur with every one million opportunities; this means between
6.7% and 30.9% of everything
produced contains a defect (Table 1). There are actually an
infinite number of sigma, with
each higher sigma representing an exponential improvement in
quality. A sigma quality
level offers an indicator of how often defects are likely to
occur, whereby higher sigma quality
levels indicate a process that is less likely to create defects as
the quality level also increases
accordingly (Madhani, 2016).
Table 1: Sigma Level – Defects Per Million Opportunities

S. No. Sigma Level Defects Per Million Yield (Error Free)
(Capability of Process) Opportunities (DPMO) (%)
1. 1 690,000 31
2. 1.5 500,000 50
3. 2 308,537 69.1
4. 3 66,807 93.3
5. 3.5 22,750 97.725
6. 4 6,210 99.38
7. 4.5 1,350 99.87
8. 5 230 99.977
9. 5.5 32 99.997
10. 6 3.4 99.9997
In mathematical terms, Six Sigma defines a transfer function in
the following way:
y = f (x
1
, x
2
, ..., x
n

)
Hence, Six Sigma gives relationship between the output metrics
of a product or process
quality and the inputs that define and control the product or
process. It focuses on two
things:
• Understand which inputs (x’s) have the greatest effect on the
output metrics
(y’s); and
• Control those inputs so that the outputs remain within a
specified upper and/or
lower specification limit.
Six Sigma Evolution
The initial focus of Six Sigma was the rigorous process of
variance reduction leading to the
design of business processes that produce 3.4 DPMO. This
emphasis on defect reduction is
termed as Generation I of Six Sigma (Harry and Crawford,
2004). Later many companies,
including Motorola, GE, and Bank of America applied Six
Sigma to service processes, including
accounting and finance and experienced bottom-line benefits
(Krehbiel et al., 2007). This
Figure 1: Six Sigma Evolution – Various Generations
Generation

III
(Sales and
Marketing)
Generation
I and II
(Manufacturing
and Services)
Evolving
Established
Cost Reduction Revenue Generation
S
ix
S
ig
m
a
P
ro
gr
es

si
on
Six Sigma Focus
phase of Six Sigma, where the focus is on cost reduction and
economics is termed as Generation
II. In manufacturing processes and services, usually there are
very high correlations between
the quality of process inputs and the quality of process outputs,
thereby making operation
easy, predictable, fact-based and thus making Six Sigma
deployment smooth (Figure 1).
Generation III focuses on value creation and includes
application of Six Sigma to sales and
marketing (Carnell, 2010). Generations I and II are both about
cost reduction, i.e., the bottom
line (Figure 1). The transition from I to II is easy, but
Generation III is about increasing top-
line revenue. Sales and marketing people will avoid and even
resist anything that they see as
an attempt solely to squeeze costs, however, they will adopt
anything that will help them
increase revenue. Hence, it is important to emphasize that Six
Sigma in sales and marketing
projects should focus on driving the top line of the business
more so than driving down costs
(Figure 2). As Six Sigma Generation III is still evolving, its
deployment in sales and marketing
is not widespread.
Some companies such as GE, Allied Signal, etc., have
implemented Six Sigma company-
wide and therefore from manufacturing to sales and marketing.
Xerox has started applying

Six Sigma to their sales and marketing functions and has
experienced its effectiveness in
manufacturing. In 2006, Xerox had 80 black belts in its sales
and marketing group (Calabro,
2004). Dow Chemical, Honeywell and Cummins Engines have
saved time and money on
marketing tasks and brought overall strategy and discipline to
the management of marketing
activities (Maddox, 2004a and 2006). Bank of America and
National City Corporation have
applied Six Sigma to operations and IT functions and also
recognized its place in marketing
(Carlivati, 2007).
Sales and Marketing: Various Performance Indicators
Usually, sales and marketing relies on matrices that show that
their programs work in terms
of their budgets, brands, and jobs. However, in reality their
performance is not up to the mark.
Copernicus Marketing Consulting has collected performance
data on more than 500 marketing
programs for consumer and B2B products and services. The firm
has found that customer
satisfaction averages just 74%; most acquisition efforts failed to
reach break-even; no more
than 10% of new products succeed; most sales promotions are
unprofitable; 84% of programs
are second rate, leading to a decline in brand equity and market
share; and advertising Return
on Investment (ROI) is below 4%.

Similarly, Marketing Management Analytics, a marketing ROI
measurement company,
has also found that in the short-term, consumer packaged-goods
advertising returns only 54
cents for every dollar invested, other product categories return
87 cents—better, but still a
losing proposition. A 2004 Deutsche Bank study of packaged-
goods brands found that just
18% of television advertising campaigns generated a positive
ROI in the short term (Clancy
and Stone, 2005). It is not unusual today to see marketing
investments that produce a negative
ROI, or have a success rate that is close to zero. The Marketing
Measurement Association
reports only a $58 return on every $100 invested in marketing.
The Marketing Science
Institute reports that a 100% increase in marketing expenditures
yield just a 1% increase in
sales (Tocquigny, 2005).
However, sales and marketing are not unhappy because they
rely on historical performance
matrices such as market share and revenue (i.e., lagging
indicators) (Figure 1). They need to
Figure 2: Six Sigma Deployment in Sales and Marketing
Customer
Satisfaction
Revenue

Proactive
Reactive
Lagging Leading
Pe
rf
or
m
an
ce
M
at
ri
ce
s
Sales and Marketing
Performance Indicators
go beyond such reactive performance metrics (Figure 2); take a
hard look at why the numbers
are so bad; make sales and marketing strategies effective,
enhance efficiency of spending and
improve sales and marketing ROI. Hence, sales and marketing
need to adopt a measurement-

based methodology such as Six Sigma in a business function
driven purely by relationship
building, the strength of their personalities, market knowledge
and creativity.
Successful Six Sigma deployment in sales and marketing
focuses on ‘leading’ indicators
(Figure 2). One way to maintain business growth over time is to
focus on ‘leading’ indicators
of desired goal. Leading indicators occur before the desired
result and hence can be proactive
in ‘correcting’ poor sales performance. Leading indicators help
sales and marketing to
anticipate whether firm will hit the product/market target.
Leading indicators are factors
that precede the occurrence of a desired result while lagging
indicators lead to a reactive
response when results fail to meet the target and take a snapshot
after the occurrence of an
event. Examples of leading indicators are customer satisfaction
before a sales transaction
such as satisfaction with meeting information needs of
customers or the distribution channel’s
satisfaction with a product or samples. To drive and sustain
growth, performance indicators
need to be ‘leading’ and performance matrices need to be
proactive (Figure 2).
The implementation of Six Sigma in sales and marketing
processes is designed to increase
performance and decrease performance variation by focusing on
leading indicators, which
leads to reduction in imperfection, improved employee morale,
increased profits, and a better
business environment.

Six Sigma Deployment in Sales
DMAIC Methodology
The most important aspect of the Six Sigma approach is its five-
step process DMAIC (Define,
Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control) methodology
responsible for improving sales
performance (Figure 3). Following are various stages of
DMAIC:
1. Define: What is it that sales department is seeking to
improve?
2. Measure: How is the sales process measured? What is the
current capability of the
process? How is it performing in terms of variability?
3. Analyze: What are the most important causes of sales-related
problems? How to
map the process, and prioritize for action?
4. Improve: How do firms remove the causes of problems? How
do they reengineer
the process and simplify?
5. Control: How can sales department maintain the
improvements? What are various
statistical process control tools to monitor performance?
Six Sigma focuses on identifying what customers want/need,
translating these into CTQ
characteristics and deploying these through specific process
improvement stages. These stages
are explained in detail below:

Figure 3: Six Sigma Deployment in Sales – Various Stages
Improve
Analyze
Measure
Control
Define
Si
x
Si
gm
a
St
ag
es
Stage N
u m
ber
5
4

3
2
1
Define
The first stage in Six Sigma DMAIC methodology is the define
stage. Define stage begins by
identifying and prioritizing the products/markets that offer the
sales the greatest options for
growth. It is mainly because not all market opportunities are
worth an investment. The
opportunities must be evaluated using a quantifiable approach
and not one driven by guesses,
agendas or intuition. Define stage identifies the sales problem
being addressed, the customers
being affected, what they view as important, and what
performance matrices will be used.
Sales goal, scope, expected outcome, boundaries and project
schedules are specified in this
stage. Sales problems are defined clearly and as much possible
in numerical terms.
After the sales activities are identified, they are assigned to
process improvement. The
define stage focuses on defining the core business process
influencing the customer [i.e., their
CTQ issues and Voice of the Customer (VOC)] that have the
highest priority for
improvement. This stage also identifies and prioritizes CTQ
factors that drive the value
matrix and motivate buyers. Without this information, few sales
efforts can satisfy either the
effectiveness or efficiency criteria that are so important in sales

success.
By hearing the VOC, sales process performance can be
measured as VOC focuses on
identifying and measuring each individual customer’s ‘basic
requirements’ such as measurable
standards of product and service in terms of product benefits,
pricing, customer satisfaction
and other qualities. VOC is a very valuable way to uncover the
stated and unstated needs of
customers and can be captured in a variety of ways: direct
discussion or interviews, surveys,
focus groups, customer specifications, observation, field
reports, etc. By working in partnership
with the customer to develop strategic growth plans, a company
will not only understand
where its customers are heading and why, but will also create a
relationship of trust and
loyalty.
Measure
This stage measures the capability of the existing sales
processes and focuses on the
performance of the core business processes involved. Measure
stage determines what processes
are potentially contributing to the problem, develops a data
gathering plan and system,
collects data to determine the types of matrices and validates
how the information (data) will
be used to drive business decisions and finally establishes the

base-line performance level.
The purpose of this stage is to measure problem areas and
accordingly identify sales
performance measures such as cost, efficiency, and service
levels. Moreover, this measure can
help to identify the deviations of current measurements. This
stage focuses on defining value
for the targeted markets identified in the define stage.
Because the definition of value changes from one
product/market to the other, so does the
thrust of Six Sigma approach. It captures the Voice of the
Market (VOM), which provides the
competitive intelligence necessary to make informed decisions
and hence assures that
subsequent changes are directed by the contingencies of the
specific product/market. Value is
created by listening to the market and applying what is learned
to increase both the market
size and the organization’s market share (Redenbacher, 2009a,
2009b and 2009c).
In order to begin measuring performance, sales must define
which key data exists, where
it resides, which data is needed, and how or if the data can be
obtained. Following are key data
points for various product/market categories:
• Revenue growth and gross margins;
• Customer Lifetime Value (CLV), profitability and cost;
• Brand awareness and perceived brand quality;
• Customer satisfaction;

• Relative purchase frequency; and
• Acquisition rate and conversion rate.
This stage helps to create an understanding of the types of
performance measures that are
currently employed. Some of the measurement matrices in sales
are:
• Reliability: It concerns the failure to deliver products;
• Order Accuracy: It concerns the probability of the correct
orders arriving at or
departing from the warehouse on time;
• Customer Satisfaction: It concerns whether customers are
satisfied with the service
that is provided;
• Cost: It concerns the cost that is incurred in sales.
Analyze
Analyze stage uses statistical tools and techniques to narrow the
list of possible causal elements
to those that contribute the most to the sales problem and finds
the root causes by analyzing
when and where problems occur. Analyze stage focuses on the
evaluating data collected and
process maps to determine the overall opportunities for
improvement. Careful analysis of

sales performance allows the company to analyze many relevant
issues:
• At what point leads are lost by sales people and reasons
thereof;
• Source of variability in qualification criteria for prospects,
follow-up, and pricing;
• Defects in the sales processes that result in lost sales and
wrong prospects targeted;
• Impact of less effective sales promotion efforts in terms of
lost opportunity costs;
and
• The customers of the company who have purchased before and
have not purchased
again.
In this stage, the causes of problems that yield poor quality are
investigated and relevant
factors examined in detail. The purpose is to evaluate current
performance and reevaluate
the standards for cost, efficiency, and service objectives. As Six
Sigma approach is market-
focused and value-driven, these tools are designed to capture
and use the market’s perception
of value. Analyze stage requires the learning of new tools,
matrices and their application in
sales. Following are the major matrices:
• The Competitive Vulnerability Matrix: It identifies the nature
and degree of the
competitor’s value offering, as well as its strengths and
weaknesses.

• The Customer Loyalty Matrix: It captures the nature and
degree of loyalty of the
organization’s customer base.
• The Competitive Value Matrix: It depicts the value
propositions of the organization
and its major competitors.
These matrices provide an analysis of the value landscape for
each product/market and
form the basis for identifying how changes in people (i.e.,
salesforce), products and processes
will enhance the organization’s competitive value proposition.
These matrices are designed
to aid the growth of market share and top-line revenues.
Improve
The first step in this stage consists of identifying and
prioritizing improvement areas. Once
these areas have been prioritized, the areas that must receive
immediate attention, considering
time and cost restrictions, are identified. The purpose of
continuous improvement is to
reduce the amount of common-cause variations in the sales
processes. Improve stage develops
plans to change the sales process involved to eliminate or
reduce the effect of the root causes
of variations. This stage focuses on the enhancing target process
by designing creative solutions

to fix and prevent sales problems. It involves testing these
plans, determining whether the
solution is able to reduce variations, establishing their efficacy,
and implementing changes so
that the overall sales and marketing performance can be
improved. Statistical methods are
used to validate the improvements. After this testing, the
improvement should be
implemented throughout the process.
Control
Control stage maintains changes made to the sales process and
monitors process performance
to determine whether it is in control. If the process is in control,
the standards of cost,
efficiency, and service are set to those of the improved process.
Hence, this stage identifies
the controls that must be in place to sustain the benefit of the
new process. The basic purpose
is to control and monitor efficiency and service performance in
sales to ensure that the
process meets the identified standards. A control chart can be
employed to detect whether or
not the process is in control. A process is considered as in
control when there are no
occurrences of special causes of variations. Once the process is
in control, current data can be
used to evaluate the process performance. In this last stage, the
aim is to eliminate the causes
of problems and to maintain the continuity in sales process
improvement.
Performance Metrics and Process Tools
Six Sigma provides a variety of analytical and statistical tools.
The Six Sigma DMAIC process

utilizes a set of statistical and visual tools as shown in Table 2.
S. No. Stage Tools
1. Define Project Charter, Basic Rules, Stakeholders’ Analysis,
Responsibility Matrix,
SIPOC (Supplier-Input-Process-Output-Customer), Flowcharts,
Flow Process
Charts, Relation Diagrams and Gantt Charts
2. Measure Process Maps, VOC (Voice of Customer), Histogram
for Variable Frequency
Analysis, Initial Process Capability, Fishbone (Ishikawa)
Diagrams,
Benchmarking
3. Analyze Cause and Effect Diagram, Correlation Analysis,
Regression Analysis, ANOVA
(Analysis of Variance), Standard Deviation, FMEA (Failure
Mode Effect
Analysis), Value Stream Maps, Multivariate Charts, Pareto
Analysis
4. Improve Future State Maps, Work Plan, Simulation Model,
Pilot Study, Design of
Experiments, Brain Storm, Fool-Proofing,
Performance/Importance Gap
Analysis
5. Control Capability of Final Process, Standard Work, Scatter
Diagram for Variable
Relationship Analysis, Statistical Process Control, Control
Charts, Run Charts
for Trend Analysis, Standard Operating Procedures, Training,
Checklists, Survey

Table 2: Overview of the DMAIC Process Tools
Project Selection Framework
Six Sigma projects for sales areas can be roughly grouped into
two categories: Category I
(includes lead generation, sales proposal process and sales
forecasting) and Category II projects
(includes salesforce efficiency and effectiveness) that generate
the breakthrough results
(Figure 4). Category I projects focus primarily on the
improvement of sub-processes that are
related to field salesforce support and involve relatively easy
processes to identify, visualize,
map and implement. The processes involved are usually
repeatable in a fairly consistent
manner. Also, data and metrics on process performance are
relatively easy to collect and
define. These projects primarily create improvements in the
efficiency of internal processes.
For example, generating better qualified leads and speeding the
flow of proposals to customers.
Likewise, improved reliability of sales forecasts will impact the
availability of products, which
will positively influence revenue.
Figure 4: Six Sigma Deployment in Sales: Category I and II
Projects
Category II
Sales

Projects
Category I
Sales
Projects
Breakthrough
Marginal
Easy Challenging
P
ro
ce
ss
Im
pr
ov
em
en
t
Six Sigma Deployment
However, the gains from Category I sales projects will not, by

themselves generate the
breakthrough results (Figure 4). Category II sales projects are
far more complex and challenging
in terms of identifying consistent processes, collecting reliable
quantitative data, identifying
root causes and finding and implementing solutions. As
Category II projects impact the field
salesforce and sales processes directly, they create solutions and
improvements that drive
significant and sustainable revenue and margin growth (Figure
4).
In sectors such as pharmaceutical, medical devices and hospital
products, and financial
services, salesforce call on many customers and represent fairly
standard products and services.
Although salespeople working in these sectors have more or less
the same market and customer
opportunities in terms of local territories, products to sell,
competition, etc., there is typically
significant variation in the performance and results of
individual salespersons. Hence, there
is a need to reduce such performance variation by determining
the optimal level of salesforce
efficiency and effectiveness (Madhani, 2015). Salesforce
performance improvement efforts
typically look at two areas—Effectiveness and Efficiency:
• Effectiveness: It involves improving sales conversion rates or
success rates in closing
sales transactions. This would typically be done by improving

hit rates, or increasing
the volume rapidly.
• Efficiency: It involves improving the sales process and usually
focuses on mapping the
existing sales process and identifying ways to eliminate process
variability and non-
value-added activities. Many times salesforce problems are
misdiagnosed, wrongly
defined, and poorly treated. Hence, as a short-term solution,
sales organizations many
times focus on modifying the quotas and compensation for
salespeople without any
changes in the sales approach, product mix, or customer base.
In the initial stage, it is recommended to deploy Six Sigma in
Category I sales projects (e.g.,
sales forecasting) and after getting experience and insights it
can be extended to Category II
projects (e.g., salesforce efficiency and effectiveness
improvement).
Six Sigma Deployment in Marketing
Development of Customer-Product-Financial Linkages
According to Moorman and Rust (1999), the marketing function
should play a key role in
managing several important connections between the customer
and critical firm elements,
including connecting the customer to (1) the product, (2)
service delivery, and (3) financial
accountability. The customer-product connection pertains to
linking the customer to the
focal offering provided by the firm. The customer-service
delivery connection involves the
design and delivery of ancillary actions involved in providing a

firm’s goods and services to
the customer. The focus of this connection is generally the
frontline employee. The customer-
financial accountability connection refers to efforts focused on
linking customers to financial
outcomes.
Marketing’s value is found to be a function of the degree to
which it develops knowledge
and skills in connecting the customer to the product and to
financial accountability. This
value delivery is also emphasized by The American Marketing
Association (AMA) in defining
marketing. AMA defines ‘marketing’ as “the activity, set of
institutions, and processes for
creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings
that have value for customers,
clients, partners, and society at large” (Approved July 2013;
2013, AMA Definition of
Marketing).
To fully capture marketing’s responsibilities of value delivery
from offering inception,
through offering development, to the customer experience, the
deployment of Six Sigma
should focus on connecting the customer to the product and to
financial accountability
(Figure 5). Hence, Six Sigma marketing deployment should
facilitate the customer-product-
financial linkages by encompassing marketing’s strategic,
tactical, and operational aspects.

Marketing’s role in each of these three areas can be defined by
the activities it performs in
each and how it links the strategic, tactical, and operational
areas in a closed-loop fashion
(Figure 5).
Figure 5: Six Sigma Deployment in Marketing – Key Linkages
Strategic
Operational Tactical
Customer
Financial Product
Six Sigma
Marketing
Outbound
Marketing
Inbound
Marketing
Inbound
Marketing
Source: Framework developed by author and adapted from
Creveling et al. (2006)
Various Methodologies
Marketing’s work environment is not a typical DMAIC-based
workflow structure as it involves
the fundamental process of three key business areas:

1. Strategic area
2. Tactical area
3. Operational area
The natural flow of marketing starts with strategic process (i.e.,
product portfolio definition
and renewal of its offering), to the tactical process (i.e.,
commercializing new product
offerings), and finally to the operational process (i.e., managing
the product and services
lines in the post-launch sales, support, and service
environment). The strategic and tactical
processes are internally focused and hence referred to as
inbound marketing areas. The
operational processes are externally focused, involve post-
launch product line management
across the value chain (sales, services, and customer support)
and hence categorized as outbound
marketing (Figure 5). As marketing has external interface and
manufacturing has internal
interface, Six Sigma deployment has been more challenging for
marketing and less challenging
for manufacturing (Figure 6).
Figure 6: Six Sigma Deployment – Manufacturing Versus
Marketing
Marketing

(External
Interface)
Manufacturing
(Internal
Interface)
Difficult
Easy
Intrinsic Extrinsic
E
as
e
of
O
pe
ra
ti
on
Control Variables
Six Sigma helps marketing to attain a state of sustainable
growth by positively influencing

marketing’s three process areas, viz., strategic, tactical and
operational (Creveling et al., 2006):
Strategic
This strategic process is fundamental for marketing, because it
refreshes its offerings to the
marketplace. It includes planning and product/service portfolio
renewal and has the following
four distinct phases, known as the IDEA phases:
• Identify: This phase identifies markets, their segments, and
the opportunities they
offer.
• Define: This phase defines portfolio requirements and its
architectural alternatives.
• Evaluate: This phase evaluates portfolio offering alternatives
by comparing it against
competitive portfolios.
• Activate: This phase activates prioritized and resourced
individual projects for
commercialization.
Tactical
This process defines, develops, and prepares marketing’s
offering and includes product or service
commercialization. It has the following four distinct phases
known as the UAPL phases:
• Understand: This phase understands the market opportunity
and specific customer
requirements translated into product (or service) requirements.
• Analyze: This phase analyzes customer preferences against the

value proposition.
• Plan: This phase plans the linkage between the value chain
processes to successfully
communicate and launch the product concept.
• Launch: Prepare the new product launch plan.
Operational
This process unifies the operational aspects of marketing across
the value chain and includes
post-launch product or service line management. It has the
following four distinct phases
known as the LMAD phases:
• Launch: This phase launches the product offering into the
market according to the
launch plan of the prior process.
• Manage: This phase manages the offering in the marketing
processes.
• Adapt: This phase adapts the marketing tasks to suit the
required changes.
• Discontinue: This phase discontinues the offering to sustain
brand loyalty.
To increase the probability of continued and measurable growth
in marketing, value
adding tasks must be well-planned; and this requires integration

of strategic, tactical and
operational areas. Measuring results from marketing processes
depend on the linkage and
flow of data within and between these areas. Marketing tasks
must be measured and controlled
as an integrated system. Six Sigma deployment helps marketing
in achieving these tasks.
Six Sigma Deployment in Sales and Marketing: Major
Challenges
Transactional processes that require high human input such as
sales and marketing avoid
control as process inputs and outputs are weakly correlated.
Hence in sales and marketing,
the linkages between inputs and outputs are simply not as easy
to adjust as they are in
manufacturing processes and hence proven to be the most
difficult for Six Sigma cross-
functional application. Sales and marketing typically view its
function as a set of activities or
projects rather than a set of processes. In sales and marketing,
various variables such as
customers, competitors and the weather are extrinsic and
uncontrollable but have a huge
impact on final outcomes. Six Sigma should simply be applied
to those extrinsic sales and
marketing variables that can be controlled. A lack of precise
control over many of the variables
along with complexity and unpredictability of such transactional
activities has restricted the
use of Six Sigma in sales and marketing. There are various
other reasons why sales and
marketing applications of Six Sigma are uncommon:
• Six Sigma program has inherent production-centric bias. Six
Sigma consultants

are typically from manufacturing background and do not
understand transactional
activities such as sales and marketing.
• In manufacturing, it is often believed that almost every
process variable can be
controlled. However, there is no strong call for actions such as
the quality concerns
(e.g., removing process variability to increase customer
satisfaction) in sales and
marketing that emphasize Total Quality Management (TQM)
and Six Sigma. Sales
and marketing leadership often fails to demonstrate genuine
commitment to Six
Sigma, right from the start.
• The entrepreneurial spirit of sales and marketing encourages
individual thinking
and actively resists standardized processes. It is argued by
right-brain marketers
that creativity cannot be programmed or micro-managed. The
culture of sales and
marketing also emphasizes the strengths of their products and
services, not their
defects, and stresses generating revenue over cutting expenses.
• Inappropriate training program (in terms of design and
content) and inadequate
project support after training are also contributing to non-
adoption of Six Sigma
in sales and marketing. For successful deployment of Six

Sigma, proper training
infrastructure including various task-specific roles such as
‘Black Belts’, ‘Master
Black Belts’, ‘Green Belts’ and ‘Process Owners’ are required.
According to Six
Sigma vocabulary, ‘Black Belts’ and ‘Master Black Belts’ work
full-time on projects
while ‘Green Belts’ spend some time working on projects while
maintaining their
regular work responsibilities. ‘Process Owners’ are traditional
line managers whose
operations are the focus of Six Sigma projects. Many times
‘Black Belts’ and ‘Master
Black Belts’ supporting projects in this arena have little or no
hands-on experience
in sales and marketing. They cannot provide the practical,
knowledgeable assistance
that newly trained Six Sigma sales and marketing personnel
require.
Implications
The Six Sigma approach adds more ‘science’ to the ‘art’ of
sales and marketing. Process-
centric work design of Six Sigma may at first seem slow,
routine, and burdensome. There is
doubt that deployment of a structured approach requiring
processes, matrices and data would
only suppress the creativity and lateral thinking required to be
successful in sales and marketing.
Besides, sales and marketing may think statistical analysis can
dampen spontaneity and
innovation. However in reality, Six Sigma does not suppress
creativity of sales and marketing;
rather, it provides process and framework to channel it. Sales
and marketing have proven to
be the most difficult for Six Sigma deployment. It is mainly

because of the difficulty of
identifying appropriate sales and marketing projects and driving
the culture shift required for
transactional business.
Even with the hurdles inherent in applying Six Sigma, there is
promising future for Six
Sigma application in sales and marketing. Significant savings
can be realized from improved
transactional processes because, unlike most manufacturing
efficiency gains, improved sales
and marketing processes directly impact top-line sales and
therefore bottom-line profit.
While manufacturing and even supply chain operation costs
have been squeezed effectively
without compromising quality, sales and marketing operations
have not seen comparable
increases in efficiency as well as effectiveness. For successful
deployment of Six Sigma in sales
and marketing, there is a need for removing departmental silos;
developing a passion for
measuring company performance; investment in training at all
levels; and active role of
senior management.
Conclusion
In the current business environment characterized by changing
buyer preferences, channel
leverage, shorter product life cycles and increased financial
pressure on sales growth, profits,

and shareholder value, there is a lot of interest in deploying Six
Sigma to sales and marketing
to enhance overall business performance. With deployment of
Six Sigma, marketing is
measuring the impact of ill-defined targeting, weak positioning,
mediocre advertising,
ineffective promotions, and poorly allocated spending. By
measuring sales and marketing
ROI, fixing broken strategy and optimizing the budget, sales
and marketing organizations
will improve performance. The application of Six Sigma can
bring a valuable process discipline
and emphasis on performance measurement to sales and
marketing activities. The Six Sigma
discipline adds measurable value to sales and marketing
performance. The benefit of Six
Sigma deployment in sales and marketing includes better
information sharing to make better
decisions and ultimately sustain the growth as it reduces the
uncertainty inherent in sales
and marketing. This research provides various tools and
frameworks for a successful
deployment of Six Sigma in sales and marketing and emphasizes
the significance of Six Sigma
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the course number; the date; and the instructor’s name.
4. Follow APA style for general format and citations.
5. Paper sections must adhere to the guidelines below and each
section must be labeled in the text.
6. The language should be clear, concise, and precise.
7. The tone should be professional, consistent, and not filled
with jargon.
8. Grammar and syntax (sentence structure) must be correct.
9. The report must be free of misspellings and typos.
Tables and Figures (if used)
1. All figures and tables must be referred to in your text before
they appear on the page.
a. Figures and tables should appear on the same page that refers
to them, or on the next page.
2. All figures and tables need captions. Captions go below
figures and above tables.
Quotations and Citations
1. Quotations and citations are crucial components of a research
paper.
2. Failure to properly cite research sources and borrowed ideas
is plagiarism.
3. Papers submitted without citations and references will be
returned to the student with no grade.
4. Refer to APA style guide for assistance with properly citing
quoted and/or borrowed materials and ideas.

Your paper must include the following sections.
SECTION
POINTS
DESCRIPTION
Title Page
5
This should include the title of your quality management
research paper; your name, address, e-mail address, and
telephone number; the course number and title; the instructor’s
name; and the date.
Introduction
15
Provide an overview of the article and why you selected it to
review and summarize.
Key Points
35
Identify and clearly state the key points of the article and the
quality management issue(s) to which they pertain.
Reflection
35
In this section, you are to reflect on your learning from this
assignment. Identify the areas that you found most interesting
and also identify areas that you feel will assist you most in your
career. In addition, provide a critique if applicable.
References and APA Format
10
Although it is recognized that there may be a limited number of
references if any other than the article being reviewed, all
references must be cited in two places: within the body of your
paper and on a separate reference list. Choose references
judiciously and cite them accurately. Cite all sources using APA
format.

To use the ideas or words of another person without crediting
the source is plagiarism. Plagiarism in its purest form involves
copying passages either verbatim or nearly verbatim, with no
direct acknowledgment of the source. The most common form of
plagiarism is to paraphrase information from your source
material. Paraphrasing does not relieve you of the obligation to
provide proper identification of source data.
The best way to avoid plagiarism is to make sure all quotes,
ideas, or conclusions not your own are given proper
acknowledgment in your text. A key thought to remember is “If
you did not write it, cite it!”
Also, all other aspects of the paper should conform to APA
rules.
Total
100
Course Objectives
Course Objectives (COs) define the learning objectives that the
student will be required to demonstrate by course completion.
A
Given a requirement to implement quality practices,
demonstrate an understanding of the historical and current
practices, apply various means for defining quality, and
demonstrate how quality principles are being utilized in both
supplier and receiving organization product and service
industries.1,2,6,5
B
Given the need to understand how quality principles drive
organizational actions and improvement, demonstrate an
understanding of continuous improvement as a competitive
advantage, apply areas for improvement, measurement
techniques, results monitoring, and action plans in both supplier

and receiving organization product and service industries.
Furthermore, apply performance measurements of the firm's
progress, be able to practice the measures, analyze results, and
use the data in both supplier and receiving organization product
and service industries.1,2,6,5,7
C
Given an organizational need for ongoing improvement,
demonstrate working knowledge of an established
quality/process improvement program as demonstrated by 20th
and 21st century quality thought leaders. Furthermore,
demonstrate an understanding of the development process for
new products, define and apply the principles of product and
process design in both supplier and receiving organization
product and service industries.1,2,3,6,7
D
Given a customer requirement of a documented quality system
as a contractual condition, be able to illustrate the primary
elements of a Baldrige Quality system and/or ISO 9000:2000
quality system, and demonstrate an understanding of how the
assessment of strengths and weaknesses in both supplier and
receiving organization product and service industries can be
used in the application of the quality tools.2
E
Given the importance of customer satisfaction and loyalty,
apply methods of improving both by analyzing customer needs,
gathering customer information, using surveys, complaint
resolution, and customer relationship management.3
F
Given the need to recognize the strategic role of the
organizational leader with respect to the quality culture of an
organization, demonstrate an understanding of the elements
necessary to implement and sustain a quality culture in both
supplier and receiving organization product and service
industries.4
G
Given a requirement to implement high performance systems,

translate the role of human resources from both a managerial
and human resources function related to employee involvement,
empowerment, and training to determine their effectiveness.4

The IUP Journal of Business Strategy, Vol. XIV, No. 2, 201740.docx

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