Kaizen is a strategy that values continuous improvement. Historically, you may recognize it as a part of the quality movement. In this episode, we want to talk about how you can use this once foreign philosophy as a formula for subscription growth.

Welcome to this episode of the Subscription Maker Podcast. I am your host Zachary Alexander, Enterprise Architect at SubscriptionMaker.net. As an enterprise architect, I help people who want the freedom of a creative lifestyle and the security of recurring income.

Holding on to subscribers is the number one job of subscription makers. You can spend a lot of time reaching out to new prospects. However, it’s your retention positioning that will make or break your business.

What is Kaizen?

Kaizen is a quality assurance strategy that became popular during the 1980s. It was introduced to the west by Edwards Deming. Before that, it was used quite extensively in Japanese manufacturing industries to help make up ground after World War II.

In Japan, kaizen was seen as the basis for training artisans of all types. It’s not enough to simply be born talented. You have to train your mind and body much like marshal artists do every day. Kaizen represents a spirit of growth that can transcend raw talent or other advantages.


How to use Kaizen as a Formula for Growth?

For our purposes, you can think of kaizen as a belief that subscription services are never done. They are simply waiting on additional input. As long as you listen to your subscribers, there are always opportunities for future improvements.

Growth occurs when you sell new or enhanced services to existing subscribers. It’s a truism that it’s easier to sell to people have bought from you in the past and are happy with the value they received. It also occurs when current subscribers refer you to their friends.

Form matters when you talk about kaizen because you are trying to be as efficient as possible. On the Subscription Maker Podcast, we talk a lot about ensuring that your subscription services don’t become an impediment that saps your subscribers’ creative energy.


Kaizen is data-driven

Data is the key to understanding how your kaizen program is working. You may believe that it is working one way. However, when you start to measure it, you find out that your program may have an entirely different impact.

Personal bias is one of the biggest impediment to economic success. You see it almost everywhere in business. You see it in hiring. You see it in professional development. You definitely see it in decision making.

The only way to limit the impact of bias is to collect data on the programs that your business undertakes. Reflecting on the data that you collect can open up emerging opportunities in the current market or alert you to new avenues of interest in markets that are worthy of your efforts.


Kaizen can keep you going when things are tough.

You have a choice when it comes to professional development. You can be one of those people who believe that any missteps will end your career instantly. You also could believe that not taking risks is the best way to protect your business.

However, the real impact of mistakes has more to do with your market maturity than the mistake itself. If you make mistakes in mature markets, you will rapidly pay the price. Customers are less forgiving because they have other choices.

On the other hand, mistakes made in emerging markets are often ignored. As you long as you listen to your subscribers and work quickly to fix the problems.


Conclusion

Kaizen is a formula for growth that will help you and your business. Also, it has the potential to weed out any bias that may be sapping you of your creative energy because it is data-driven.

Thank you for listening to this episode of the Subscription Maker Podcast. This is your host Zachary Alexander. Please join us in the Subscription Maker Group. We’d love to hear your take on this episode and any other topic that interests you.