At Belmont we are no longer surprised. We have learned that there is a scientific method (ACE™) to find these “golden nuggets” that dramatically improve the bottom line. At this point you may be saying “What? How?”

Take, for example, a sales pitch used by service reps in a large telecommunications company. Analysis showed that some wording patterns (“I recommend this package which includes caller ID and many more optional services at ‘X’ dollars per month”) consistently brought better sales results. Others - reeling off all features of a package (20 features in all), or detailing all the benefits of another service - consistently resulted in lower sales. In short, a pattern emerged from the analysis. Some wording consistently sold. Other wording consistently did not sell. Conclusion? Use the wording that works. Saying less sold more. Go figure. The sales operation used the wording that worked - and saw its revenue per hour per service rep increase almost 50%!

How was this done? With a scientific method called Applied Cause and Effect analysis (ACE™) . This method involves obtaining ideas from the front line and analyzing a number of different combinations (usually 20-30) at the same time. Invariably the analysis turns up a winning combination – and invariably some of the results are surprising. An idea or a combination of ideas you are convinced would work, ….do not. And one you wouldn’t have given much of a chance is surprising successful.

When the analysis is completed and the results are in hand, it is always interesting to ask the people who requested this analysis to guess the three or so ideas that “helped the most” and the three or so that “hurt the most”. Only one out of several hundred people who have played this game has guessed even two of the critical core of ideas. Several dozen have guessed correctly on one. The great majority failed to place – failed to guess even one correctly. But maybe that shouldn’t be so surprising after all. If people could easily guess how to improve their results, they probably would have taken the appropriate action already. It’s the combination of ideas that produce the patterns of success or failure that people wouldn’t otherwise discern. Finding the right combination is what ACE™ is all about.

Belmont University wants to highlight these methods and is offering three premier courses : Continuous Improvement Analysis and Cross Functional Improvement Analysis I and II (includes ACE™). Our courses emphasize service companies and include one-on-one coaching provided by the instructor throughout.

1. Continuous Improvement Analysis (Six Sigma Green Belt) – 3 hours undergraduate credit in the College of Liberal Arts, $4200. This course teaches the principles of Six Sigma emphasizing the creation of the charter, researching the voice of the customer, measuring the status quo of a process, LEAN improvement solutions (streamlining work flows, differentiating value-added from non value-added work, one-piece flow, mistake-proofing, etc.) and how to control or sustain the gains. Because this course requires the student to complete a project, the instructor includes one-on-one coaching both in the classroom and on the clients’ site to ensure maximum transference of knowledge. Once students have completed this course they will have a Six Sigma Green Belt certification.

2. Cross Functional Improvement Analysis I & II (Six Sigma Black Belt I & II) – 3 hours graduate credit for each course towards the Master of Education degree in Organizational Leadership and Communication, 6 hours total, $8400. 3 hours graduate credit will transfer to the Master of Business Administration.
Pre-requisite: Continuous Improvement Analysis.

These two courses build on the knowledge gained from the Continuous Improvement Analysis course but focus on advanced topics that include cross-functional projects. These courses use the principles of Lean and Six Sigma as a base but add such topics as creating survey instruments to measure customer satisfaction, advanced statistical process control, measurement system evaluation, regression, normal theory and most importantly Applied Cause and Effect Analysis (ACE™).

Belmont’s courses are dramatically different from other courses. In our courses students will be required to complete a project that utilizes ACE™ where multiple ideas for improvement (20-30) will be analyzed simultaneously to find the “golden nuggets” that dramatically improve the bottom line. An actual case study analyzing 27 ideas simultaneously to increase sales (that resulted in an increase of $3M a month to the client) will be highlighted throughout the course. The instructor is an experienced ACE™ practitioner and includes one-on-one coaching both in the classroom and on the clients’ site to ensure maximum transference of knowledge. Once students have completed both of these courses they will have a Six Sigma Black Belt certification in either the Master of Education in Organizational Leadership and Communication or the Master of Business Administration.

Contact Cynthia Mc Lane at (615) 460-5566 or mclanec@mail.belmont.edu for more information.