We sell meat products for Six Sigma Ranch at a local farmer’s market. In the beginning, when someone would approach our stand, I would tell about the products and mention that we have a waiting list for large lots. I would give them a flier and encourage them to sign up on our website.

Early each week, I’d go check for new sign-ups and there wouldn’t be any. It was not that the customers were not interested. They came to ask questions and genuinely wanted our products, but somewhere in the business of life they put my flyer down and forgot about it.

A better tack is a concept called “required response.”

Economist Richard Thaler in his book Nudge tells about different ways people can sign up to become an organ donor.  Here is an example from Illinois:

“Here is how it works: When you go to renew your driver’s license and update your photograph, you are required to answer this question: “Do you wish to be an organ donor?” The state now has a 60 percent donor signup rate, according to Donate Life Illinois, a coalition of agencies. That is much higher than the national rate of 38 percent reported by Donate Life America.” – Richard Thaler

Did you catch that it raised the sign-ups by 22%?

This is how I could turn my disappointing sign-up numbers into a real win. Instead of giving away the flyer, I could ask people to fill out the sign-up form right there at the table and give a reward to them for doing so, like a free tour of the property that is usually a $10 value. More sign-ups mean more tours and more fun had by all.

-Rachel

Shearing a sheep has a pattern that, when followed, is efficient, precise and safe for both you and the sheep. In the 1950’s Sir Godfrey Bowen developed a method for shearing that is still used today. The pattern is very specific down to the exact number of strokes each part of the sheep takes. A really good shearer can shear a sheep in less than 2 minutes using his technique. I’m not a really good shearer but it reduces my time by more than half. (Yes, I tried to shear a sheep after watching a few Youtube videos and it took 45 minutes. After a week of shearing school I was down to 20 minutes.)

There are so many things I do every day that would be faster, more accurate and easy if I found the best way. Michael Gerber in “The E Myth,” his popular book on small business, suggests finding the best way for everything, then recording it in an Operations Manual.

Here are my top 5 reasons for putting some effort into writing Operations Manuals.

1. Your mind is free to be creative somewhere else

2. It is easier to teach someone else how to do what you do

3. You have a baseline for tracking effectiveness

4. When something goes wrong you can look at your process to find out why

5. You don’t have to waste your time problem-solving something you problem-solved in the past

What have you found to be easier after finding the best way?

Rachel

       Andy Beckstoffer sells wine grapes at prices above $10,000 per ton, in an industry where $2,000 is more common. He grows thousands of acres, and has spent 40 years turning Beckstoffer Vineyards into a luxury brand in an industry dominated by nameless commodities.

“Uhh, how?” asked a fellow grape grower at a meeting I attended a few years ago.

The question was a good one. If the man who dominates your industry shows up at a meeting, it’s time to table the agenda and start asking him questions.

And Andy was happy to share, in his charming Virginia accent. “Well, Bill, if you grow wine grapes, you better grow the best damn wine grapes in the world. And you better put all your energy into that, and you better ask people to put your name on the bottle so people know where the grapes came from. And when your winemaker customers get a higher price for their wine because your grapes are better than everyone else’s, you better ask to get a proper share of that price.”

I knew all that from reading about Beckstoffer in history books, but it was still fun to hear it from the man himself.

And then came the nugget that I hadn’t read anywhere.

“But even if you grow the best damn grapes, you need people to notice. So if you’re a grape grower, you’re not going to be spending time with other grape growers. Grape growers don’t buy grapes. You better be spending time with winemakers. Winemakers buy grapes. And the best winemakers in America were in Napa Valley when we started, so that’s where I set up office. If you’re a grape grower, you’re selling grapes to winemakers, so you better walk where they walk, eat where they eat, and pee where they pee. And then when they come up short on a wine blend, and you’re standing right there at the urinal next to them, you bet they’re gonna ask you about the finest grapes in the world.”

They didn’t mention urinals when I took my MBA, and I’m not sure if they came up at Dartmouth in 1966 when Andy finished his. But Andy’s comments have done more for my understanding of business than most of the things that did come up in school.

Christian

ps. If Andy reads this post, I hope he will excuse my paraphrase. I couldn’t take notes fast enough to get it verbatim. I hope to have captured the essence.