I think my coffee maker came with my house in 2010.
Maybe not.
But we got it not long after that.
It's not fancy.
It just makes coffee.
It has a clock, and it's programmable.
A little over a month ago, when my mom was visiting, I discovered it has a "Bold" setting.
(Now that I look at this picture, I see that it also has a "Clean" setting, which I think my wife uses, but I literally never have. But I digress.)
I had my morning coffee routine, and it worked just fine.
But when my mom was visiting, she asked why I was grinding the coffee we had, which was already ground.
I explained that I liked the coffee to be a little finer to get a bolder brew.
She nodded and asked if I ever used the "Bold" button on the coffee maker.
I asked her why she would try to trick me over such an important matter.
She assured me she would never trick me over such an important matter and pointed to this "Bold" button, which has been staring at me for more years than I can remember, but I had never seen it.
Sidebar: I need reading glasses to read the labels on this heavenly machine, and it's tucked in our butler pantry, which is usually dark because I'm too lazy to turn the light on, so it's not like it was LITERALLY staring me in the face every day...but it was.
Routines are good.
Routines are freeing.
Routines allow our minds to wander and ponder more important things than what buttons are on our coffee maker.
But sometimes, occasionally, sporadically, every so often, routines should be evaluated, reviewed, and confirmed to be up to date, proper, efficient, and optimized.
Sometimes that takes an outsider, i.e., someone from outside your company and maybe outside your industry.
Because you've been doing things a certain way proves they work.
But processes created 5-10-20 years ago may not work as well today as when they were designed.
If you can measure something, you can improve it.
When's the last time you took a measurement of your business processes?
When's the last time you reviewed how your sales and marketing teams do their thing?
If you think things are "good enough" or "bumping along," well...good luck with that.
Your success lies right behind the door you're afraid to open.
But you might not even be able to see the Bold door right in front of you.
Give me a call if I can help. I'll bring the bold coffee.
Market like you mean it.
Now go sell something.
