1492: On Systems for Continuous Business Improvement by Michael Mehlberg on Process Optimization Management

[00:00:00] This complex financing talk is very challenging. Do I get my depot ever?

[00:00:06] But you already have a depot.

[00:00:08] No.

[00:00:09] Yes, you have the Vodafone Gigadepot.

[00:00:11] That's right! And I have myself in the hand how big my depot is.

[00:00:15] Now with the Vodafone Gigadepot and the data volume of the next month. Go on in the 5G network of Vodafone.

[00:00:22] Vodafone. Together we can.

[00:00:24] This is Optimal Work Daily on Systems for Continuous Business Improvement by Michael Mehlberg of MichaelMehlberg.com

[00:00:35] I remember the pain of losing my first sale. I'd spent nearly $1,500 on flights and hotels, taken two days out for travel, and spent another two days preparing for what I thought was going to be a slam dunk meeting.

[00:00:48] As it turns out, if you want to slam dunk, you need to clear a path to the basket before you jump.

[00:00:54] The funny thing was, my meeting went exceptionally well. I had my talking points, I answered all their questions, I was friendly, funny, and otherwise firing on all cylinders.

[00:01:03] But in sales, that's not always enough. Your competition can be just as funny and friendly if not more.

[00:01:09] They can answer all of your customers' questions, making all their points, and be firing on all cylinders too.

[00:01:15] Only to knock you out of business with a better product, a more aggressive price, a longer history with your customer, more local support, or whatever.

[00:01:23] I needed a system.

[00:01:25] The thing is, even though I was crushing it, I didn't have a system in place for breaking down my customers' barriers and extracting every objection they might have.

[00:01:33] I thought doing my best was enough when, in fact, I needed to do my best and anticipate every nuanced question or comment my customer might make behind closed doors after I left.

[00:01:44] A few short months after my presentation, I bumped into this customer at a conference. They had gone silent, never returning my calls, never asking to meet again.

[00:01:53] Through our short conversation, it slipped that they had bought our competitor's product.

[00:01:57] I'm certain they could see the shock and disappointment in my face. They mumbled a few parting words, about-faced, and left for good.

[00:02:05] I usually get mad about these kinds of things. I tend to feel misled, untrusted, and don't understand why.

[00:02:12] But until recently, I didn't do anything permanent about it.

[00:02:15] Just this month, with a few years of learning and a few more lost sales under my belt, I was reading Ray Dalio's new book, Principles.

[00:02:22] If you don't know who Ray Dalio is, it's not important to the point of this story.

[00:02:26] Just know that he is a superhuman billionaire investor who has spent a lifetime improving his profession by systematizing everything in his life and work.

[00:02:35] For example, not only did he encode everything he learned about economics into computer algorithms that could make investment decisions for him,

[00:02:43] but he coded everything he knew about good management practices in algorithms that could help his management team make good decisions at work.

[00:02:50] This type of thinking changed me.

[00:02:53] Ingredients for Continuously Improving Business

[00:02:57] I no longer get angry about losing a sale. Instead, Ray's book reminds me that my system for selling is simply unfinished, missing one or more critical ingredients.

[00:03:06] So I created a sales system of my own, a recipe of sorts.

[00:03:11] Now, when I learn from a win or a loss, I add those lessons, or ingredients, to my recipe.

[00:03:16] My sales system grows stronger, my sales grow bigger, and I have to think less.

[00:03:21] All because of Ray's book.

[00:03:22] I don't usually buy hardcover books, especially a 592-page behemoth-like Principles, but this is one I'm glad to have on my bookshelf.

[00:03:31] This is a book that is positively affecting my business and my life.

[00:03:35] I'm nowhere near finished with it yet, but I'm already eager to go back and read my highlights, and I've made many, many highlights.

[00:03:41] Like the study he did on Steve Jobs, Jack Dorsey, Bill Gates, and other extremely successful entrepreneurs who have shaped entire industries and the world,

[00:03:50] the lessons he took from studying those individuals, though they're condensed to just a few paragraphs, are worth the price of the book alone.

[00:03:57] Anyway, I could go on and on about this book, but for your sake, I won't.

[00:04:01] Just buy it, read it, and take these lessons in for yourself.

[00:04:05] Take your lessons, build your systems.

[00:04:08] Even if you don't buy Principles, or if you can't get to reading it right away, here's one lesson you shouldn't ignore.

[00:04:14] For all the things that make your business your business, build a system.

[00:04:18] For all the things that make you you, build a system.

[00:04:21] My system for sales is a simple list of bullet points in Evernote.

[00:04:25] That's it!

[00:04:26] A dozen or so reminders to never make the same mistakes twice.

[00:04:30] These reminders all but guarantee that I will perform my best in the future.

[00:04:34] And should I lose another sale, the lessons I learned from that loss will go right into my system to improve it and me for every sale in the future.

[00:04:42] I've now built systems for my sales process, my life and business goals, my yearly accomplishments, and a breakdown of my monthly, weekly, and daily activities to make sure that I am as absolutely productive, balanced, relaxed, and happy as I can be.

[00:04:57] So for you, today, if you only do one thing, do this.

[00:05:01] Take one task that you perform over and over, and turn it into a system that will make your life and work easier.

[00:05:08] Whether you write it down on paper with a fountain pen, the only way to write, or hire a programmer to turn it into an algorithm, capture your system and let it make decisions for you.

[00:05:18] Build a system that you can use now and forever.

[00:05:21] It will give you back some time in your day and make you all the more productive and successful.

[00:05:26] You just listened to the post titled, On Systems for Continuous Business Improvement by Michael Melberg of michaelmelberg.com.

[00:05:37] And thank you to Michael. He is a family man, an entrepreneur, business professional, fitness nut, organization freak, productivity junkie, and the author of Home Early, which is a book about destroying distraction, becoming powerfully productive, and finishing work before dinner.

[00:05:55] You can get the first chapter of his book for free with a bunch of worksheets to go along with it right on his site, michaelmelberg.com.

[00:06:03] And I'll spell his last name for you too. It's M-E-H-L-B-E-R-G.com.

[00:06:09] And he also has a Home Early 2021 planner that's worth checking out.

[00:06:13] So come by his site for all of that. I have it linked in this episode's description.

[00:06:17] But I think that will do it for today.

[00:06:19] Have a very happy Thursday and thanks as always for being a subscriber.

[00:06:23] I'm going to see you right back here tomorrow for the Friday show.

[00:06:26] That's where your optimal life awaits.