If it doesn’t exist, you can’t make it better

From writing out an entire process for my sales pipeline, to automating most of it in Airtable — the past week or so I’ve been swimming in the concept of processes.

The thing I’ve noticed most beneficial about having processes is eliminating so many of the micro-decisions we make every day.

There’s a reason that computers and machines can be so much more efficient than humans — they don’t have to make any decisions. They are programmed to know what to do next.

Of all the things the brain does, making decisions has to be one of the most taxing.

Without a process, my sales process is a lot messier…

• Should I add this to my to do list? Or just do it now?
• Should I follow up?
• Should I give the client a ballpark to see if we’re a fit?
• Should I pitch discovery?
• Okay, it’s been 5 days — now should I follow up?

Stopping down every time to weigh options and make a decision not only takes up time (which I know you said you don’t have enough of, right?) but it also uses a lot of energy.

That’s where I think I’ve seen the best results from having a strict process in place — I don’t have to decide on anything… I simply move to the next step.

This not only gives me a little more time in the day, but it:

• Reserves more energy for my brain to work on the creative things I enjoy
• Helps ensure I’m not dropping the ball
• Makes it so that I could bring in someone to help if need be
• It helps me measure what’s working and what’s not
• Less backtracking to sift through notes and see what I’ve already done and what’s left to do
• Makes clients more confident in me because things are like clockwork

It really doesn’t have to be complicated — in fact, it shouldn’t be.

Grab a sheet of paper, a Google doc, or a stack of sticky notes and just write down a general outline of everything that happens in whatever process you’re trying to nail down.

The first draft will be messy, and that’s totally fine. It should be messy.

The only way you’re going to have a good process is to have some sort of process in the first place. You can’t make something better if it doesn’t even exist.