Streamlining a Process

Last year, my son made his first real effort to sell popcorn for the Cub Scouts. The year before that he kind of phoned it in, selling maybe a handful of orders. Last year, though. he really got into it. He went all over our neighborhood, and sold over $1,000 worth of popcorn. He had his pitch down. He was super polite, excited to talk to everyone, gracious even if there was no sale. I couldn't have been more proud.

When it was time to deliver everything however, it was anything but smooth. Most people decided they'd pay when the goods arrived. That meant my son had to go out multiple times, because he couldn't drop anything off unless the people were home and could pay him at that time. It was a long few weeks.

This time, we streamlined. Our updated system included:

1. A map of the area. We marked which sides of the street we'd visited to keep track of where we'd already been, and tried to keep the blocks we chose in more or less of a group.
2. A double-check of the form after each sale. I didn't go up to the houses with him (that's his jam, not mine), but I did peek at the form each time to make sure we could read his writing and tell what people ordered and their name and address.
3. Most importantly, my son changed one thing about his pitch. When people asked if they needed to pay now, he'd say, "It would be great if you could, because then you won't need to be home when we drop off your popcorn.". This worked well because: a) It wasn't telling them they had to do anything, more like asking it as a favor. b) It emphasized the convenience for them--not us.

Now we know exactly what we're dropping off, and to whom, and we don't need to make multiple trips hoping they are home. He made roughly the same amount this year, but he'll probably spend at least 1/3 less time on the project.

What types of tasks do you complete regularly that could be streamlined? How much time could it save you?