Every so often I decide to swing by the gas station and buy a cup of coffee on my way to work. There are really two good choices for coffee between my house and the church. Gas station #1 sells coffee and cappuccino for the same price. Just show the cashier the size of your cup and pay. Gas station #2 sells coffee and cappuccino at two different price points (very close to each other). So you have to tell the cashier whether you have coffee or cappuccino, or in my case it gets confusing. Here’s why.

I normally get about 10% vanilla steamer or cappuccino and 90% coffee. At gas station #1 it’s not a problem. I pay my 99 cents and walk out the door. At gas station #2 I have given up telling the cashier that it’s only 10% cappuccino, I just pay the higher price.

Gas station #1 has made life easier on everyone. Pay one price, no questions. This leaves customers feeling happy and cashiers less frustrated trying to guess what’s inside the cup. Gas station #2 leaves people like me feeling like I’ve paid too much.

The point? Make processes easy for people. Have an outsider (it normally requires a new set of eyes) look over your policies and procedures and tell you how you can make them easier. Sometimes it’s something obvious that you haven’t seen. You’ll hit a win/win with everyone.