Small Touches = Hidden Cost Centers

May 7, 2025Marijus Jankauskas

"If it's repeatable, it's automatable. If it's automatable, it's scalable."

Most businesses don't calculate the cost of being nice.

Seriously.

Writing the customer's name on a cup?

Labeling sauces for Uber Eats?

Adding a handwritten "thank you"?

It feels free.

It's not.

You're paying in staff time, attention, and mistakes.

And if something's forgotten?

That small error can lead to a 1-star review.

So here's what one of my U.S. clients did:

They connected their order system to a label printer.

It prints out each dish label with the right message.

Automatically.

No mental effort. No mistakes.

The result?

Fewer errors. Faster packing.

And more 5-star reviews.

Implementation:

  1. List your niceties (anything done for the customer "just because")
  2. Count how often they're done
  3. Estimate the time (and error) cost
  4. Build a tiny automation or script to handle it
  5. Free up your team to do what only humans can do

This is what I help my clients think through:

The hidden details, and the system that makes them work.

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