Claude Hopkins once said the worst mistake advertisers make is assuming people know what you mean. That thought hit me today while talking with Dave Crysler—because that mistake? It’s not just in advertising.
It’s everywhere in business.
Dave runs a consultancy that helps $5M–$50M manufacturing and distribution companies get their ops in order. You’d think companies at that scale have everything buttoned up. Slick systems. Dialed-in automation. Clear metrics.
You’d be wrong.
In this episode, we covered a ton—but if I had to distill it all down, here’s the big takeaway:
Most businesses don’t have a tech problem. They have a process problem.
Dave sees it every week. A company thinks their software isn’t working, so they jump ship. New CRM. New ERP. New headache. And three months later? Same bottlenecks. Different logos.
You’re not gonna automate your way out of chaos. You’ve got to think before you build.
Highlights from Today’s Conversation:
– Why your CRM swap probably isn’t helping– The hidden cost of skipping SOPs– How one ops tweak doubled throughput (no new hires, no new tech)– The real fear—and real opportunity—of AI in manufacturing– Why AI writing isn’t your enemy (you’re just not using it right)
And yes, we talked about a pickle factory. (Because who doesn’t want to hear about a pickle factory?)
But what struck me the most was something simple Dave said:
“It’s simple, not easy.”
Setting up a Make.com zap to route emails into a Google Sheet? Simple.Tweaking it until it works? Not easy.
Everyone wants the magic tool. But the real wins come from understanding your team, your process, your flow.
Think about this: Dave worked with one company that 2x’d throughput. No hires. No tech. Just smarter flow.
That’s not just improvement. That’s leverage.
The Real ROIHere’s what I see too often:Business owners chase the next big thing in AI, hoping it saves them. But they ignore the 30% of office time wasted doing the same thing over and over.
In one company, we discovered 30% of their core admin time could be automated right now. No coding. No custom dev. Just smart systems.
Not sexy. But it’ll save them hundreds of thousands.
So what’s the play?You don’t need to revamp your whole business.
You need to find the dumb stuff you do twice. Then fix it.
Build your AI muscle with small wins. Not bloated systems. Not $50K mistakes.
Small automations are like compound interest. Start stacking them and suddenly your margins look a lot better. You’re not just making more. You’re keeping more.
Final ThoughtA lot of this boils down to one idea:
“Simple workflows beat advanced systems that no one uses.”
That’s the kind of thing Claude Hopkins would tattoo on a coffee mug.
Thanks again to Dave for coming on. You can find him on LinkedIn or Twitter/X—or at www.thecrysler.club, where he shares more about this stuff.
If you’ve got a team and you feel stuck between “we’ve outgrown this” and “please don’t make me learn another tool,” this one’s for you.
Talk soon,Ryan
