Business situations · B2B services

What’s behind your business results?

You’re winning more orders, but profit has barely moved. Salespeople are arranging meetings, but few buyers go ahead. Established customers renew, but rarely buy anything else. These situations can have different causes. Before deciding what to change, look at customer demand, what was agreed, what was delivered and the costs involved.

Look beyond the headline number

Where the explanation may begin

A slower sales month may begin with fewer suitable enquiries or with buyers taking longer to decide. A larger customer may create more work than revenue suggests. The articles show how to tell those situations apart — and what records can help.

DemandWhy doesn’t outbound work like referrals did?A recommendation may establish trust and identify a need before the first conversation. A new channel often has to do that work itself. Existing customersWhy aren’t existing customers buying more?A successful contract does not establish demand for a different service. Look at what has changed in the customer’s business. Profit & costsWhy isn’t more work bringing more profit?Additional revenue improves profit only after the extra cost of delivery and any new capacity it requires. How the records connectWhy do Sales, Delivery and Finance see different figures?The contract, work log and invoice may describe different parts of the same job. See how to connect them.

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When teams see different parts of the same result

The same job looks different to Sales, Delivery and Finance

Sales knows what was agreed. Delivery knows what was needed to complete the work. Finance knows what was billed and what it cost. Each record can be accurate while the business still cannot explain why the job earned less than expected.

How sales targets and delivery costs can conflict →
From enquiry to opportunityWhat should the sales funnel count, and what belongs in the live deal pipeline? From enquiry to orderDid demand fall, did buyers stop proceeding or did order values change? From order to deliveryWhere did the extra visits, revisions or uncharged work come from? From revenue to the cost of serving a customerDoes the biggest account also leave the most money after delivery costs?