What’s slipping — a one-week count
Nobody loses work all at once. It goes a call at a time, a quote at a time, and it never turns up on a bill. That’s what makes it hard to argue with.
This is a way to see it. Seven things to count for one week. It takes about two minutes a day.
Don’t change anything while you’re counting. You want to know what a normal week looks like, not a week where you were trying. Changing things comes after.
How to use it
Get the tally sheet — one page, nothing to fill in first. Put it where you’ll see it: in the van, by the till, on the fridge. Keep a pen with it. At the end of each day, put a mark in the box, or write the number in. On day seven, add them up.
The rest of this page is what to do about each one. If you’d rather not print anything, seven lines in your phone’s notes app works just as well.
1. Calls that rang out
Count: Every call you didn't pick up.
Where to look: Your phone's call log, last thing at night.
Try this week, for free: Change your voicemail so it says you'll text back within the hour — then text back.
Why it slips: It works on a quiet week. It stops the first time you're under a floor with your phone in the van.
2. Quotes you've heard nothing back on
Count: Quotes you sent more than a week ago that nobody has answered.
Where to look: Your sent folder, or wherever quotes go.
Try this week, for free: Pick the three biggest and send one line today. “Just checking you got this — any questions?”
Why it slips: It isn't hard. It's just never the most urgent thing on a Tuesday.
3. Invoices past their date
Count: How many, and what they add up to.
Where to look: Your accounts app, or the drawer.
Try this week, for free: Send a friendly reminder on the oldest one. Chances are it's been forgotten, not refused.
Why it slips: Asking for your money feels like begging, so it goes to the bottom of the list and stays there.
4. Slots that emptied
Count: No-shows, late cancellations, and gaps you couldn't fill.
Where to look: Your diary.
Try this week, for free: Text every booking the day before. One line is plenty.
Why it slips: It's a job for a Sunday night, and Sunday night already has jobs.
5. Messages that waited overnight
Count: Any message — Facebook, WhatsApp, the website, a text — that you didn't answer the same day.
Where to look: Your phone.
Try this week, for free: Save a reply on your phone so answering is one tap instead of writing something.
Why it slips: A message at 9pm on a Friday goes to whoever answers first. At 9pm on a Friday, that isn't you.
6. Jobs you were proud of, and reviews you got
Count: Two numbers. Jobs you finished well this week, and reviews that came in this week.
Where to look: Your diary, and your Google profile.
Try this week, for free: Ask three customers face to face, while you're stood there. That's when people say yes.
Why it slips: Asking is the bit everyone hates, so it's the bit that stops.
7. Days since your last post
Count: One number. Look at your Facebook or Instagram page and count back.
Where to look: The page itself.
Try this week, for free: Put up one photo off your phone from a job. Not a caption you agonise over — just the work.
Why it slips: A page that last posted in March tells a new customer you might not be trading.
On day seven — the sum we won’t do for you
Take your missed calls, and your quiet quotes.
Of those, how many would have turned into work? Not all of them — you know your own trade. You also know roughly what one job is worth to you, and you’re the only person who does. Multiply those two together. That’s one week. Times it by fifty-two if you’ve the stomach.
We won’t put a figure on your business that we’ve invented, and you should be careful of anyone who will. This number is yours, and it’s the only one worth trusting.
What to do with it
If one line is clearly worse than the rest, that’s the one to fix first. Start there, on your own, with the free fix above. It might be enough.
If three or four are bad, the problem isn’t any one of them. It’s that all of it depends on you remembering, at the end of a day when you’re tired. That’s the sort of thing worth handing to a system.
If you want a second opinion, send us your seven numbers and we’ll book the audit. You walk us through a typical day, on a call or a video call where you show us your screen. If you’re in South Yorkshire, we come out to you.
You get a plan in writing afterwards. It says what we’d build, what we’d leave alone, one fixed price, and what it costs a month if you want us to keep looking after it. One round of changes, and the price holds for 30 days.
The audit and the plan are both free. If nothing’s worth building, the plan says so.
The seven lines are already in the box. You just add the numbers.