Are you losing business due to cracks in the system?
You'll find them in your WhatsApp, your missed calls and the inbox you open on a Friday night. We're Archimedes. We find where enquiries get stuck in your business, then give you a ranked list of what to fix first.
Dear owner,
You built your business by being the person who knows the answer. That works with five people. Past ten or so, it means a lot of the business waits for you: the quote that needs your sign-off, the client question only you can answer, the voicemail you'll return on Monday.
Harvard Business Review studied 1.25 million sales enquiries. Firms that tried to reply within an hour were nearly seven times as likely to have a meaningful conversation with a decision maker as firms that waited even an hour longer.Oldroyd, McElheran & Elkington, Harvard Business Review, March 2011
I don't think a business your size needs a big new system to fix that. It needs someone to look at how work moves through the one you have, find where it stops, and fix those places in order.
That's what I do. I start by following real enquiries, quotes and orders through your business and writing down every place they get stuck, ranked by what each one costs you. If you want me to, I then fix the ones worth fixing, one at a time, and keep checking each month so they stay fixed and the next one gets done.
I don't sell software, and I take no commission from anyone who does. If the right answer is to leave something alone, I'll tell you.
If the first step doesn't find at least one gap you can fix this month, you don't pay for it.
01632 960371
01632 960371 · 0:34
Priya: does anyone know if Hartley's signed the contract?
New enquiry: Are you taking on new clients?
Morning! Did you manage to look at the contract?
No worries, we've gone with someone else. Thanks anyway
1Wednesday, a client asks if Friday's appointment is still on. You read it between sessions and mean to answer at lunch. By lunch there are four more. Her phone says Read, twice, so she starts calling elsewhere.
2Saturday, a number you don't know leaves a voicemail about a party for 30. You see it on Monday. By then she's booked whoever picked up.
Voicemail
3Your website form works. It sends each enquiry to an inbox you open on a Friday night, after they've spoken to two other firms.
Inbox
4Then the team WhatsApp. The questions land on you because you're the one who knows the answer, so Jamie sits outside Screwfix until you've finished the job you're on.
Work comes in four ways and all four wait for you. We find where it piles up.
The Archimedes Trace.
How we find where your work gets stuck. Three stages, and at the end, your Stuck List.
- Map. You walk us through how work comes in. The phone, WhatsApp, the website, and who answers what. We ask where things wait.
- Trace. We follow real enquiries to where they stopped. With your permission we go through the inbox, the WhatsApps, the spreadsheet and the diary. Don't tidy anything first. The way things are now shows us where work goes missing.
- Rank. You get your Stuck List. Every place work gets stuck, ranked by what it costs you, with what to fix first. We go through it with you.
Hi Sam,
Your top priority is quotes and proposals. None of them has a chase date, so warm leads go cold. We've ranked everything else below it. Take a look and we'll talk it through on our call.
Charles Thoumire
Founder, Archimedes
Where your work gets stuck
For: Turner & Co (example) · ranked by work lost
| # | Stuck point | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Quotes and proposals go out with no chase dateWarm clients drift while nobody owns the follow-up. | Fix first |
| 2 | Weekend calls wait until MondayVoicemails from new numbers are never returned. | Fix first |
| 3 | Website enquiries sit unreadThe form lands in an inbox checked weekly. | Next |
| 4 | Every client question goes to the ownerThe team can't move until you answer. | Next |
Fair questions.
Owners ask us these before they book. The answers are the same ones you'd get on the phone.
Yours,
P.S. If you already know one thing that keeps slipping, put it in the form. That's where I'll start looking.
Book a call with us.
Answer a few short questions and Charles will call you to arrange a time that suits you.