02 Who does what
How the business is put together, on paper and in practice.
Owners, directors, senior managers, and what each looks after day to day, not just on paper.
Jobs nobody officially owns, one person juggling three roles, or decisions that can only happen when you are in the room. "Everything runs through me" is a very common answer.
03 The numbers, broadly
Ballpark answers are fine. This stays between us and shapes what we recommend.
Gut feel is fine. Plenty of owners only see this clearly at tax time, and saying so helps us.
Seasonal dips, slow payers, big supplier bills, wage weeks. The pattern matters more than the amounts.
04 Where it hurts
The operational problems worth solving. This is where your quick wins come from.
The things worth protecting. We build around strengths, not just problems.
The things that slow you down, cost you time or money, or keep you up at night.
Be specific. These three answers usually become the quick wins we bring to our first meeting.
Hours a week, dollars a month, lost jobs, missed calls, staff turnover. A rough guess beats a blank.
05 Marketing and lead generation
Where the next customer comes from. We dig here because it is usually home to the fastest wins.
Referrals, Google, social media, walk-ins, paid ads, repeat customers. Rank them if you can.
Website, SEO, Google or Meta ads, socials, email, print, sponsorships. "Not much" is a common and useful answer.
Who responds, how fast, whether anything is tracked, and where leads quietly die.
Saves us recommending something you have already spent money proving wrong.
06 How you win and deliver the work
Whatever you call the work, this is about how a job goes from first contact to paid.
In plain English, the way you would explain it to a neighbour. Include your typical customer and the jobs you do most often.
Who answers, how it is quoted, who books it in, who does the work, and when the invoice goes out. Include roughly how long each step takes.
Who writes them, how long they take, whether anyone follows up, and your rough win rate. "No idea" is a very common answer.
Diary, whiteboard, spreadsheet, job management software. Who decides who goes where, and what happens when a job runs over or a customer cancels.
After hours, on the tools, mid-job, on the phone to someone else. Missed calls and unanswered enquiries are usually the single biggest leak we find.
Regular customers, maintenance contracts, seasonal jobs, or starting from scratch every month.
Employees, subcontractors, casuals, or just you. Include how new people are trained and how quality stays consistent.
Google reviews, word of mouth, past customer follow-ups, reminders for the next service, or nothing formal yet.
Job sheets, photos, compliance forms, safety documents, timesheets, invoices. Where does it get typed in more than once.
07 Your platforms and tools
The systems the business runs on today, and how well they get along.
CRM, project tools, documents, accounting. e.g. HubSpot, Asana, SharePoint, Xero, and the spreadsheets in between.
Where data gets re-typed from one system into another, or lives only in someone's head.
08 AI and automation
No technical knowledge needed, honest answers beat polished ones.
"A couple of us use ChatGPT for emails" absolutely counts. "Nowhere yet" is a perfectly good answer.
Dream big. This tells us exactly where to look first.
09 Goals and practicalities
So we can tailor the conversation and make the next step easy.
For example: "ten hours of my time back a week", "an extra job a month", "a business that runs without me".