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Q1. When a new enquiry comes in by phone, email, WhatsApp, social media or your website, what most accurately describes what happens next? *

Every enquiry is captured automatically and gets a consistent response regardless of when it arrives or who's available

We pick them up reliably during working hours but outside of that it depends on who sees it first

Most things get picked up but I'll be honest, during busy periods things can slip and I'm not always sure what we've missed

Enquiries come in through so many different channels that I couldn't confidently tell you we catch all of them

Q2. Think about your phone specifically. When you're on a job, in a meeting or simply unavailable, what happens to calls that don't get answered? *

Calls are handled automatically, either by a system that captures the enquiry or diverts to someone who can help

We use a text back system.

We rely on people leaving a voicemail but plenty don't and we have no way of knowing how many just ring off and call someone else

If I'm being honest, missed calls are probably costing us business and I don't know how much

Q3. If someone asked you right now to show them every live opportunity your business is currently working on, where each one came from, what stage it's at and what the next step is, how would that conversation go? *

I could show them in under two minutes, it's all in one place and kept up to date

I could pull it together but it would take me a while and involve checking a few different places

I'd have a rough picture in my head but I couldn't show them anything reliable on paper or on a screen

That level of visibility isn't something we currently have, it lives in people's heads including mine

Q4. When something needs to be picked up by someone else in your business, whether that's a quote, a follow-up call, a job handover or a client query, what most accurately describes how that happens? *

There's a clear and consistent way it gets passed on, the next person has everything they need without having to ask

We communicate it verbally or by message and it usually works but it relies on people remembering what was said

Things occasionally fall between the cracks, not because people don't care but because there's no single place where it's tracked

Handovers are probably one of our weakest points, too much relies on the right person being available and remembering the details

Q5. Think about the information that keeps your business running; client details, job notes, quotes, communication history, follow-up reminders. Where does most of it actually live? *

In one central place that's organised, up to date and accessible to everyone who needs it

Mostly in one system but with things scattered across email threads, messages and spreadsheets as well

Spread across several different places, finding what you need takes longer than it should and you're never quite sure if what you're looking at is current

A lot of it lives in people's heads, on personal phones or in formats that only make sense to the person who created them. If that person wasn't there tomorrow, finding things would be a real problem

Q6. If the person your business depends on most, whether that's you or someone else, was suddenly and completely unavailable for three weeks, what would realistically happen? *

The business would continue to run smoothly. The knowledge, processes and contacts aren't dependent on any one person

There would be some disruption but the team could manage most things between them

Several important things would slow down or stop, too much knowledge and too many relationships sit with one person

It would be seriously problematic. The business runs because of that person and without them it would be very difficult to keep things moving

Q7. Think about what happens between someone first showing interest in your business and them actually becoming a paying client. Which most accurately describes that process? *

There's a defined sequence that moves people through consistently. Follow-ups happen automatically and nothing gets forgotten

We follow up but the approach varies, some people get more attention than others depending on how busy we are

Follow-up is largely manual and relies on someone remembering to do it which means it's inconsistent

If I'm honest we're mostly reactive, we respond when people come back to us but we don't have a proactive process for the ones who go quiet

Q8. Think about the routine work that happens in your business every week: admin, chasing, updating information, sending standard messages, producing reports. Which most accurately describes your situation? *

Most of it runs automatically, time is spent on work that genuinely requires human skill and judgement

Some things are automated but a meaningful amount of routine work is still done manually every week

Most of it is manual, we know it should be more efficient but haven't had time to address it

The volume of time spent on admin and coordination is one of the things that most limits our capacity to grow

Q9. When something goes wrong in your business, a missed deadline, a dropped communication, an unhappy client, how do you typically find out? *

We usually identify it ourselves before it becomes a problem, we have enough visibility to catch things early

Someone on the team flags it before it reaches the client

The client tells us which isn't ideal but that's usually how it surfaces

Sometimes we don't find out until significant damage has already been done

Q10. Think about your marketing; the time, money or effort you put into generating interest in your business. Which most accurately describes your ability to see what it's actually producing? *

We can clearly connect our marketing activity to the enquiries and revenue it generates

We have a reasonable sense of what's working but it's more instinct than measurement

We do marketing but we genuinely struggle to see a direct line between what we spend and what we get back

We have no reliable way of knowing which of our marketing activity is actually generating business

Q11. Think about how your business keeps moving forward on a typical day; decisions get made, jobs get allocated, queries get answered. Which most accurately describes how dependent that is on you personally? *

The business runs well without my constant involvement. I focus on direction not daily operations

The team or my people handle most things but anything unusual or significant needs to come through me

Most things need my input before they can move forward. I'm involved in the detail more than I'd like to be

If I stepped back even slightly the wheels would start to come off. Everything runs through me and I know that's not sustainable

Q12. Think about what a client or customer experiences when they deal with your business. From the first time they make contact right through to the work being done, which most accurately describes that experience? *

It's intentional and consistent. We've thought about it carefully and it delivers reliably regardless of who's involved

It's generally good but the quality of the experience varies depending on who's handling it on any given day

The work itself is good but the experience around it (communication, responsiveness, updates etc) is inconsistent

The client experience is something I know needs attention. Right now it's largely shaped by circumstance rather than design

Q13. If your workload or enquiry volume doubled tomorrow with no extra resource; same people, same tools, same hours. What would realistically happen? *

We could handle it, we've built the business to scale without everything falling on the same few people

We'd cope but it would be stressful and some things would inevitably slip

We'd struggle. We're already stretched and doubling the volume would expose that quickly

It would be genuinely chaotic. We're not set up for that level of demand.

Q14. Think about the information your business holds; client records, contact details, job history, financial data, communication logs. Which most accurately describes the state of it? *

It's clean, consistent and organised. We trust our data and use it to make decisions

It's mostly good but there are gaps, duplicates and inconsistencies that we know exist and haven't fully addressed

It's spread across different systems in different formats. Getting a reliable single picture of anything takes more effort than it should

If I'm honest our data is a mess; inconsistent, incomplete and in some cases only useful to the person who created it. We know it needs sorting but it hasn't been a priority

Q15. When you think about where your business is today versus where you want it to be in two years, which most accurately describes what's standing between you and that version of the business? *

Mainly growth, the foundations are solid and it's about building volume and reach from here

A combination of growth and operations. I need to fix some things at the same time as pushing forward

Honestly the foundations need proper attention before real growth is possible. I know we're building on ground that isn't as solid as it looks

The way the business currently operates is the single biggest thing holding back where I want to take it and I'm aware that every month I don't address it is a month of opportunity lost