Your Business as a Machine
The Business Machine
How the company actually works
A functional model of the company. Every gear is required. Each has a manager, a function, an output, and a KPI. Remove one gear and the machine stops.
01
Marketing
Output: leads. KPIs: total leads and cost per lead.
02
Appointment Center
Catch leads and set sales appointments. KPI: leads-to-appointment %. Many contractors lose up to half their business here.
03
Sales
Winning organizations are sales-driven. KPI: ADL (average dollar per lead). Output: confident, engaged customers.
04
Production
The only thing customers pay for. KPI: dollars per crew per week. Output: happy customers. Cash comes off this gear.
05
Accounting
Collect, pay, statements, and financial feedback so leaders can adjust. Human activity always comes out to a number.
06
Service
Guardian of reputation. Maintenance, upsell, cross-sell, callbacks. Dotted line back to Marketing as referrals.
07
Office
IT, HR, Recruiting. Result: enable the other departments. The office does not run the show. The machine does.
How to use it
- Put names in every seat. A blank seat is still the owner's job.
- Internal customers: serve the gear upstream and downstream.
- Visual Ambition writes this year's numbers and the How on this same picture.