Sample diagnostic
What a diagnostic gives you
A sample of the report you get at the end of a diagnostic. The business is a made-up 12-person catering company.
Sample. Made-up business, made-up numbers.
Part 1
The process today
How a catering order runs from first message to paid invoice, as the team described it.
1An inquiry arrives by web form, phone or email.
2The owner checks the calendar and writes a quote by hand.
ClogQuotes go out about two days after the inquiry. Some customers book elsewhere first.
3The customer confirms and pays a deposit.
4Someone retypes the order into the kitchen schedule.
5After the event, someone types the invoice from memory and the order sheet.
LeakExtras added on the day, like more guests or a second dessert, often never reach the invoice.
Part 2
What it costs
Each line is rated for how sure we are of it. Some costs were measured and some are estimates.
Time writing quotes$9,216
6 hours a week at $32 an hour, timed for one week
How sure: High
Bookings lost to slow replies$12,600
3 lost inquiries a month at $1,400, and the owner's guess that 1 in 4 would have booked
How sure: Low
Extras never billed$4,080
4 events a month at $85, from a check of 20 invoices
How sure: Medium
- Total$25,896
Running total over twelve months. The middle option line subtracts its estimated value, about $16,000 a year, from the $21,816 the quote problem costs.
| Month | By hand | With the middle option |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,818 | $485 |
| 2 | $3,636 | $969 |
| 3 | $5,454 | $1,454 |
| 4 | $7,272 | $1,939 |
| 5 | $9,090 | $2,423 |
| 6 | $10,908 | $2,908 |
| 7 | $12,726 | $3,393 |
| 8 | $14,544 | $3,877 |
| 9 | $16,362 | $4,362 |
| 10 | $18,180 | $4,847 |
| 11 | $19,998 | $5,331 |
| 12 | $21,816 | $5,816 |
Part 3
What we recommend
Fix the quote first. Writing quotes and the bookings lost while they wait add up to $21,816 of the $25,896.
Don't build anything for the billing leak yet. A line on the order sheet for extras, checked before the invoice goes out, should catch most of it. Measure it for a month first.
Part 4
Three options for the quote
Each option gets a fixed price when we talk. The value is what it should recover each year.
Smallest
A quote template that fills itself from the inquiry form. The owner still reviews and sends each one.
About $7,000 a year
Middle
The smallest option, plus a reply to every inquiry within 10 minutes with open dates and a draft quote for the owner to approve.
About $16,000 a yearThe one in the chart
Largest
The middle option, plus a reminder to the owner and a polite follow-up to any customer who has not answered a quote in two days.
About $19,000 a year
Part 5
How we would measure it
Before launch: first reply takes about two days, each quote takes about 25 minutes, and extras were missing on 4 of 20 invoices. We measure the same three things at launch, at 30 days and at 60 to 90 days.
Your diagnostic follows the same shape, with your process and your numbers.
Yours has a fixed fee, agreed before we start, and takes about two weeks. Start a build within 30 days of the readout and the full fee counts toward it.
Next step
Start with the process that costs you the most.
Rough numbers are fine. Describing it takes about three minutes.
Tell us what's breaking