Years ago I met a friend Isaac Sparks at Bus Boys and Poets. He is the CEO of Hunt Valley Contractors.
I enjoy talking with Isaac. Not only is he a family man and a CEO, Isaac always offers a useful perspective, sometimes a fresh perspective.
One of the things that Isaac said during our discussion is, CEOs don’t like leaving money on the table. Then he went deeper to describe uncertainty, not being sure how to bid for certain projects, almost on a fear level as the cause for leaving money on the table.
I am fairly certain that uncertainty has increased since our conversation at Bus Boys.
I think about that conversation from time to time. What does leaving money on the table mean? How would I know? How do we help our clients make better decisions?
For smart CEOs, oftentimes questions are the answer.
Are you leaving money on the table?
How do you know?
Most often “leaving money on the table” refers to sales for B2B businesses in terms of scope and pricing but it also applies to B2C business if we consider products, how they are bundled, and pricing.
There is a lot that we can say about knowing your 80/20 customer segments, the motivation of your customers, product bundles, optimizing pricing, then aligning sales & marketing to maximize outcomes. BUT, this takes a lot of work.
Before doing the heavy lifting, are there any quick ways to assess how much money you are leaving on the table? Yes, according to our Growth CFOs there are quick ways.
Comparing your company’s results to competitive benchmarks is a quick way to identify how much you are leaving on the table.
In the blink of an eye, we identify areas of opportunity to increase profitability and calculate the dollar amount. Foresight CFO uses the same database that many banks use.
In addition, the Financial Health Check will show opportunities to further increase profitability, oftentimes six figures of found money.
From these two assessments, it is easy to determine if doing the heavy lifting makes sense or not.
Going into 2022, how do you know if you are leaving money on the table?