Insights

The four goals every business has

By Isaac Salvant Jr., founder of AI360

After years of working with owners, I have found that almost everything a business wants comes down to four goals. Naming yours is the first step of our 360 Method, and it should come before any conversation about technology.

1. Earn more

More customers, or more revenue from the customers you have. A landscaping company that wins most of its work by referral and wants a steadier pipeline has this goal. So does a marketing agency whose clients buy one project and never return.

2. Spend less

Lower the cost of selling and delivering. Think of a family-run distributor where three people re-type every order, or a practice paying for five software subscriptions that overlap. The revenue is fine. Too much of it leaks out on the way through.

3. Free up time

Less manual work for you and your team, through automation or delegation. This is the owner who answers email at 10 p.m. and the office manager who spends Monday building the same report by hand.

4. Reduce risk

Fewer errors and less dependence on one person. If one employee is the only one who knows how billing works, or a missed deadline could cost you a client, this is your goal even when sales are strong.

What about margin, growth or selling the business?

Those are real ambitions, but they are made of the four above. Margin is what you get when you earn more and spend less. A business becomes sellable when it runs without its owner, which is time and risk.

How to tell which one is yours

• Ask what you would fix with one extra hire. A salesperson points to earning more. An administrator points to time.
• Ask what keeps you up at night. Cash points to earning or spending. A fragile process points to risk.
• Pick one for the next 90 days. You probably have all four. Progress comes from choosing.

Why this comes before technology

The same tool can serve different goals, and the goal decides how you set it up and how you measure it. Automated follow-up measured by new revenue is a different project from automated follow-up measured by hours saved. Start with the goal, and the technology choice gets much easier.

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