Thursday, November 05, 2026
You're doing the books, the invoicing and the tax, and strategy always loses the fight for your time. Here's the one-hour weekly habit that gets it back, no forty-page plan required.
Before you spend on finding new customers, count how often your existing ones buy. Many owners assume customers buy monthly when they buy four times a year. In Kevin D'Ambros-Smith's Know Your Numbers training, lifting that from four to six is "like getting 50% more customers without doing any extra work." This guide gives you the three numbers and a 30-day test.
A disclosure first: Simple-Growth sells the Know Your Numbers training, so Kevin is not neutral. The arithmetic below is free and needs only last year's sales report. Updated 5 November 2026. Written for owners in New Zealand and the United States.
This is one part of a bigger question: why has my business stopped growing? Start there if you are not sure whether frequency is your weak link.
Take the last 12 months. Kevin's worked example uses round numbers so the maths is easy to follow:
Six purchases at $200 is $1,200 per customer instead of $800. Using Kevin's $1.2 million goal as the example: at $800 a customer you need 1,500 customers to get there. At $1,200 you need 1,000. The same goal needs a third fewer customers, and they are the customers who already know you. That is simple arithmetic on training numbers, not a forecast for your business.
Kevin's point in the training is the same one he makes about every number: it is easier to win 1,500 customers than 6,000 separate sales, and easier still to ask 1,000 customers to come back twice more a year.
The US Federal Reserve Banks' 2026 Report on Employer Firms, based on the 2025 Small Business Credit Survey, says: "Reaching customers and growing sales was the most commonly reported operational challenge." Most owners respond by trying to reach more strangers. Reach matters, but a customer you have already reached costs less to ask again. Check how often yours buy before you buy more attention.
Pick one number to watch. Kevin tells of a mountain bike park mechanic who was given a single KPI: greet 50 customers a day and offer a free bike check. About one bike in ten needed work, and daily revenue reached the $500 target. His line: "you've got to feed in people at the top to have the revenue pop at the bottom." Choose the action that feeds your number, then do it every day.
Divide average customer value by average sales value. Average customer value is 12 months of revenue divided by the customers who bought in that time. Average sales value is the same revenue divided by the number of sales.
Usually, because they already know and trust you, but your own numbers decide. Compare what it costs you to win a customer with what it costs to contact an existing one, then see which moves your revenue most.
Then frequency is not your lever, and reach or conversion is more likely the weak link. The eight-link check will tell you which.
Not sure which number to start with? Related reading: break a business constraint in 14 days without new spend and how to know every week whether you are making money. A 30-minute conversation will tell you which of your numbers is the real constraint.
Sources (checked 5 November 2026): Federal Reserve Banks, 2026 Report on Employer Firms (United States; 2025 Small Business Credit Survey, published 3 March 2026). The worked example and the bike park story are from Kevin D'Ambros-Smith's Know Your Numbers training. Last updated 5 November 2026.
Sunday, October 18, 2026
Most SME owners can tell you their revenue. Almost none can tell you which customers are actually making them a profit. New 2026 research shows why that gap is the real growth problem, and a three-step fix.
Sunday, October 18, 2026
The average small business gets 27 percent of revenue from one customer. Here is the three-question check that tells you whether your growth is real, or just concentration in disguise.
Sunday, October 18, 2026
Coaching can return seven times its cost, PwC research suggests, but rarely from where owners expect. Here is where the real ROI on a business coach actually shows up.
Sunday, October 18, 2026
Gallup found managers think they give weekly feedback, their teams say otherwise. See why your business systems depend on a conversation most owners are avoiding.
Sunday, October 18, 2026
56 percent of stalled B2B deals end in no decision, not a lost sale to a competitor. Here is why your prospects go quiet after saying yes, and the direct question that gets them talking again.
Sunday, October 18, 2026
The median landing page converts at 6.6 percent, and most SME websites never get close. Here is what the top quartile actually does differently, and why fixing it beats spending more on ads.
Sunday, October 18, 2026
Most growth plans start with last year's number plus a guess. Here is the three-number market-sizing check that separates a real plan from a wish list.
Saturday, October 17, 2026
Nearly 8 in 10 small business owners say long-term planning feels harder than ever. The usual fix, a better template, isn't the one that works — here's the exercise that fixes it before you build the plan.
Saturday, October 17, 2026
NZ retail lifted productivity 9.1% without adding hours, while national output per employee fell. Here's how to grow revenue before you grow headcount.
Saturday, October 17, 2026
Most owners expect a coach to fix things in week one. Here's what actually happens in the first 90 days, and why that structure is the real breakthrough.
Friday, October 16, 2026
A 2026 Bain survey found fewer than half of CEOs believe their company can execute fast enough, even with full teams and budgets behind them. Here is the weekly rhythm that turns a good plan into tracked progress for an owner running the show solo.
Friday, October 16, 2026
A bank survey found 98% of small business owners do not know their company's value. Most shrug because they are not selling. That is the mistake: the work that lifts value is the same work that lifts growth right now.
Friday, October 16, 2026
Global surveys put client satisfaction with coaching at 95 percent good or excellent. The unhappy minority almost always skipped the same three checks before they signed. Here is what to check before you do.
Friday, October 16, 2026
67% of founders work more than 50 hours a week, and most of those hours go to re-explaining tasks or double-checking work that did not need it. The fix is matching your leadership style to each task's readiness level.
Friday, October 16, 2026
Seventy-seven percent of B2B buyers call their last purchase complex, with six to ten people in the room. Most SME sales reps still pitch like there is only one decision maker, then blame price when the deal goes quiet.