Wednesday, November 04, 2026
The business stops the moment you do? You haven't built a business — you've built a demanding job. Here's Goldratt's method for finding your one real constraint.
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.
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
Half your sales team hitting quota means the other half is being carried by one or two people whose method has never been written down. Here is how to fix that before someone resigns.
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
Seventy six percent of purchase decisions happen at the shelf, not in the weeks of advertising before it. Here is the Shelf Impact Audit for FMCG brands that have never actually tested their own packaging.
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
Your dashboard has too many numbers and no owner for most of them. Here is the Focus Metric Framework SME owners use to find the one number that actually drives growth this quarter.
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
Twelve million American businesses worth nearly $10 trillion need new owners within a decade - and most of them, as currently run, cannot be sold. Here is the three-part test that tells you whether yours is one of them, and what to fix first.
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
Bain found a 5 percent lift in customer retention can boost profits 25 to 95 percent. Here's the Cohort Retention Audit that reveals whether your growth is real or just replacing lost customers.
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
Research shows much of the feedback we receive is too comfortable to change anything. Here's the Pushback Test that reveals whether your business coach genuinely challenges you or just agrees.
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
APA-published research found task switching can cost up to 40 percent of productive time. Here's the Work-in-Progress Cap that stops SME owners starting everything and finishing nothing.
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
Gartner found B2B buyers now complete 80 percent of their journey before talking to a vendor. Here's the Pitch Refresh Audit that stops your sales team pitching to a buyer who already knows.
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
Nielsen found 92 percent of consumers trust recommendations from people they know over any advertising. Here's the Proof Asset Audit that puts your own customers' stories to work instead.
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
Most leadership teams spend less than an hour a month on strategy, and half spend none at all. Here is the protected-time system that fixes it, and why accountability is the missing ingredient.
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
93% of small business owners expect growth this year — but 75% no longer trust their own bank to fund it. Here's the Cash Flow Runway Check to close the gap.
Friday, September 25, 2026
Most strategic plans die quietly by March — not from a bad plan, but from no system to keep it alive. Here's the 90-minute review that fixes it.
Friday, September 25, 2026
Nearly half of buyers already ask AI platforms to recommend a business like yours. Here's how to make sure you're the one they mention.
Friday, September 25, 2026
Most SME owners discount before the buyer even objects — and call it good negotiating. Here's the sequence that stops you giving margin away for free.
Friday, September 25, 2026
Your Q4 plan will likely be forgotten by February unless something forces it back into view every week. Here's the 15-minute ritual that keeps it alive.