Monday, November 02, 2026
The Census Bureau says 17% to 20% of US businesses use AI. The Chamber says 58% of small businesses do. Here is why they differ and where an owner should point AI first.
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.