Find the floor your business is stuck on — and the one thing holding it there
Ten minutes. You'll know which floor you're on, the one thing holding you there, and the order to fix it.
With Chris Turner, Owner and Head Coach. Seventeen years running multi-site operations and national coaching across 68 locations, before coaching anyone.
4.9/5
84+ Google reviews
2,500+
Australian businesses
12 years
Doing only this
17 years
Operating, before coaching
68
Locations run
Before you fill this in
Three people should not book this, and I would rather say so now.
Under $150K
Your constraint is that you have not proven the offer yet, and that is not what I am good at. Take the free scorecard instead and come back when you have graduated.
Want it done for you
That is an agency, and there are good ones. This is not that.
Want agreement, not a view
I am going to disagree with you at some point in the first hour. That is most of what you are paying for later, and it is not for everyone.
The model
Ten floors. On every one of them, exactly one thing is holding you against the ceiling.
Two numbers put you on a floor — what you turned over last year, and how many people you have. Every floor has its own ceiling, its own constraint, and its own pass mark. What got you onto this floor is usually the thing keeping you on it.
- Level 9Penthouse$50M–$100M+
- Level 8Sky Lobby$25M–$50M
- Level 7High Rise$10M–$25M
- Level 6Altitude$5M–$10M
- Level 5Ascent$2.5M–$5M
- Level 4Breakthrough$1M–$2.5M
- Level 3Momentum$400K–$1M
- Level 2Traction$150K–$400K
- Level 1Lift-Off$1–$150K
- Ground FloorProvePre-revenue
Levels 2 to 5 are where we work.
The one thing
On any floor, the thing holding you against the ceiling is one of four.
Lead flow
Not enough of the right people finding you.
Conversion
Enough people, not enough of them saying yes.
Profit
Plenty of work, not enough of it reaching the bottom line.
Owner load
The business cannot move faster than you can.
Only one of them is binding at a time. The floor tells you which one it usually is. Your numbers tell you whether this business is the usual case.
Three businesses. Three floors. One of them genuinely did need more marketing — and if you had given that plan to the other two, they would have worked hard for a year and moved nothing.
| Floor | What everyone told them | What was actually binding | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Level 1 · Lift-Off | “You need more traffic” | Could not convert consistently, and underpriced | $7K to $70K a month in six months, on much the same traffic |
| Level 2 · Traction | “You need more marketing” | Feast-or-famine lead flow — five channels run occasionally instead of one run daily | 26 new clients a month |
| Level [TO CONFIRM] | “You have a sales problem” | Underpriced, with no sales problem at all | $27,000 collected in a week, with no change to the marketing |
The alternatives
What this normally costs to work out
| Option | Cost | Catch |
|---|---|---|
| Hire a general manager to figure it out | $140K+ plus super | About nine months before you know if it worked |
| Put an agency on retainer | $60K–$120K a year | Brilliant, if it happens to be the right wall |
| Do nothing for another year | ~$600K of gap | The most expensive option on the list |
The Constraint Audit is the cheap version. It is free, and the next section explains why.
Questions
What you are probably thinking
I have had a coach before and it did not work.+
Most owners who say that conclude coaching does not work. It is not that. A programme runs in whatever order the programme runs in, regardless of which floor you are standing on — so most of what you did was the right advice for a floor you were not on. The fix is not a better coach. It is the right floor.
I already know what my problem is.+
You know your floor's symptom. That is not the same thing. The symptom is the loudest noise in your week. The constraint is usually the quiet number nobody has looked at. One trades business we worked with had a sales process scoring ten out of ten, better than benchmark, and everyone had told him to buy more leads. He was losing money on every job he already had.
My industry is different.+
About the specifics, you are right. But the floors do not change — only the numbers on them do. Dental, trades, allied health, e-commerce, vets, professional services: same building, different benchmarks per floor. That is exactly what we adjust for.
I do not have time to fix it.+
Fixing everything at once is a project. Fixing one floor's constraint is a fortnight. That is the entire point of knowing which floor you are on — you get permission to ignore the other nine. The map has exactly three moves on it, because three is what fits in a real week.
Why is it free?+
Because free always makes me suspicious too, so here is the actual reason. About one in four of the owners I do this with ends up working with us. That is a good enough return that I do not need to charge the other three.
How long does it take?+
Forty-five minutes, on a video call, with me. Not a salesperson. You get the map whether or not we ever work together.
What do I need to prepare?+
Rough revenue for the last twelve months, how many people you have, your lead volume and your close rate. Estimates are fine.
Do you work outside Australia?+
Our benchmarks are built on Australian businesses, so that is where the map is sharpest. We take overseas sessions case by case.
Ready to see your constraint map?
45 minutes · No cost · Map is yours to keep