The Sheet is a photo or document stored in the Folder, with the project name and specifications written beside it. It is evidence unique to your company (primary information) that backs up the words you write on your website. If the space beside it is blank, it does not count as a Sheet.
What happens without standardization? One employee calls it the "catchphrase," another "the wording at the top," and the top executive "the Line." All three think they mean the same thing, but which version is the revised one, and where it is in the Folder, start to differ from person to person. Amid the rush of a peak month, there is no time to recheck these discrepancies. When the terms are aligned, instructions get through the first time, and records accumulate in one place. Standardizing terms is advance preparation for reaching an ambitious goal without adding people.
The same goes for tools. Rather than each person choosing their own, standardize on one screen and one draft that everyone uses.
Four Items to Check Once a Week in the Peak Month
"Make decisions based on data" may sound difficult. But the substance is simple: it just means the numbers come from records, not from memory. In this book, what the top executive looks at during the peak month is narrowed down to the four items in the Weekly Memo.
• Is the Line up on the homepage and at the Entrance? (Source: the homepage and the Entrance.)
• Have quotes been issued for projects whose specifications have arrived? (Source: projects whose specifications have arrived.)
• The number of orders remaining in the quota. (Source: quote versions—the record kept each time a quote submitted to a client is reissued.)
• The number of items returned to Blank. (Source: drafts returned before being finalized.)
Don't include numbers whose source is unknown. Don't add up the four items, which are different in nature, into a single score; adding apples and oranges doesn't produce a meaningful number. In a week when no checker has been assigned, don't look at that number. And don't make up for the remaining quota with a count of pages.
Figure 8. Four items to check once a week in the peak month
The Top Executive Chooses Just One System to Change
Overseeing the whole picture is the top executive's role. The front line keeps leaving that day's Sheet and specifications. Of the three—how you are found, how you make proposals, and how relationships continue—the top executive chooses just one that is still unchanged, and changes only that one this year. Don't try to fix all three at once.
The systems that change through this method are the following three.
How you are found: The homepage changes from emotional claims to a Line stating the project's conditions and specifications. While still comparing, the contact becomes able to judge whether you fit their project.
How you make proposals: The Closing changes from "Start with a consultation" to guidance to look at the Sheet. The contact can open the next page without making any commitment.
How relationships continue: The Entrance changes from "anyone is welcome" to clients who can provide specifications. The page takes over in advance the lead qualification that salespeople used to do on every phone call. Even when the assigned employee changes, the same conditions remain.
These three differ in the depth of change. The change in how you are found is a replacement of records: the "thank-you" Sheet stays on the website. The change in how you make proposals is a change in work procedures: the Closing only asks visitors to read. The change in how relationships continue is a change in how sales is done and how roles are divided: the Entrance conditions are made public.
Figure 9. Three places on your website, and the depth of each change
AQ GROW | AI Search Structure