Key figures
- 2,311professional relationships
- 0relationships ranked by priority in the original spreadsheet
- 713of1,018relationships in progress with no next step planned
- ~£5,000in fees per placement
The situation
What the founder could not see
Over the years, the business had built 2,311 professional relationships that could generate future business. The company completes well over a hundred placements a year, making consistent follow up commercially important.
Yet the relationship database was still managed across a spreadsheet, email and one person's notes. The founder could not easily see which relationships were moving, which had gone cold and which needed attention next. To find out, she had to ask.
When the records were brought together, three gaps stood out. In the original spreadsheet, none of the relationships was ranked by priority, and there was no structured way to record a follow up after a meeting. And of the 1,018 relationships still in progress, 713 had no next step planned.
The cost
What it was costing
In this business, one placement brings in around £5,000 in fees.
A relationship that goes cold never shows up as a loss.
Nobody formally decides to drop it. It stops being followed, and any future business attached to it becomes less likely to materialise.
The business was not short of contacts. The problem was knowing where attention should go next.
The outcome
What the business has now
- A daily view of the relationships that need attention.The team starts the day knowing where to focus.
- Three priority tiers.Every relationship now has a priority level, and each level is followed up at its own pace. The most valuable relationships get the closest attention.
- Automations that handle the routine work.When the team records what happened, the system updates the dates, sets the next reminder and moves the relationship to the right stage. Follow ups no longer depend on memory.
- A catch up view for past interactions that still need action.What was hard to surface now has a place.
- A clear view of where business comes from.Every relationship can be traced back to the person or group that introduced it, and the reports show who brings in what, from new relationships to leads and revenue.
- Management visibility without having to ask.The founder sees the state of the relationship pipeline without waiting for a manual update.
- Less dependence on one person's memory.The knowledge now belongs to the business.
10PM introduced a priority model and turned the records the business already had into an operational system.
Your business
Sound familiar?
- Do you know which of your contacts should hear from you this week?
- Does following up depend on one person remembering?
- Do you have to ask your team to find out where things stand?
Your next clients may already be in your contacts. What may be missing is a system that tells your team where to focus next.