Cost · Automation · Decisions
What does not doing automation cost you? A method, not a promise
The question you hear before every project is what it will cost. That is legitimate. The second question is rarely asked: what the current situation already costs. The second one can be calculated, but only from assumptions you set - not from a number I invent.
Three places where time and inquiries leave
- Inquiries not handled in time: one that arrived in the evening and was handled the next day, or not at all. What was not recorded is not known, and therefore not handled.
- Repetitive manual work: copying details between systems, sending reminders by hand, updating the same value in several places.
- Errors and corrections: a reminder that was not sent, a price sent wrong, an order forgotten. Each costs time, and sometimes trust.
The method: four assumptions, then arithmetic
Take a page and write four numbers of your own, not mine:
- How many inquiries arrive per week.
- How many of them get no reply within the agreed time.
- Your closing rate on an inquiry that was handled in time.
- The average revenue from one customer.
The following is an illustration, not a forecast and not a client result: 6 inquiries per week that were not handled in time, a 25% closing rate, and 2,000 ILS average revenue per customer.
The arithmetic: 6 x 25% x 2,000 = 3,000 ILS of potential revenue per week.
If you want a monthly figure, you must state the factor you used. With 4.33 weeks per month: 3,000 x 4.33 = 12,990 ILS per month. With 52 weeks per year: 3,000 x 52 = 156,000 ILS per year.
Two notes that have to be said: those figures are revenue, not profit. Cost of goods and direct expenses have to come off before comparing with an investment. And second, automation does not promise to recover every mishandled inquiry: some are already gone, and some would not have closed at all.
What is not in the calculation
The hours saved, the errors avoided and the time freed up are not converted to money here, because there is no agreed price for your hour. You can add them as a separate line, but it is better to do that after deciding what your hour is worth - not before.
How to compare with the investment
Against the potential revenue stand the setup price, third-party usage costs, and maintenance time. All three can be known in advance: the first from a written quote, the second from the list of providers, and the third from the agreed scope.
What cannot be promised is an exact payback date. Mishandled inquiries do not come back uniformly, and a new process takes time to settle. So the right question is not when the investment comes back, but whether the cash flow allows the investment now, and what happens if the improvement arrives more slowly than expected.
What to fix first
Start where inquiries are being lost, not where it is most annoying. Then reminders for existing customers, and last the repetitive manual work, which creates time but not new revenue.
What automation does not do
It does not turn a badly fitting inquiry into a good customer, it does not sell in your place, and it does not fix a process that was never defined. It records inquiries, sends an acknowledgement and a reminder, and keeps the data in one place.
If you want to do this calculation for your business, we can do it together in a call. What you get is a range with visible assumptions, and a fixed price in writing before any work starts.
Want to see how this works in your business?
A short call, no obligation. We'll figure out where leads fall through: and make a decision.
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