Operating model
We run the operating model we recommend — which makes our own business a live reference.
Marketing feeds CRM, CRM feeds delivery, delivery feeds managed services, and managed services feed renewal, expansion and referral. Accounting holds financial truth; CRM holds customer and commercial intelligence.
Commercial chain
One connected chain from marketing to referral
- Marketing
- Lead
- Opportunity
- Proposal
- Contract
- Payment
- Project
- Delivery
- Support
- Managed services
- Renewal
- Expansion
- Referral
Growth flywheel
Leads produce assessments, assessments produce projects, projects produce managed services, managed services produce optimization and referrals.
Revenue design
Reduce dependence on one-time implementations by growing managed services, support and advisory.
Long-term model
Consulting, implementation, managed services and eventually digital products — moving from selling time to selling outcomes.
CRM architecture
Standard objects first, custom objects only where the data truly belongs in CRM.
Core data model
Account → Contacts → Opportunities → Quotes → Contracts → Projects → Milestones → Deliverables. Accounts also carry Cases, Subscriptions and references to invoices held in accounting. That is a genuine customer 360 without duplicating an accounting system.
Required opportunity fields
Opportunity type, primary service, industry, lead source, estimated value, target close date, decision maker, business problem, budget status, authority, timeline, competitor, next step and date, proposal sent, contract sent, deposit status, managed service flag, loss reason.
Internal flow portfolio
- Lead assignment by service and industry
- Lead follow-up task creation on enquiry
- Opportunity governance checks before stage progression
- Closed-won onboarding and project creation
- Contract renewal activity ahead of expiry
- Customer health flag from support and project signals
- Case escalation for priority issues
- Managed service consumption tracking
- Post-delivery satisfaction survey
Approvals worth building early
Large discounts, non-standard payment terms, high-risk contracts, scope changes, project write-offs, customer credits, contractor expenses and major production deployments.
Systems of record
One owner per data domain — no duplicate customer databases.
| Data | System of record | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Leads, contacts, customers, opportunities | CRM | Single commercial view of the relationship |
| Contracts | CRM plus document repository | Metadata in CRM, signed originals in storage |
| Projects and tasks | Project platform (or CRM early on) | One execution system, never three |
| Support cases | CRM | Service history belongs beside the customer |
| Invoices, payments, expenses, payroll, taxes | Accounting platform | Financial truth and audit trail |
| Marketing engagement | Marketing platform | Campaign attribution and consent tracking |
| Documents | Document platform | Version control and access control |
| Employees and contractors | HR / payroll platform | Sensitive personal data kept minimal and separate |
Every key entity carries
- Unique identifier and owner
- Source system and creation date
- Status and data steward
- Retention requirement
- Integration and validation rules
- Security classification
Document structure and naming
Each client folder runs 01 Contracts through 10 Billing, covering discovery, requirements, architecture, development, testing, training, deployment and support.
CLIENT_Project_DocumentType_Version_Date
ABC_SalesforceImplementation_UATPlan_v1.2_2026-09-10
Technology stack
Lean by design, with no duplicated tooling.
Start with one system per job. Add enterprise tooling only when a real constraint appears.
| Capability | Start with | Later consideration |
|---|---|---|
| CRM | Salesforce | Additional clouds as scope grows |
| Website | Modern managed CMS or web framework | Personalization and content tooling |
| Productivity & email | Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace — not both | Advanced security add-ons |
| Accounting | Small-business accounting platform | Practice-grade financial reporting |
| Payments | Integrated payment processor | Automated collections tooling |
| E-signature | Electronic signature platform | CRM-embedded contract generation |
| Project management | One platform only | Portfolio and capacity planning |
| Documents | SharePoint/OneDrive or Google Drive | Records management |
| Communication | Teams or Slack | Client-facing shared channels |
| Support | CRM case management | Dedicated service desk |
| Analytics | CRM dashboards | Enterprise BI when volume demands it |
| Security | Business password manager, MFA, backup | Endpoint management, monitoring, insurance review |
Executive dashboard
One CEO command center across six domains.
Every metric has a definition, a source, a calculation and a reporting frequency — otherwise it becomes an argument.
| Domain | Metrics | Source | Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sales | New leads, qualified leads, pipeline, weighted pipeline, win rate, sales cycle, closed revenue, average deal value | CRM | Weekly |
| Finance | Revenue, recurring revenue, expenses, profit, cash, accounts receivable, invoice aging | Accounting, synced to CRM for context | Monthly, cash weekly |
| Customers | Active customers, new customers, renewals, at-risk accounts, satisfaction | CRM | Monthly |
| Delivery | Active projects, on-track vs delayed, budget variance, resource capacity, project profitability | Project platform plus accounting | Weekly |
| Support | Open cases, critical cases, cases approaching service level, average resolution time, SLA performance | CRM | Daily to weekly |
| Operations | Outstanding approvals, team utilization, contractor workload, operational risks | CRM plus project platform | Weekly |
Tier 1 — CEO
Revenue, profitability, cash, pipeline, recurring revenue, win rate, retention, project profitability, utilization
Tier 2 — Management
Lead conversion, proposal conversion, sales cycle, schedule performance, SLA performance, satisfaction, invoice aging
Tier 3 — Operational
Cases opened and resolved, flow failures, overdue tasks, data-quality exceptions, project issues, deployment failures
Financial and tax guidance
Financial metric definitions here are operational management tools. Entity structure, tax treatment, revenue recognition and statutory reporting should be set with a qualified CPA and, where relevant, legal counsel.
Standard operating procedures
Documented gradually, in the order the business needs them.
- Lead management
- Opportunity management
- Discovery
- Proposal management
- Contract management
- Client onboarding
- Project kickoff
- Requirements gathering
- Solution design
- Development
- Testing
- UAT
- Deployment
- Support
- Escalation
- Billing
- Collections
- Change requests
- Project closure
- Customer offboarding
- Contractor onboarding
Prioritization
Filter the model instead of trying to build all of it at once.
Use these classifications to protect focus. Revenue-generating capability comes before internal elegance.
Must have
- Positioning
- Service catalogue
- Website
- CRM
- Sales pipeline
- Contracts
- Accounting
- Proposal process
- Client onboarding
- Project delivery framework
Should have
- Managed services
- Automation
- Executive dashboard
- Formal SOPs
- Marketing automation
Nice to have
- Advanced customer portal
- Sophisticated BI
- AI-powered operations
- Custom applications
Future phase
- Proprietary SaaS products
- Multiple business units
- International operations
- Acquisitions
- Large managed-service operations
90-day launch
Foundation, market entry, revenue engine.
Days 1–30 — Foundation
- Finalize positioning
- Define three service pillars
- Create the first three productized offers
- Establish banking, accounting, contracts, email, document management
- Build the internal CRM with reports and dashboards
Days 31–60 — Market entry
- Launch the website
- Publish thought-leadership content
- Build the first prospecting list
- Start outreach and referral conversations
- Create sales deck, proposal template, discovery questionnaire
- Finalize the Health Check methodology
Days 61–90 — Revenue engine
- Run outbound campaigns and discovery meetings
- Close the first assessment engagements
- Convert assessments into implementations
- Convert implementations into managed services
- Capture testimonials and first case studies
- Improve CRM automation and executive reporting
- Establish a monthly sales review
12 months
Growth roadmap
| Period | Focus |
|---|---|
| Months 1–3 | Foundation: brand, website, CRM, sales process, first customers |
| Months 4–6 | Repeatable delivery: assessments, managed services, case studies, referral engine, contractor network |
| Months 7–9 | Automation, client portal, advanced reporting, partnerships, industry positioning |
| Months 10–12 | Scale recurring revenue, selective hiring, larger customers, partner ecosystem |
Sequence
What I should build first
Ten capabilities in dependency order. Each one exists because the next one cannot work without it.
| Capability | What it means | Dependency |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Positioning | Define who we help, which problems we solve and what differentiates us. | Everything else depends on it |
| 2. Service catalogue | Three pillars: Salesforce & CRM; Automation, Integration & Data; Managed Services. | Needs positioning |
| 3. Productized offers | Health Check, Optimization, Managed Salesforce Support — concrete things to buy. | Needs the catalogue |
| 4. Commercial foundation | MSA, SOW, NDA, proposal, change request, invoicing and payment structure. | Needs the offers to scope terms |
| 5. Internal CRM | Leads, accounts, contacts, opportunities, activities, products, reports, dashboards — uncustomized. | Needs the commercial model |
| 6. Sales process | Lead → qualification → discovery → proposal → contract → deposit → closed won, then automate governance. | Needs the CRM |
| 7. Website | Built around the catalogue, driving to Book Consultation or Request Assessment. | Needs catalogue and CRM lead capture |
| 8. Client onboarding | Automated closed-won handoff through to kickoff. | Needs CRM plus the sales process |
| 9. Project delivery system | Discovery through hypercare and closure, with controls and documents. | Needs onboarding to feed it |
| 10. Managed services | Convert successful implementations into recurring relationships. | Needs delivered projects first |
Risk
Known risks and how they are mitigated
| Risk | Mitigation |
|---|---|
| Founder dependency | Documentation plus a repeatable delivery process |
| Scope creep | Detailed statements of work and formal change requests |
| Cash flow pressure | Deposits, milestone billing and active receivables management |
| Customer concentration | Avoid over-dependence on any single client |
| Security incident | Security controls, insurance review and an incident response process |
| Contractor quality | Screening, QA review and restricted access |
| Technology complexity | Prefer standard platform functionality |
| Poor data | Assessment before any migration |
| Overexpansion | Keep the service focus narrow |
Verify before publishing
Business registration, insurance, contracts, privacy and data protection, intellectual property, confidentiality, employment and contractor classification, taxation and industry-specific regulation all need review by suitably qualified professionals in your jurisdiction.
Next step
Want this operating model applied to your business instead of ours?
That is exactly what a Digital Transformation Assessment produces — findings, priorities and a sequence you can execute.