The Customer Ledger
Are your customers worth what they cost to win?
Put in one average job and what you spend to win a customer. See what each customer is really worth to you, whether your leads pay for themselves, and what to change first.
Step 1
One average jobOne month of the plan
Prices and costs before GST.
How customers pay you
Example: an average service job, such as a switchboard or lighting upgrade. Type over the numbers with your own.
Not sure what a job really costs once the business is counted? Run three jobs through the Job Docket.
Step 2
Each customer, and your month
Where one customer's money goes
- Materials
- Labour
- Payment fees
- Winning the customer
- Left over
- What one customer pays you
Worth vs cost to win
Paid back after
New customers needed a month
Step 3
What to change first
Six changes, each tried on its own against your numbers, ranked by what they add to your month.
A price rise, faster jobs, more repeat work, cheaper leads or more of them. Most owners reach for more leads first. The list shows whether that's the right call for you.
Leave your name and email and I'll open it up and send you your ledger.
A price rise is a decision. The rest take a system.
You can put prices up this week. Faster jobs, more repeat work and cheaper customers take three things in place: your numbers checked every week, work handed over properly, and a week with a set shape. That's what I install with owners, one to one.
Calls are by invitation. Your numbers come with the request.
How the sums work
Each one worked through with your numbers.
Left from each job
Price, less materials, labour and payment fees. Accountants call it contribution margin.
What a customer's worth
What's left from each job, times the jobs they book (or the months they stay). Often called lifetime value, or LTV.
What it costs to win one
Ads, lead fees, quoting time and discounts, divided by the new customers they brought in. Often called CAC.
Paid back after
The cost to win a customer, divided by what's left from each job or month.
New customers needed
What the business costs a month, divided by what each new customer leaves after the cost of winning them.
You now know what a customer is worth to you. The work is making every one of them pay.
Tamim490 works with owners who are great at the work and still doing all of it themselves.
Request a call with MarkA planning tool, not financial advice. It treats every customer as average, assumes your monthly pace holds, and ignores tax, seasonality and the time between jobs. The 3 times and 12 month marks are common rules of thumb, and the right targets vary by trade. Check your numbers with your accountant.