The Business Health Check: Twenty Questions, One Honest Score

I. Cash & Finance 4 points

We maintain a rolling cash view (4–13 weeks out) and I could tell you next month's cash position within 10%. — 82% of business failures trace to cash flow problems (SCORE / U.S. Bank study)

I know our cash conversion cycle — how many days pass between paying for what we need and collecting from what we sell — and at least one component has a current improvement target. — 84% of growing companies experience cash gaps in a given year (working-capital research)

Our prices have been deliberately reviewed within the last 12 months (not merely endured). — pricing studies find 80–90% of B2B prices are set too low; a 1% price improvement lifts operating profit ~11% (Price Intelligently / McKinsey)

I know which customers, products, or jobs actually make us money — from analysis, not instinct. — customer-profitability analyses consistently find the top 20% of customers generate 150–180% of profit while the bottom 20% destroy much of it

II. Customers & Revenue 4 points

We measure retention or repeat rate, and someone owns improving it. — a 5% retention improvement lifts profit 25–95% (Bain & Company / Harvard Business School)

Every new customer gets the same designed first-90-days experience, regardless of who's busy. — 74% of customers will switch to a competitor if the buying or start-up experience feels complicated (onboarding research)

We systematically ask for referrals and reviews at defined moments — not when we remember. — 83% of satisfied customers are willing to refer; only 29% ever do without being asked (Firework referral research)

We can trace marketing spend to revenue by channel — not just to clicks. — studies estimate 40%+ of ad spend is wasted where attribution is absent (marketing ROI research)

III. People & Leadership 4 points

Every manager here has been actually equipped for management — training, defined authority, a sane span of control. — managers account for 70% of the variance in team engagement; fewer than half ever receive management training (Gallup)

Hiring runs on a documented process: outcome-defined roles, structured interviews, work samples. — 74% of employers admit to bad hires, at 30%+ of first-year salary each (CareerBuilder / U.S. Dept. of Labor)

Recognition happens weekly and specifically — I could name who was recognized this week, and for what. — well-recognized employees are 45% less likely to leave within two years (Gallup–Workhuman longitudinal study)

No critical function, client, or system depends on exactly one person — including me. — 42% of the knowledge a role requires is typically known only by the person currently in it (Panopto workplace research)

IV. Operations & Systems 4 points

Our core processes are documented well enough that a competent new hire could execute them without oral tradition. — undocumented process is the root of inconsistent quality, training drag, and key-person risk

A one-page scoreboard of 5–7 numbers is reviewed weekly, and blockers leave that meeting with owners and dates. — data-driven companies are 23× more likely to excel at customer acquisition (McKinsey)

In the last quarter we permanently fixed at least one recurring problem at its root cause (not its symptom). — continuous-improvement research: recurring problems consume capacity until solved at the root

Repetitive admin (invoicing, reminders, scheduling, reports) is substantially automated. — automation studies show 10–15 hours per person recoverable weekly from routine task automation

V. The Owner & The Future 4 points

I spend the majority of my week on work only I can do — and I protected strategic time on my calendar this week. — business leaders average 68% of their time trapped inside day-to-day operations (leadership time studies)

The business ran (or could run) for two weeks without me, without anything breaking. — owner dependency is the single largest discount buyers apply to a company's valuation (exit-planning research)

This quarter has a written plan: one core outcome, 3–5 owned priorities, a weekly review rhythm. — 80% of small businesses don't formally track their goals; written, reviewed goals dramatically outperform (goal-setting research)

I have real outside perspective — a mentor, peer group, or advisor who hears the unpolished truth. — mentored businesses survive five years at double the rate of unmentored ones (UPS Store / SBA); ~75% of CEOs receive no outside advice (Stanford GSB)

Your Score out of 20

Built to last. You're operating in the top tier of the research on every dimension. Your risk is complacency — the practices that got you here quietly age as the business grows. Keep the quarterly rhythm; start optimizing for long-term value and optionality.

12–16

Solid, with known gaps. The healthy majority of well-run SMBs. Your "no" answers are literally your priority list — pick the two that touch cash or people first, give each a named owner, and run them as a focused 90-day plan with weekly reviews.

6–11

Running on effort, not systems. The business works because you and a few good people push hard — which is exactly the profile the burnout, key-person, and cash-crisis research describes. Nothing here is unusual or unfixable; but start now, with the cash questions, this month.

0–5

Fragile — and probably exhausting. You already knew, which is why you read this far. The good news is disproportionate returns: at this score, every single fix moves real money and real hours. Don't do it alone — get an experienced outside perspective. One outcome, ninety days, weekly reviews. Begin.

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