Most business owners can tell me their bank balance today. Fewer can tell me what it costs to deliver one sale of what they sell. That gap showed up in several of my conversations this month.
Pricing and buying decisions feel like judgment calls until the cost to deliver is on paper. Cost to deliver means the hours, the supplies, and the labor behind one sale, including a fair value for your own time. With that number written down, a price has a clear basis. Without it, owners often borrow a number from somewhere else.
Where the Missing Number Showed Up
In a few sessions over the past several weeks, an owner was making a pricing or buying decision without that cost in hand. One professional building a new training program asked an online tool what to charge and then anchored on the answer. A second owner was deciding what to do with a rental property and put off the cost question until the repairs were finished. A third, a retail owner, bought extra supplies ahead of a seasonal promotion. The promotion met its sales goal. Afterward the owner found that the system's stock counts did not match the shelves, so reordering became guesswork.
Each of these owners is capable. Each one was missing a single number. In two of the conversations, my suggestion to start with cost did not land right away. I take that as useful information. A cost question can feel like a review of past choices, and that is never my intent. I would call what we find in those moments a discovery.
How to Find Your Cost to Deliver
A practical takeaway would be to pick one product or service you sell and write down the hours it takes, the supplies it uses, and the labor behind it for a single sale. Give your own time an hourly value, then total everything. Compare that total to what you charge today. If the gap is smaller than you expected, you have a pricing question to settle before the year ends. If the gap is wider than you expected, you have room to plan your next move with confidence.
If you would like help working out your cost to deliver, reach out to me directly. I am glad to walk through one example with you. Clear books lead to confident decisions.