Loading Sales

What this Key unlocks

Profit is the primary equity driver of an IT services firm. Without enough of it the firm has next to no value in the eyes of an investor. This Key covers EBIT, gross margin per engagement, charge out rates, consultant utilisation, contractor costs, overheads and the weekly sales meeting.

Signature tool: The EBIT Dial.

Inside Everest, this Key is worked in 90 Day Sprints: one or two levers per sprint, measured, reviewed with peers and locked in before the next cycle. The Loading Sales result page shows the three levers most firms need to pull first.

Questions founders ask about Loading Sales

What utilisation should an IT services firm run at?

Firm wide, within five points of 75 percent for billable staff. Much higher and you have no capacity to sell or develop people; much lower and the bench is eating the margin. Knowing last month's number, per consultant, is the first lever in this Key.

What gross margin is healthy for a consulting firm?

At or above 50 percent, and known per consultant and per engagement, not just in total. Firms that only see the blended number usually have two or three engagements quietly running at 30 percent while the rest carry them.

What EBIT should I aim for?

Above 15 percent, or on a planned, measured staircase toward it. Most 10 to 40 person firms arrive in Everest between 5 and 10 percent and find three to five points inside the first 90 Day Sprint without selling anything new, through utilisation, contractor cost and rate discipline.

What is the EBIT Dial?

The Loading Growth tool that reads utilisation, gross margin per consultant and the sales pipeline together on one page every week. Each is a dial you can turn; the EBIT Dial shows which one to turn first. It is the signature tool of this Key.

How big should my pipeline be?

Two to three times your remaining target for the period, honestly graded. A pipeline full of maybes at 50 percent probability is a forecast nobody believes. Grade hard, and you will find the real coverage is usually half what the CRM says.

What should the weekly sales meeting cover?

One page in under a minute: target, progress, backlog, pipeline and forecast. Then the three decisions the page points to. Meetings that start with a pipeline walk through from the top end up as storytelling.

Should contractors be part of the sales conversation?

Yes, because every contractor day costs margin. The rule is day cost below half the client charge out rate. Above that the engagement is funding someone else's business, and the sales team needs to know before they price the next one.

How does bench planning relate to sales?

Your bench's skills mix should match the work in your last ten proposals. If it does not, you are either selling what you cannot staff or staffing what you cannot sell. Loading Sales and Growing A Team meet at that point.