Targemaker Sharp targets. Measurable growth.

Targemaker

Sharp targets. Measurable growth.

Latest Articles

The Hindsight KPI: Scoring 2027 Forecasts After the Fact
Performance & Measurement

The Hindsight KPI: Scoring 2027 Forecasts After the Fact

A revenue target is only half the discipline. This article sets out a forecast-accuracy target for 2027, with a one-page scorecard, a monthly review cadence, and realistic accuracy bands for UK SMEs. It also shows how scored forecasts expose optimism bias, sharpen cash planning, and give lenders evidence that your numbers can be trusted.
Counting the Hours First: The Delivery-Capacity Check That Should Precede Every 2027 Sales Target
Strategy & Planning

Counting the Hours First: The Delivery-Capacity Check That Should Precede Every 2027 Sales Target

Most UK SMEs set a revenue number and then discover, somewhere in the second quarter, that the work cannot physically be done. This guide sets out how to calculate a defensible delivery ceiling — leave, sickness, onboarding and admin included — and how to use it to choose between more sales, more resource or a higher price.
The Two Clocks Behind Every Sale: Setting a 2027 Target for Proposal-to-Payment Speed
Performance & Measurement

The Two Clocks Behind Every Sale: Setting a 2027 Target for Proposal-to-Payment Speed

Most UK SMEs measure sales velocity and debtor days separately, which hides the real delay between a proposal leaving the business and cash arriving. This article sets out a combined quote-to-cash baseline, a defensible 2027 target and the operational levers that make the target stick.
Buffer Before the Border: A 2027 Growth Plan for VAT Registration
Strategy & Planning

Buffer Before the Border: A 2027 Growth Plan for VAT Registration

Most 2027 growth targets are set in revenue terms, with VAT registration treated as a compliance detail rather than a strategic threshold. For UK SMEs near the £90,000 line, the sharper approach is a target band with a buffer, a decision gate and a margin test attached.
Harvest Before You Hunt: A 2027 Target for the Enquiries Already in Your Pipeline
Performance & Measurement

Harvest Before You Hunt: A 2027 Target for the Enquiries Already in Your Pipeline

Most UK SMEs can quote their cost per enquiry but not what happened to the last hundred enquiries they received. This article sets out a practical follow-up yield target for 2027 and a four-point audit of response time, cadence, ownership and CRM hygiene. Before buying more demand, measure the demand you have already paid for.
The Earned Pipeline: Turning Referral Revenue into a 2027 Target You Can Track
Performance & Measurement

The Earned Pipeline: Turning Referral Revenue into a 2027 Target You Can Track

Referral revenue is often the most profitable work a UK SME handles, yet it is rarely given a target. This article sets out a 2027 referral-share target and a simple monthly ledger that turns unpitched work into a deliberate growth control without confusing it with customer concentration.
The Refusal Target: Making Declined Work a Measurable Growth Control
Strategy & Planning

The Refusal Target: Making Declined Work a Measurable Growth Control

Most UK growth plans measure only what is won, leaving capacity and margin to absorb poor-fit work. A refusal target makes saying no explicit, auditable and tied to delivery hours, contribution margin and strategic fit. This article sets out thresholds, scripts and metrics for 2026.
The Silent Discount: A 2027 Ceiling on Unbilled Project Scope
Performance & Measurement

The Silent Discount: A 2027 Ceiling on Unbilled Project Scope

Most UK founders can quote their day rate but cannot put a number on the work they absorb without a change note. This article sets out a four-week audit, a simple pricing method, and one defensible 2027 target: a ceiling on unbilled scope as a percentage of project value.
The Reliance Ceiling: A Customer-Concentration Target for 2027
Performance & Measurement

The Reliance Ceiling: A Customer-Concentration Target for 2027

Revenue growth can conceal a fragile plan when one or two accounts carry the numbers. This article sets out how UK SMEs can calculate concentration by gross profit, adopt a maximum-reliance ceiling and grow without making the business more brittle.
The Uplift Ledger: Setting a 2027 Price Target You Can Defend
Strategy & Planning

The Uplift Ledger: Setting a 2027 Price Target You Can Defend

Most UK founders treat a price rise as a single decision rather than a target with measurable outcomes. Here is how to segment the customer base, set a revenue-per-customer uplift goal, script the difficult conversations, and track retention and margin so a 2027 increase becomes a controlled growth lever rather than a customer-relations gamble.
Thirteen Weeks of Certainty: Making Liquidity Your First Target
Performance & Measurement

Thirteen Weeks of Certainty: Making Liquidity Your First Target

Most UK SMEs can quote their revenue target to the nearest thousand pounds but cannot say what their bank balance will be at the end of next quarter. This article sets out how to build a rolling thirteen-week cash target with a calculated floor, a realistic inflow forecast, and a twenty-minute weekly checkpoint that turns liquidity into a measured discipline.
Before the Ink Dries: Stress-Testing Next Year's Numbers
Strategy & Planning

Before the Ink Dries: Stress-Testing Next Year's Numbers

A target is only as strong as the assumptions beneath it. This guide sets out a 90-minute failure audit for UK SMEs: assume the 2027 plan has already missed, identify fragile assumptions and single points of failure, and agree kill criteria before December planning locks the number in.
Beyond the Founder's Calendar: Turning Growth Targets into an Operating System
Performance & Measurement

Beyond the Founder's Calendar: Turning Growth Targets into an Operating System

Founder dependency can make a growth target look owned when it is only being watched. This deep dive sets out decision rights, a weekly scorecard, escalation triggers and a one-page target brief that let a UK SME team run the number without constant check-ins.
Five Numbers, One Page: A Target Sheet That Earns Its Place
Performance & Measurement

Five Numbers, One Page: A Target Sheet That Earns Its Place

A crowded dashboard rarely improves judgement; it usually postpones it. This article sets out a one-page target sheet — one outcome, three inputs and one guardrail — plus a thirty-day test for keeping only the numbers that change decisions.
The Conversation Floor: Building UK Revenue Targets from the Bottom Up
Strategy & Planning

The Conversation Floor: Building UK Revenue Targets from the Bottom Up

Revenue targets are often chosen first and reverse-engineered with optimistic conversion assumptions. This article argues for a pipeline floor — a weekly minimum of qualified conversations — set from your own close rates and sales-cycle length before a revenue ceiling is agreed.
A Quarter Plus One Week: The UK SME Cadence That Keeps Targets Alive After January
Performance & Measurement

A Quarter Plus One Week: The UK SME Cadence That Keeps Targets Alive After January

Annual plans often fade once January momentum gives way to February reality. A rolling thirteen-week target board gives UK SMEs a shorter operating horizon, named owners and a Friday scorecard that turns growth into a weekly measurement habit.
Margin Before Momentum: A Profit-First Target Hierarchy for UK Founders
Strategy & Planning

Margin Before Momentum: A Profit-First Target Hierarchy for UK Founders

Revenue-first targets can reward busy growth while starving cash and capacity. For UK SMEs planning 2027, a profit-first hierarchy sets contribution margin, cash conversion and billable capacity before turnover—and makes the trade-offs explicit.
Retire These Five Targets Before 2027 — and Measure What Actually Pays
Strategy & Planning

Retire These Five Targets Before 2027 — and Measure What Actually Pays

Most UK target lists are inherited, not designed. As planning for 2027 begins, five familiar metrics deserve to be retired outright — not because ambition is unwelcome, but because they cannot tell you whether the business is actually getting stronger. Here is what to put in their place.
The November Reset: Ninety Days to Turn a Drifting 2026 into a Measurable Q1 2027
Performance & Measurement

The November Reset: Ninety Days to Turn a Drifting 2026 into a Measurable Q1 2027

With 2026 targets drifting and January still two months away, the temptation is to write the plan later. That is precisely backwards. This is a structured ninety-day reset — diagnosis, leading indicators, cashflow checkpoints and a weekly rhythm — that produces a Q1 2027 plan built on evidence rather than optimism.