The COO’s Intake-to-Cash Map: Finding the Operational Leaks That Cost Revenue
How COOs of law firms and service businesses map intake to cash collected, find where revenue leaks and fix the largest leak first.
Global Growth Playbooks · Part 24 · US · UK · Australia · Canada
The answer
Revenue leaks out of a service business at predictable handoffs: unanswered inquiries, slow engagement letters, unbilled work, late invoices and slow collection. A COO who maps the full intake-to-cash process, measures the drop-off at each stage and fixes the largest leak first recovers revenue faster than any new marketing spend.
The map
| Stage | Common leak | Measure |
|---|---|---|
| Inquiry | Missed or slow responses | Response time and answer rate |
| Consultation or discovery | No-shows and no follow-up | Show rate and follow-up rate |
| Engagement | Slow engagement letters or contracts | Days from yes to signed |
| Delivery | Work done but not recorded | Recorded time against expected |
| Billing | Late or disputed invoices | Days from work to invoice; write-downs |
| Collection | Slow payment | Days sales outstanding; collection rate |
Finding the largest leak
- Pull 90 days of data for each stage.
- Calculate the conversion or loss at each step.
- Estimate the revenue value of each leak.
- Use the 5 Whys on the largest leak: ask why it happens until you reach a cause you can change.
- Fix that one leak before starting on the next.
Example of the 5 Whys
Invoices go out late. Why? Time entries are incomplete at month end. Why? Lawyers record time weekly from memory. Why? The time system is slow on mobile. Why? It was never configured for mobile entry. The fix is configuration and a daily entry habit, not a billing policy memo.
Guardrails
- Measure before and after every change.
- Involve the people who do the work; they know where the leaks are.
What to measure
- Revenue recovered per fix.
- Days from inquiry to cash.
- Write-downs and write-offs.
30-day checklist
- Draw the intake-to-cash map
- Pull 90 days of stage data
- Value each leak
- Run 5 Whys on the largest
- Implement and measure one fix
Want help putting this in place?
Book a 15-minute call with Sagar Pratap Singh, Founder and Host of WhoBringsTheBusiness, at sagar@whobringsthebusiness.com or pick a time online. Mention this playbook and I will come prepared with a starting point for your business. Implementation is delivered through Dizital Connect.
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Next in the series: Part 25: The CFO’s Guide to Marketing Spend in Professional Services
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