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Can't Measure, Can't Manage

Can't Measure, Can't Manage

What KPIs move the needle?

John Wilson
October 24, 2025

Hello home service operators,

Zac Dearing, co-founder of Mantel—an AI sales platform built for contractors—recently joined me on the OAO podcast to share guidance on how sales teams can close more deals, faster.

One thing he said stands out from the rest…

You can’t manage something that you can’t measure.

I dive into the weeds below, but first today’s resources…

How to hire a CFO without hiring a CFO
Is Reddit affecting how customers find you online?
The next OAO meetup is scheduled for 11/13 in Chicago at J. Blanton Plumbing HQ (reserve your spot)
Google is letting searchers hide sponsored results after they’ve seen them
CFO Made Easy can step in to ensure that your company’s finances are in good working order

Measure What Moves the Needle

The best operators know one thing for sure: you can’t manage what you can’t measure.

When I sat down with Zac Dearing from Mantel, that idea became the through line of our entire conversation. Most home service companies track close rate and average ticket, but those numbers only matter if the data is clean. Without accurate measurement, everything else is just noise.

Measure what matters

Zac pointed out that the best companies aren’t managing from gut feel anymore. They’re managing from real-time data that shows exactly where deals are won or lost. The focus has shifted from volume to visibility.

They measure how quickly their team follows up, how long homeowners engage with proposals, and even the strength of each proposal itself.

Response time: Faster responses consistently lead to higher close rates. If your team takes hours instead of minutes to follow up, you’re losing deals you never knew you had.
Eyeball time: The longer a homeowner spends reviewing your proposal, the more likely they are to buy. Mantel tracks this down to the minute, showing how engagement ties directly to conversion.
Proposal strength: This measures the number of options, the range between high and low offers, and how personalized each proposal is. A 10-point lift in proposal strength correlates with a $960 increase in average ticket.

Clean inputs lead to clear outcomes

Zac made one thing clear: bad data leads to bad decisions. Too many companies inflate their close rates because they only count easy wins. They ignore declined financing, dismissed leads, and incomplete opportunities. When Mantel helps them clean the data, that “70 percent close rate” often drops closer to 35.

It’s uncomfortable, but it’s real. And once you see the truth, you can actually fix it.

Visibility drives accountability

Zac’s team has learned that when salespeople can see their own numbers compared to others, behavior changes fast. Mantel’s benchmarking tools let contractors see how each seller stacks up against their peers nationwide, not just the person across the hall. That level of transparency pushes everyone to improve.

Owners and managers finally get to manage performance based on facts, not feelings. Sellers can see where they stand, what’s working, and what needs attention.

Simplify to scale

At ten million in revenue, companies tend to overcomplicate things. Processes pile up, reports multiply, and data becomes messy. By the time you hit thirty or a hundred million, simplicity becomes survival.

Zac believes that success at scale means focusing on the few metrics that truly drive outcomes. Speed of follow-up. Quality of proposals. Consistency in attach rates. Everything else is secondary.

Apply it in your shop

If you want to manage like the best, start small:

Define your denominators. Decide what counts as an opportunity, a sale, or a financing decline.
Track proposal strength, response time, and homeowner engagement.
Share benchmarks weekly and coach to the data, not to the story.
Reward improvement and transparency, not just top-line results.

My takeaway

You can’t coach what you can’t measure, and you can’t improve what you don’t track. The best operators are relentless about data because it tells them where to act.

Zac and his team at Mantel are proving that when you measure the right things and keep them simple, growth stops being a guessing game. It becomes something you can manage, scale, and repeat.

Here’s our entire conversation:

It’s Simple. More Leads = More Revenue

The success of your home service business hinges on your ability to generate leads...

…and Service Scalers is one of the best ways to secure leads that deliver results.

Contact them today and mention my name for one month free on any annual plan. Or, ask about 20% off a website rebuild (when you book a call before Thanksgiving).

I’ll leave you with this one point of advice: it’s time that you start to measure real-time data. Start today, not tomorrow.

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👊 John

Disclosure: Some of the content and links in this newsletter are sponsored or affiliate links, which means we may receive payment or earn a commission if you click through or purchase. However, all opinions expressed are entirely my own.