Every business owner wants the silver bullet. The magic KPI. The single insight that will finally make everything 'click'.
After 20+ years sitting across the table from hundreds of owners, manufacturers, construction leaders, wholesalers and service operators, the same truths hit me over and over again:
Every business has one most important question... and most owners don't know what theirs is.
Not because they're bad operators.
Not because they don't care.
It's because when you're in the thick of running a business, you stop seeing the forest or the trees.
Then one day, you're in a meeting, someone says something innocently enough, and suddenly - bang - you're seeing your business from a completely different angle. The penny drops and the lights turn on.
That 'one question' becomes the lens through which everything makes sense.
Today, we're going to unpack that question for you:
If you can figure this out, you’ll reshape the way you think, operate, and grow. Let’s get into it.
→ The Three Pillars Every Business Question Comes Back To
→ 1. Sales & Marketing (The Engine of the Business)
→ 2. Gross Profit Management (Your Real Money-Maker)
→ 3. Working Capital (Where Cashflow Either Lives or Dies)
→ The Bespoke vs Standard Product Lightbulb Moment
→ So… What Is Your Most Important Question?
→ If Your Issue Is Sales & Marketing, Your Question Might Be:
→ If Your Issue Is Gross Profit, Your Question Might Be:
→ If Your Issue Is Working Capital, Your Question Might Be:
→ The Dangerous Assumption Most Business Owners Make
→ Why Most Owners Never See the Real Question (Even After Years)
→ How CFO Dynamics Helps You Find (And Solve) Your Most Important Question
→ Your Challenge Today
I say this in almost every training session, workshop, or client meeting. The three keys to business succes are:
Here's what most business owners don't realise:
Your biggest business problem (your true, underlying problem) can almost always be traced back to one of these three pillars.
A messy profit and loss is a symptom.
A cash flow crunch is a symptom.
An underperforming team is usually a symptom.
The root cause? Always hiding in one of those pillars.
If revenue isn't coming in, everything else becomes ten times harder.
However, here's the nuance most people miss:
"Sales solves all problems" is only true when the business knows what kind of sales it needs.
IF your sales team doesn't know:
...then they're flying blind.
If operations can't deliver quickly you're not just selling slowly, you're selling at a discoutnt!
I had a conversation recently where a client was able to charge a 15% premium simply because their lead time was two weeks instead of four.
You can’t out-discount your competitors forever but you can outrun them.
For many of the manufacturing, construction, and service businesses we work with, this is the silent killer.
Your eyes might be on revenue.
Your team might be on productivity.
But gross profit?
That’s where the true health of the business lives.
Small improvements here have outsized impact:
And gross profit isn’t just a number, it’s a story.
A breakdown.
A true reflection of your operational discipline, that most owners never get taught how to interpret.
I’ve said this on stage, in boardrooms, and probably over too many coffees:
Cashflow isn’t emotional. It just is.
If you’re holding too much stock, offering the wrong credit terms, paying suppliers too quickly, or carrying slow-moving inventory, your business will feel like it’s starving regardless of revenue.
Working capital issues often hide in plain sight:
When business owners say “we’re busy but the bank account doesn’t reflect it”—this is why.
Let me give you the exact moment that inspired this topic.
I was sitting with a manufacturing client. Great business, great team, been working with them about six months. They produce a mix of:
During the conversation something clicked in my brain, one of those “hang on a minute” moments.
Here’s how their system works:
Simple enough until you realise the economics behind it.
Bespoke products carry massive upfront sunk costs:
If you miscalculate this… you lose money before you even start.
Then you move into the standard product stage:
Now the product is profitable—but only if the margins recoup what you sank into the bespoke stage and that’s when the penny dropped:
The most important question in this entire business is: Are we recouping enough in the standard product to offset the sunk cost in the bespoke stage?
If the answer is no?
They could scale into bankruptcy without realising it.
Most business owners look at total gross profit but never split the story down the middle to see which stage is bleeding.
And that brings us to YOU.
Every business has one.
It's just most owners:
Let me help you find it. Start by taking a good hard look at the three pillars. Your biggest bottleneck usually falls into one of these patterns.
Hint: If cash flow feels tight but revenue is inconsistent, your most important question is likely here.
Hint: If your revenue is high but profit doesn’t reflect it, this is your area.
Hint: If your accountant says you made money but the bank disagrees, this is the culprit.
You might be thinking: “Just one question? Surely not.”
Here’s what I’ve seen:
When a business finds its one defining question, everything else lines up.
It becomes the north star. The guiding principle. The filter for decision-making.
Examples:
Owners don’t fail because they’re lazy. They fail because they’re solving the wrong problems.
This part is important.
My example above? I’d been working with that business for six months.
This wasn’t a lack of attention. It wasn’t because they weren’t transparent. It wasn’t because they didn’t care.
It’s simply because:
Suddenly the most important question becomes obvious.
And from that moment on? Everything changes.
This is exactly why businesses bring in an outsourced CFO.
Not for bookkeeping. Not for tax. Not for ticking boxes, but because you need someone who can see what you can’t.
When CFO Dynamics works with a business, here’s what we do:
You don’t need 400 KPIs. You need the right 4–6.
We cut through the noise so you can finally see what matters.
You might think:
But the data often says:
And fixing the actual root cause creates momentum instantly.
Breakeven models. Product mix analysis. Working capital heat maps. Labour recovery frameworks. Operating rhythm dashboards. These aren’t spreadsheets.
They’re decision-making machines.
It’s not enough for us to know the numbers. Your leaders need to understand:
We upskill your entire leadership team.
This is the core.
We help you identify the single most important question in your business, and then we help you build the systems, data, and decision-making capability to solve it.
Because when you solve the right question? Everything else becomes easier.
I’ll leave you with this:
What is the most important question in YOUR business right now?
Not the loudest issue. Not the most annoying issue. Not the issue your gut is yelling about.
The real issue.
The one sitting silently underneath everything else.
If you can identify that (and begin solving it) you’ll be well and truly on the path to success.
And if you want a second set of eyes to help uncover it, that’s exactly what we do at CFO Dynamics.
You don’t need another spreadsheet.
You need clarity. You need insight. You need direction.
You need to know the right question.
For more tips on increasing revenue and profitability, sign up to our newsletter for business owners, leaders, and finance team managers. Each week, you'll get practical, no-fluff tips and insights in short, easy videos. No corporate jargon, no time wasting. Sign up now.