Brightwater Research Partners
Brightwater gets enough enquiries, and loses work in the days after they come in.
Where Brightwater's work comes from, where it goes missing, and whether the Install would help.
A sample report. Brightwater Research Partners isn't a real firm, and its people and numbers are made up. A real report is laid out and written like this one.
Confidential: for the partners of Brightwater Research Partners.
Brightwater Research Partners · Diagnostic report · Prepared for Helen Marsh by Travor Akwenye, InspiredWorkx, on day 5 · Based on three months of Brightwater's own records
My answer
Yes, the Install fits, as long as Brightwater buys two Claude Team seats before it starts.
More enquiries wouldn't change much. The work is lost after they arrive: replies wait, proposals go out six working days after the call, and once a proposal is sent nobody agrees what happens next. Those are follow-up problems, and a system can draft that work while Helen or Tom approves every message.
4 of 22
Enquiries got no reply. I found no reply to four of them, all sent to the general inbox. Another seven waited more than two working days.
6 working days
The usual gap between the call and the proposal. The two that took more than eight working days were both lost.
5 of 6
Proposals went out with no next step agreed. Three of them are still undecided, more than 30 days on.
What I'd do
- Start with the enquiries. Put every enquiry in one shared inbox and give Helen or Tom a list each morning, with a reply drafted for each, so none waits more than a working day.
- Then the proposals. Gather Brightwater's last 14 proposals into a library and draft each new one from the call notes.
- Then the follow-up. Agree a next step and a date on every call, so the follow-up is drafted and waiting when that date comes.
What I'd measure
| Measure | Today |
|---|---|
| Median time to first reply | 1.5 working days |
| Enquiries with no reply | 4 in three months |
| Median days from call to proposal | 6 working days |
I'd judge the Install on replies first, and on proposal speed after that.
Next step
I could start the Install within two weeks. It's $9,500 fixed, less $975 if you book within 90 days of this report.
1 · How you win work now
Referrals bring in enough work, but what happens next depends on who sees the email first.
Brightwater is a 16-person B2B market research firm in Manchester that sells studies to industrial manufacturers. Most of its work comes through past clients and two industry associations, and about one job in six is a tender.
Enquiries land in three different inboxes, and whoever spots one first replies. Helen writes every proposal herself, usually starting from the last one like it. When she has time, that works. When she doesn't, both the enquiries and the proposals sit and wait.
Source: my first session with Helen Marsh, and Brightwater's inboxes and proposal folder, checked on her screen.
| Measure | Value | Based on |
|---|---|---|
| Median time to first reply | 1.5 working days | 22 enquiries |
| Median time from call to proposal | 6 working days | 6 proposals |
| Proposals sent | 2 a month | 6 proposals in three months |
| Proposals won | 1 of 3 decided | Of the 6 proposals sent, 3 are decided and 3 still open. Too few for a win rate. |
| Helen's time per proposal | About 8 hours | Her estimate, for five proposals |
Source: Brightwater's enquiry list and proposal folder for the last three months, and my first session. I use medians because a few very late replies would pull an average out of shape.
2 · Where you lose it
Work slips away at the first reply, while a proposal is being written, and after it's sent.
Note: 22 enquiries came in over three months, and all four that got no reply went to the general inbox. Source: Brightwater's enquiry list, checked against the three inboxes on screen.
- Won
- Lost
- Still undecided
Note: six proposals is a small sample, so treat this as something to keep an eye on. In one of the two losses the client said a competitor had "got there first", though that's one case. Source: Brightwater's proposal folder and call notes for the last three months.
Enquiries wait. Four got no reply I could find, another seven waited more than two working days, and nobody looks after the general inbox.
Proposals go out late. The usual one goes out six working days after the call, and the two slowest were both lost.
Proposals drift. Five of the six had no next step agreed, and three are still undecided after more than 30 days.
3 · Your workflows, scored
Replying to enquiries scores full marks and following up proposals comes close behind, so that's where to start.
I scored each of Brightwater's sales workflows from 0 to 2 on five questions. A high score means a system could draft the work while a person approves each message. Anything scoring six or more out of ten is worth building; below six, I'd give advice instead.
| Workflow | What it loses each month (estimated) | How often | Context | Rule-like | Reachable | Approval point | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First reply to enquiries | 1 to 2 unanswered; 2 late | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 10 |
| Following up sent proposals | 1 drifting | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 9 |
| Writing proposals | About 2 days late each | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 8 |
| Keeping past work findable | Past work hard to find | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 |
| Weekly pipeline review | No regular review | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 8 |
| Deciding which tenders to bid for | 1 low-chance tender a quarter | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
Source: both sessions and Brightwater's records, checked on screen; the scores are mine. The monthly losses are my estimates from three months of records.
How to read the scores
- How often
- 2: several times a week. 1: a few times a month. 0: rarely.
- Context
- 2: what's needed sits in the email and your files. 1: some of it lives in people's heads. 0: most of it does.
- Rule-like
- 2: the decisions follow clear rules. 1: some judgement. 0: mostly judgement.
- Reachable
- 2: the tools you already use can be connected. 1: partly. 0: not without new software.
- Approval point
- 2: there's a natural moment for a person to approve before anything is sent. 0: there isn't.
4 · Does the Install fit?
Verdict
Yes, with one condition.
- You lose work after enquiries arrive: in slow replies, late proposals and follow-up that never happens.
- You get enough enquiries for the system to pay its way.
- None of your sales email involves regulated data.
The condition. Brightwater doesn't have a Claude plan yet, so Helen and one colleague need Claude Team seats before I start: at least two, at about US$20 to $25 each a month, paid to Anthropic. Helen has picked Tom Reid, the senior analyst who answers most enquiries, as the colleague I'll train.
5 · What I'd set up first
- 1The enquiry queue. One shared inbox that becomes a list each morning, with a reply drafted for every enquiry. Helen or Tom reads it, changes what they like and sends it.
- 2The proposal library. Your last 14 proposals, gathered so each new draft starts from your best work instead of whichever one is newest.
- 3The follow-up plan. You agree a next step and a date on the call, and on that date the follow-up is drafted and waiting.
6 · Your accounts
| Claude plan | None yet. You'd buy Team before the Install (the condition above). |
|---|---|
| Google Workspace. In the first hour of the Install I check that drafts appear in Gmail. | |
| Documents | Google Drive. |
| Pipeline | A spreadsheet for now. I'd use the Notion template, which Helen liked better. |
| Settings | A free GitHub account in Brightwater's name holds the system's settings and instructions, so they're yours and someone else could take them over. |
| Data storage | Claude keeps business data in the United States. Helen has read this in the data statement and accepted it. |
7 · Next step
I could start within two weeks. The Install is $9,500 fixed, less the $975 credit if you book within 90 days of this report.
Appendix
I listened, checked what you told me against your own inboxes and files, and only then scored anything.
The five working days
- Day 1. A 90-minute session with Helen and Tom on how work comes in, who answers it and how proposals get written, with a real example of each.
- Day 2. I mapped each workflow from start to finish and listed what still needed checking.
- Day 3. I scored the workflows, estimated what each one costs you and drafted the verdict.
- Day 4. A 75-minute session with Helen, checking my findings on her screen against the inboxes, the proposal folder and the pipeline, and talking through the draft verdict. We also went through the three proposals still undecided; Helen chose two to revive and left with a next step and a draft follow-up for each, to finish and send herself.
- Day 5. This report, checked against the evidence before it went out.
What I looked at
- Your enquiries from the last three months, with when each came in, how, and when it was answered.
- Your last six proposals, the call notes behind them, and the tenders you answered in the last year.
- Your pipeline spreadsheet.
- Helen's estimate of how long each proposal takes her.
What I didn't do
- I never logged in to a Brightwater system. You showed me things on screen or sent a summary.
- The only access I had was a shared folder Helen set up. It's on the access record, and it ends today.
- After today I keep only this report and the invoice.
What this report can't tell you
- Three months is a short window, so seasonal patterns won't show.
- Six proposals is a small sample, and I've said so wherever it matters.
- The monthly losses in Exhibit 5 are my estimates.
If anything here raises a question, write to Travor at [email protected].
A sample report. Brightwater Research Partners isn't a real firm, and its people and numbers are made up.