Before you plan 2027, do this..

Hi Reader,

When I was at Intuit, I led social proof and brand advocacy for TurboTax in Canada. Reviews, ratings, a referral program, a community of customers who loved the product enough to talk about it.

It was lovely, people-centred work. But it was also very clear about one thing.

Every program I ran had to answer a question in front of the business: did this actually move something that matters?

It was not "did people like it." or "did the post do well." The target was clear: Did it build confidence at the moment someone was deciding? Did it bring in new customers?

We worked with analysts to track it, and we tested what worked at each point where a customer met the brand. If something was popular but didn't move the business, it had to be fixed to earn its place or go.

I'll be honest, at the time, it sometimes felt like a lot of pressure. Today I see it as one of the most useful habits I ever picked up.

Because when you run your own business, nobody asks you these questions.

There's no analyst, no quarterly review, nobody across the table asking what your communication actually brought in. So most of us never ask it either. And we end up measuring whatever is easiest to count.

The easy numbers aren't the ones that pay you

Followers, likes, views, open rates... they're right there on your screen, updated every day, and it's very tempting to treat them as the scoreboard.

But think about where your best work came from this year.

The client who signed your biggest package. The speaking invitation. The collaboration that opened a new door.

I'd guess very few of them came from a post that "did well."

More likely, someone heard you speak and remembered you months later, or a past client mentioned your name over coffee, or someone had been quietly reading your newsletter for a year before they finally replied.

There's research that shows just how much of this happens out of sight.

In a study of 523 professional services firms, the Hinge Research Institute found that 81.5% of them received referrals from people they had never worked with. And what drove those referrals wasn't a viral post, but instead, it was the firm's visible expertise and general reputation.

Read that again.

Most of these firms were being recommended by people who had never been their clients, purely because of what those people had seen, read or heard about them.

None of that shows up in your analytics. Which means if you only look at your dashboard, you'll undervalue the work that's actually working, and keep pouring time into the work that isn't.

Work backwards from every yes

So instead of starting with your numbers, start with your results. And trace each one back to where it began.

It's the same thing we did at Intuit, just without the analysts. You become the analyst. And honestly, for a founder, it's simpler than it sounds.

For every good thing that came into your business this year (a client, a referral, an invitation, a feature, a partnership) ask two questions:

1. How did they first hear about me?
2. What made them trust me enough to say yes?

The first answer tells you where you were found. The second tells you what convinced them. And they're often not the same.

Someone might find you through a podcast you were a guest on, and decide to hire you after reading three of your case studies. Both of those mattered.

Once you've done this for every win, put it next to a list of where you actually spent your communication time and energy this year. That's usually the moment the gap becomes obvious.

Most founders I work with find that the thing taking most of their hours (very often, daily posting) brought in a share of their best work, while something they barely invested in (speaking, referrals, a handful of strong relationships) quietly did the heavy lifting.

One honest caveat

I don't want you to take this too far, because reputation doesn't work like an ad campaign. Some of what you did this year hasn't paid off yet.

The talk you gave in March might bring you a client next spring. The person reading this newsletter today might be ready in a year.

So don't cut something just because it hasn't turned into money in twelve months. Look for the signals instead. Are the right people replying, asking questions, introducing you to others? If yes, it's working, just slowly. If an activity is bringing you lots of attention from people who will never buy from you, that's the one to rethink.

A small exercise for this week

Block 30 minutes before you sit down to plan 2027.

1. List every client, referral and opportunity that came in this year.
2. Next to each one, write how they first heard about you and what made them say yes. If you don't know, that's useful information too. You can still ask them.
3. On a separate list, write down where you spent most of your communication time this year.
4. Compare the two lists, and sort your activities into three groups: keep (it's bringing in results), fix (the right people are noticing, but it's not converting yet), and stop (it's busy, but it isn't bringing in the people you want).

And from now on, make one small habit non-negotiable.

On every discovery call, ask: "How did you hear about me?" and "What made you reach out now?" Write the answers down. In a year, you'll have the kind of data I used to need a whole team to collect.

Then hit reply, Reader, and tell me: what's the most surprising thing your list showed you? I have a feeling a few of you are going to discover that your best clients came from somewhere you'd almost forgotten about.

Have a great week. Keep making waves. You've got this.

PS: Did someone forward you this newsletter to you? You can Subscribe here.​

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NEW EPISODE ON LET'S MAKE WAVES PODCAST

This week's episode, Your Quarterly Brand Check-Up (Before You Plan 2027), is for the business owner whose business has grown or shifted, while her bio, website and social media are still telling an old story.

I share how my own brand fell behind my business when my consultancy moved from corporate clients to entrepreneurs (yes, it happens to communication strategists too), the five things to check every quarter, and two fixes you can do in an afternoon: the bio test and the proof check.

Listen on Apple or Spotify.

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