Why You Must Benchmark Your Business at 90% Performance

Once the diagnostic phase has identified the financial veins of gold and the standard operating procedures that should govern every component of the business, the real work begins. The BDM implementation phase is where those findings get put into action — and its central focus is the effective deployment of strategic resources.

Most business owners have never asked the question in quite this way: are my resources being deployed effectively? They think about whether they have enough resources — enough people, enough capital, enough equipment. But the question of whether those resources are being used at anything close to their full potential is one that rarely gets asked. And the answer, in most businesses, is that they are not. Not even close.

The Cost of Resources

Here is why this matters so much financially: expenses associated with variable and controllable expenses represent over 80% of the cost of running a business. That is not a rounding error. That is the overwhelming majority of what it costs to operate — and it is the portion of the cost structure that is most directly tied to how well your strategic resources are being deployed.

When those resources are underperforming, you are paying full price for partial output. You are carrying the full cost of your people, your space, your equipment, and your processes — but you are not getting full value in return. That gap is not just inefficiency. It is a direct profit leak, and it compounds every single day.

The 90% Target

The BDM implementation phase sets a clear and specific target: benchmark the deployment of strategic resources to a level of 90% performance factors. Not 100% — that is an unrealistic standard that creates brittleness and burnout. But 90% is a rigorous, achievable benchmark that represents a genuinely high-performing operation.

Getting to 90% requires the standard operating procedures that were identified in the diagnostic phase, the statistical process analysis that measures performance against those standards, and the discipline to act on what the numbers reveal. It is not a one-time exercise. It is an ongoing commitment to running the business at its best — and measuring that performance consistently so that any drift is caught and corrected before it becomes a problem.

Gleaning Predetermined Profits

The reason the 90% benchmark matters is not abstract. It is the mechanism by which predetermined profits are gleaned. Predetermined profits are not what is left over after everything else is paid. They are the first item of paid expense — built into the plan from the beginning, protected by the controls, and delivered by the performance of the business operating at or near its benchmark.

When your strategic resources are deployed at 90% performance, the business is generating the output it was designed to generate. The profit leaks are closed. The costs are controlled. And the predetermined profits that were planned for are actually being captured — not hoped for. That is the difference between a business that runs you and a business you run.

Ready to hit your benchmark?

Download The Purpose-Built Playbook today to learn how BDM's implementation phase helps business owners deploy their strategic resources at 90% performance and start gleaning the predetermined profits they deserve.