Ranked shortlist template

The template

Candidate #1: [Workflow Name]

The problem (in your words):

"[Quote from you describing the pain]"

What happens now:

• [Step 1 of the current process]
• [Step 2]
• [Step 3]
• [Where it breaks or slows down]

Volume:

• How often: [X times per week/month]
• Time per instance: [Y minutes/hours]
• Who does it: [Name/role]

Cost by hand (annualized):

• Time cost: [X instances × Y time × $hourly rate] = $[Z]/year
• Error cost (if applicable): $[estimated loss from mistakes]
• Opportunity cost (if applicable): $[what's lost due to delay]

What automation would look like:

• Trigger: [What starts the workflow]
• Steps: [1, 2, 3... up to 10]
• Tools involved: [System A, System B, automation platform]
• Failure modes: [What could go wrong and how to handle it]

Rough build cost:

• $[X,XXX] (range: $[X,XXX] - $[X,XXX])
• Timeline: [X weeks]

Why this is (or isn't) first:

• [The reasoning — e.g., "Highest volume, clearest ROI, easiest to build"]
• [Or: "Too dependent on external systems; better as second build"]

Candidate #2: [Workflow Name]

The problem (in your words):

"[Quote from you describing the pain]"

What happens now:

• [Step 1 of the current process]
• [Step 2]
• [Step 3]
• [Where it breaks or slows down]

Volume:

• How often: [X times per week/month]
• Time per instance: [Y minutes/hours]
• Who does it: [Name/role]

Cost by hand (annualized):

• Time cost: [X instances × Y time × $hourly rate] = $[Z]/year
• Error cost (if applicable): $[estimated loss from mistakes]
• Opportunity cost (if applicable): $[what's lost due to delay]

What automation would look like:

• Trigger: [What starts the workflow]
• Steps: [1, 2, 3... up to 10]
• Tools involved: [System A, System B, automation platform]
• Failure modes: [What could go wrong and how to handle it]

Rough build cost:

• $[X,XXX] (range: $[X,XXX] - $[X,XXX])
• Timeline: [X weeks]

Why this is (or isn't) first:

• [The reasoning — e.g., "Lower volume than #1, but still strong ROI"]
• [Or: "Would be first if [condition], but that's not in place yet"]

Candidate #3: [Workflow Name]

The problem (in your words):

"[Quote from you describing the pain]"

What happens now:

• [Step 1 of the current process]
• [Step 2]
• [Step 3]
• [Where it breaks or slows down]

Volume:

• How often: [X times per week/month]
• Time per instance: [Y minutes/hours]
• Who does it: [Name/role]

Cost by hand (annualized):

• Time cost: [X instances × Y time × $hourly rate] = $[Z]/year
• Error cost (if applicable): $[estimated loss from mistakes]
• Opportunity cost (if applicable): $[what's lost due to delay]

What automation would look like:

• Trigger: [What starts the workflow]
• Steps: [1, 2, 3... up to 10]
• Tools involved: [System A, System B, automation platform]
• Failure modes: [What could go wrong and how to handle it]

Rough build cost:

• $[X,XXX] (range: $[X,XXX] - $[X,XXX])
• Timeline: [X weeks]

Why this is (or isn't) first:

• [The reasoning — e.g., "Lowest priority of the three, but still worth building eventually"]
• [Or: "Not ready yet; needs [condition] to be in place first"]

The recommendation

Build this first: [Candidate #X]

Why:

• [Primary reason — e.g., "Highest ROI with lowest risk"]
• [Secondary reason — e.g., "Unclogs the bottleneck for other workflows"]
• [Tertiary reason — e.g., "Quick win that builds momentum"]

What happens if you build this:

• [Specific outcome — e.g., "Follow-up time drops from 3 days to 4 hours"]
• [Time saved — e.g., "11 hours/week freed up"]
• [Money saved or earned — e.g., "$1,100/month in admin time, plus X% more conversions"]

What happens if you don't:

• [The cost of inaction — e.g., "Continue losing X leads per month due to slow follow-up"]
• [The opportunity cost — e.g., "Team stays stuck in reactive mode instead of strategic work"]

What's excluded (by design)

• Custom software — This uses tools you already have or reasonably priced additions
• Model training — This composes existing models, not custom ML
• Multi-workflow builds — This is one workflow. Others come later.
• Regulated data — If this touches patient records, cardholder data, or privileged discovery, it's out of scope

Next steps (if you proceed)

1. Accept the build spec — A one-page document with the trigger, steps, tools, owner, and definition of "working"
2. Sign the engagement — Fixed $4,500 (or $2,950 if founding rate is active)
3. The $950 is credited — The audit fee comes off the build if you start within 60 days
4. We build in 5 weeks — One workflow, running in daily use, with a runbook and handover

If you don't proceed: You still keep this ranked shortlist. You can hand it to anyone — including your own team — and use it to make a decision.

Example (filled-in)

Candidate #1: Overdue Invoice Chasing

The problem (in your words):

"We have 30-40 overdue invoices at any time. Someone has to chase them every week, and it's awkward and inconsistent."

What happens now:

• Sarah exports the overdue report from QuickBooks every Monday
• She manually checks which ones are 30, 60, 90+ days past due
• She sends reminder emails, but she forgets some
• She follows up by phone for the older ones, but that's ad-hoc
• Some invoices sit 120+ days because they fell through the cracks

Volume:

• How often: 35 invoices per week, on average
• Time per instance: 20 minutes (email + phone + data entry)
• Who does it: Sarah in accounting

Cost by hand (annualized):

• Time cost: 35 × 20 min × $50/hr = ~$1,800/month
• Error cost: ~5 invoices/month go 120+ days unpaid = ~$15,000/year in bad debt
• Opportunity cost: Sarah spends 15 hours/week on chasing instead of higher-value work

What automation would look like:

• Trigger: Invoice passes due date
• Steps:
  1. Detect overdue invoice
  2. Score by age (30, 60, 90+ days)
  3. Send automated reminder (escalating tone by age)
  4. Create task for Sarah if no response after 2 reminders
  5. Log all activity in CRM
• Tools involved: QuickBooks → n8n → Email → CRM
• Failure modes: Email bounces (flag for manual follow-up), customer disputes (create support ticket), no response after 3 attempts (escalate to owner)

Rough build cost:

• $2,500 (range: $2,000 - $3,500)
• Timeline: 3-4 weeks

Why this is first:

• Highest ROI: $1,800/month time savings + reduced bad debt
• Clear trigger and steps
• Low risk: Doesn't touch regulated data, uses existing tools
• Quick win: Builds momentum for other automations

Candidate #2: New Client Intake

The problem (in your words):

"When we sign a new client, there's a lot of setup work — creating folders, sending welcome emails, scheduling kickoff. It's inconsistent and things get missed."

What happens now:

• Partner signs engagement letter
• Someone manually creates client folder structure
• Someone sends welcome email with onboarding materials
• Someone schedules kickoff meeting
• Someone creates client record in CRM
• Sometimes this happens in 2 days, sometimes in 2 weeks

Volume:

• How often: 8-12 new clients per month
• Time per client: ~90 minutes
• Who does it: Ops manager (currently Jane)

Cost by hand (annualized):

• Time cost: 10 × 90 min × $60/hr = ~$3,600/month
• Error cost: Occasional missed steps lead to delayed kickouts = ~$2,000/year in rework
• Opportunity cost: Jane spends 20% of her time on setup instead of strategic work

What automation would look like:

• Trigger: Engagement letter signed (document detection or manual flag)
• Steps:
  1. Create client folder in Google Drive
  2. Generate welcome email from template
  3. Send onboarding questionnaire
  4. Create CRM record
  5. Schedule kickoff via Calendly link
  6. Notify relevant team members
• Tools involved: Google Workspace → n8n → CRM → Calendly
• Failure modes: Missing documents (flag for manual review), calendar conflicts (alert for reschedule), email bounces (notify Jane)

Rough build cost:

• $3,000 (range: $2,500 - $4,000)
• Timeline: 3-4 weeks

Why this is second:

• Strong ROI, but lower volume than invoice chasing
• Still clear trigger and steps
• Depends on the CRM being in place first (if not already there)

Candidate #3: Proposal First Drafts

The problem (in your words):

"We spend a lot of time writing proposals from scratch. We have templates, but assembling them is slow and inconsistent."

What happens now:

• Sales rep gets an RFP or opportunity
• They find the relevant templates
• They manually fill in the details (client name, scope, pricing)
• They review and edit
• They send it out
• Quality varies depending on who's writing it

Volume:

• How often: 20-25 proposals per month
• Time per proposal: ~2 hours
• Who does it: Sales team (3 people)

Cost by hand (annualized):

• Time cost: 22 × 2 hrs × $75/hr = ~$6,600/month
• Error cost: Occasional pricing errors or missed requirements = ~$3,000/year
• Opportunity cost: Sales team spends 30% of time on drafting instead of selling

What automation would look like:

• Trigger: Opportunity created in CRM with "proposal needed" flag
• Steps:
  1. Pull client data from CRM
  2. Select relevant template based on opportunity type
  3. Generate first draft with auto-filled fields
  4. Send to owner for review
  5. Track version history
• Tools involved: CRM → Document generation → Email
• Failure modes: Missing data (flag for manual completion), template mismatch (alert for review), formatting issues (human review required)

Rough build cost:

• $4,000 (range: $3,500 - $5,000)
• Timeline: 4-5 weeks

Why this is third:

• Good ROI, but more complex than the first two
• Depends on CRM data being clean and complete
• Requires more customization for different proposal types

The recommendation

Build this first: Candidate #1 — Overdue Invoice Chasing

Why:

• Highest ROI: $1,800/month time savings + reduced bad debt
• Clear trigger and steps
• Lowest risk: Uses existing tools, no regulated data
• Quick win: 3-4 weeks to live system

What happens if you build this:

• Follow-up time drops from 3 days to same-day
• Bad debt reduces by ~40% (fewer invoices go 120+ days)
• Sarah frees up 15 hours/week for higher-value work

What happens if you don't:

• Continue losing ~$15,000/year in bad debt
• Sarah stays stuck in reactive mode
• Other automations get delayed because she's the bottleneck