Our tools are working models, not predictions. Each uses the assumptions you enter, shows the calculation, and distinguishes a possible financial opportunity from realized results. We do not supply invented industry benchmarks to make the estimates look more impressive.
1. Start with your baseline
Use actual volumes, costs, close rates and work hours. Label estimated values and avoid mixing monthly with annual inputs.
2. Make the assumptions visible
Change one variable at a time, note why you think it is reasonable, and compare conservative, expected and optimistic cases.
3. Include the full cost
Remember setup, recruiting, vendor oversight, maintenance, training, management time and transition risks.
4. Test what the math omits
Capacity, customer experience, expertise, risk tolerance and team adoption may matter more than the calculated cost difference.
1. Lead Follow-Up Calculator
Additional annual wins = leads per month × 12 × improvement in conversion rate (percentage points / 100). Revenue opportunity = additional wins × average customer revenue. Contribution opportunity = revenue opportunity × contribution margin. Improvement cannot lift conversion above 100%. Changing response speed does not automatically cause the assumed lift.
2. Quote Follow-Up Calculator
Uses the same incremental-wins method but with quotes issued and quote win rate. It should be applied to comparable quote types. Price, product availability, customer fit and competitive selection can outweigh follow-up practices. An additional quote win may also consume capacity.
3. Time Savings Calculator
Annual time recovered = occurrences per week × minutes per task × proposed time reduction × working weeks ÷ 60. Capacity value = hours × loaded labor rate. This is the theoretical labor value of released capacity, not payroll savings unless a real cost change is possible. Include review, error handling and training effort in implementation decisions.
4. Marketing Break-Even Calculator
Contribution per sale = order value × contribution margin. Incremental sales required = monthly campaign cost ÷ contribution per sale, rounded up. Lead requirement = incremental sales ÷ close rate, rounded up. A zero denominator yields an unavailable result. Shipping, returns and variable fulfillment costs belong in the margin assumption.
5. Business Health Scorecard
Twenty-one responses from 1 to 5 are grouped into seven equally weighted dimensions, three responses each. A dimension score equals ((average response − 1) ÷ 4) × 100; the overall score is the average of the seven dimension scores, or equivalently ((sum of 21 ratings − 21) ÷ 84) × 100. No official score is shown until every question is answered. The tier labels (0–24, 25–49, 50–74, 75–100) are Contemedia editorial interpretations, not statistically validated ranges, industry ranks, a profitability prediction or external benchmarks. The three weakest dimensions are displayed as prompts to investigate. Subjective answers should be compared with evidence and another stakeholder’s answers.
6. Internal Team vs. External Agency or Vendor
This is a staffing and service-delivery comparison, not a software purchasing comparison. Internal delivery includes full-time-equivalent capacity × salary × employer burden, plus tools and recruiting. External delivery includes 12 monthly retainers, other fees, internal oversight hours and transition costs. One-time costs are spread across the chosen period; annual salary or vendor-fee growth is modeled year by year. The displayed result is the absolute difference between average annualized nominal costs, with both alternatives shown alongside it.
Interpretation requires more than price: identify skill availability, management capacity, confidentiality, access to customer history, quality controls, switching risk and the consequences of understaffing. A hybrid approach can be the most sensible choice, even though this model compares two primary paths.
7. Build vs. Buy Technology
This is a separate technology ownership comparison. Building includes one-time development, hosting/support and maintenance assumed as a percent of initial development. Buying includes license fees, onboarding, integration/support and internal administration time. Annual costs grow by the stated percentages, are totaled over a common 1–10-year horizon and shown as nominal, undiscounted amounts. The model does not calculate NPV, tax effects, financing, depreciation or licensing tier changes.
Before deciding, compare feature fit, product maturity, security, ownership and exportability of data, roadmap control, implementation time, vendor concentration risk, maintenance resources and the costs of leaving either choice.
How to run a useful decision session
- Define the exact work or capability under consideration.
- Record the current baseline and where the numbers came from.
- Choose the time horizon and include all relevant recurring and transition costs.
- Run three scenarios: conservative, expected and high-impact.
- Write down qualitative dealbreakers before looking at the price difference.
- Assign an owner, pilot when possible, and decide what evidence to review after 30, 60 and 90 days.
Privacy and saving your work
Tool inputs and results are calculated in your browser. Our tools do not transmit your entered values to Contemedia or save them on our servers. Each tool page offers CSV, JSON and print-to-PDF options, so the results can be retained locally. Do not include confidential data on a shared device or assume a downloaded file is encrypted.
Further reading
For general planning, see the U.S. Small Business Administration business planning guidance. For risk thinking around AI-supported workflows, see the NIST AI Risk Management Framework. These references explain broader planning considerations and do not supply or validate our calculator assumptions.
Need help interpreting the tradeoffs?
Independent reviews can help you evaluate assumptions, alternatives and implementation challenges without a predetermined product recommendation.