Thinking ahead to 2026, a quiet shift I’m seeing in strong businesses
I’ve been spending a lot of time looking at how service businesses are preparing for the next 18–24 months, and one pattern keeps showing up. The businesses growing fastest aren’t necessarily spending more on ads or hiring bigger teams. They’re removing friction. A few examples I keep seeing: - Missed calls automatically turning into conversations - Leads getting responses in seconds instead of hours - Follow-ups happening consistently (without someone “remembering”) - Reviews being collected naturally after a job is done - Old leads coming back to life months later None of this is flashy. But together, it changes everything. What’s interesting is how much revenue is already there, it’s just leaking through gaps: - slow responses - manual follow-up - inconsistent processes - no visibility into what actually converts When those gaps are closed with simple trigger-based automation, a few things happen: - sales become more predictable - teams feel less pressure - owners get out of the day-to-day - growth compounds instead of restarting every month I’m also noticing that businesses with systems in place are far easier to scale or exit. Less dependency on the owner, clearer numbers, cleaner operations. Not saying automation is the answer to everything, but it’s becoming the foundation for businesses that want to be strong in 2026, not just busy. Curious how others here are thinking about this: - What’s the biggest bottleneck in your business right now? - Where do you feel revenue slipping through the cracks? Interested to hear real experiences 👀