The SAE Map: A Simple Way to Find What's Actually Broken in Your Business Systems

Most founders don't wake up thinking, "I need RevOps."

They wake up thinking:

• Leads are coming in, but follow-up is all over the place

• The CRM is full of garbage data and nobody trusts it

• Quotes slip through the cracks

• Customers get a great experience sometimes and a train wreck other times

• Reporting feels like guesswork, and every decision feels riskier than it should

And the default response? Blame the tools.

"HubSpot isn't set up right."
"JobNimbus is missing features."
"Zapier keeps breaking."
"We need a new system."

Sometimes the tools really do need work. But most of the time, the real problem is simpler:

Your business doesn't have a clear map of how work is supposed to move.

That's where the SAE Map comes in.

What is the SAE Map?

SAE stands for:

• Systems

• Automations

• Engagements

It's the framework I use to diagnose where things are actually breaking, without getting lost in platform-specific rabbit holes or spending months chasing the wrong fixes.

Here's the truth: your business is a machine, and the software is just the wiring. When something isn't working, it's almost always coming from one of these three categories.

1) Systems: Where the "Truth" Lives

Systems are the places where your business stores information and runs operations.

Examples:

• CRM (HubSpot, Zoho, Salesforce, JobNimbus)

• Project management (Monday.com, ClickUp)

• Phone + SMS (Aircall, Kixie)

• Email + Calendar (Google Workspace, Microsoft)

• Accounting + payments (QuickBooks, Stripe, Square)

• Forms, quotes, proposals, e-sign tools

When a system is messy or fragmented, you get predictable symptoms:

• Duplicate records and missing fields everywhere

• No consistent lifecycle stages

• No single place to look for "what's happening right now"

• Reporting that feels completely made up

• Sales and ops living in spreadsheets "because it's faster"

Here's the thing: a system isn't "good" just because it has fancy features.

It's good because people trust it.

2) Automations: The Invisible Conveyor Belts

Automations are the rules that move work forward without someone needing to remember every single step.

Examples:

• Lead routing and assignment

• Speed-to-lead timers and alerts

• Follow-up sequences

• Status changes that trigger tasks

• Quote sent → reminders → close-lost reasons captured

• Handoffs between sales and ops

• Data cleanup rules (normalization, duplicate prevention, required fields)

This is where most businesses try to "move fast," and where they accidentally create total chaos.

When you layer automation on top of unclear processes, you end up with:

• Leads getting assigned to the wrong person (or not at all)

• Customers getting conflicting messages

• Internal tasks firing at the wrong time

• Sales reps ignoring the system because it just creates noise

• A tangled web of workflows that nobody wants to touch

A good automation makes the right thing easy.
A bad automation makes everything feel like it's about to break.

3) Engagements: What the Customer Actually Experiences

Engagements are the moments where your business touches a lead or customer.

Examples:

• The first call after a form submission

• The text after a missed call

• Quote follow-up

• Appointment reminders

• Post-install or post-delivery check-ins

• Review requests and referral asks

• Re-engagement campaigns for older leads

This is where revenue is won or lost. It's also where inefficiencies love to hide.

You can have a "fine" CRM and "decent" automations, but if engagement is inconsistent, you'll still feel the pain:

• You're paying for leads that don't convert

• Your team is busy, but revenue isn't predictable

• The customer journey depends entirely on which employee picked up the task

Engagement is the output of your whole system.

Why This Map Works

Most operational problems look complicated because they're tangled.

The SAE Map untangles them.

Instead of asking:
"What tool should we buy?"
or
"How should we rebuild HubSpot from scratch?"

You ask:

• Which system should own the truth?

• Where do we need automation to remove human failure points?

• What engagements create the most leverage in revenue and retention?

When you answer those three questions, the path forward gets obvious fast.

And you stop wasting money on "fixes" that don't actually address the root cause.

A Quick Example

A founder tells me: "Our leads suck."

We map it with SAE and find:

• System issue: Leads are scattered across email inboxes, call logs, and the CRM with no single source of truth

• Automation issue: No routing rules, no speed-to-lead timer, no consistent follow-up tasks being created

• Engagement issue: First response time varies from 2 minutes to 2 days depending on who's available

The fix isn't "better leads."

The fix is building a system that treats every lead the same way, every time. With speed, clarity, and accountability.

That's RevOps in plain English.

Want Me to Map Yours?

If you're feeling any of these symptoms, the fastest way to get clarity is a short discovery call.

I'll ask a few targeted questions, and we'll identify exactly what's broken across Systems, Automations, and Engagements so you know what to fix first (and what you can stop worrying about).

Book a discovery call NOW:
https://calendly.com/keith-landals-fullthrottlerevops