For owners I met at the CanadianSME Small Business Summit
If every good deal still runs through you, that's where growth is stuck.
Referrals got you here. Your team is busy. And the decisions that matter still wait on your desk.
Could you leave for 30 days without the phone ringing? Before you buy another tool, hire another rep or rebuild the website, find out what's actually holding growth back.
Sound familiar?
39%
of Canadian small-business owners say their business is too reliant on them for day-to-day operations.
Source: CFIB, 2023
01
You bought the system. You can't tell if it's working.
New software, new tools, frustrated staff. Nobody set what better was supposed to look like.
Cost: spend you can't measure
02
Good deals keep sliding.
The pipeline looks fine until you open it. The same opportunities move to next month. Again.
Cost: a quarter of pipeline
03
You tried AI. Activity went up. Sales didn't.
More posts, more emails, more tools. If buyers can't tell why they'd choose you, AI says the wrong thing faster.
Cost: more noise, same close rate
04
You're still the best salesperson.
Customers want you on the call. That's flattering. It's also the ceiling, and it lowers what the business is worth when you sell.
Cost: your exit value
What the AI panel said, and what it didn't
92%
of Canadian SMEs use digital tools.
Only 10%
have fully integrated them across their operations.
And among SMEs using generative AI, 69% still use it only lightly and in a few parts of the business.
Source: CFIB, Digital Transformation, 2025
On the AI panel, the advice was blunt: AI can't patch holes that are already there. Map your processes, find where it hurts, then pick the tool.
Nobody talked about the hole in front of the sale. A tool can't tell you why good deals keep sliding, why referrals stopped being enough or why every important decision still lands on your desk.
AI can make the work faster. It can't decide what your business should say, where growth is stuck or what to fix first.
That's what the Growth Diagnostic is for.
Start with a Growth Diagnostic.
Over two to three weeks, I talk with the people involved and review the evidence: recent deals, lost proposals, how your best customers found you, what your sales and marketing actually say. I separate what the evidence shows from what still needs testing.
You get a written diagnosis, ranked priorities and the order to act in, including what to stop.
$4,000 CAD
Two to three weeks · No retainer required
Less than the cost of one deal that slides another quarter.
Sample pages. Details are illustrative.
Who I am
I'm Hayley Kornilenko, founder of Esper Strategies. I've spent 10+ years in ERP and B2B technology, where sales cycles run long and the same few people sell, deliver and support.
I work best with owner-led B2B companies of 5 to 50 people selling something buyers think hard about: technology, professional services, manufacturing, distribution.
acuCONNECT committee · Acumatica Marketing SIG co-moderator · DynamicsCon PMR panel
"When I stepped into the role to run GtM for our ERP organization, our content strategy was all over the place. Working with Hayley helped to stay focused on developing content that mattered to our target audience(s) and would perform in SEO and AEO."
Anna Crean, VP of Growth (ERP), i-Tech Support
Free self-check
Not ready to talk? Start with three questions.
Ten minutes, three questions and a score at the end: where your last three good customers came from, which deals keep sliding and why, and what would stop if you stepped away for a month.
No sign-up needed. Tick what’s true and your score adds up as you go. Save it as a PDF, or send it to me for a free read.
Met me at the Summit?
Tell me what's happening and what you've already tried. We'll spend 20 minutes on it.
If a Diagnostic makes sense, I'll explain why. If it doesn't, I'll tell you that and point you somewhere better.