The Performance Diagnostic

From your own numbers and your own floor to a ranked plan, in days.

The Performance Diagnostic reads four areas at once: cashflow, inventory turn, margin, and technology. In one two-season engagement it found that about 30% of owned inventory had quietly stopped selling, proven sellers kept running out, and best sellers were priced below demand. Acting on what it found, the store grew gross-profit dollars 18.1% year over year, owned inventory turned over 10.8% faster, and a repriced cohort of 370 items lifted its margin 4.6 points (measured; cohort, not the store). Yours may be similar.

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An objective read of your floor, from your own records.

The Performance Diagnostic pairs AI-powered analysis of an anonymized set of your POS records with an objective operator-view of your floor: an interview with you, conversations with your staff, a walk of your store and displays. It shows what stopped selling, what it is worth, where prices sit below what customers would pay, and where the floor and the team are leaving money behind. For the cashflow read, you get a clear readout and a ranked plan in days.

The method

Four stages. Nothing to install.

Research. We share what our study is finding in shops like yours. Complimentary.
Diagnosis. The Performance Diagnostic reads your own numbers and your own floor.
Quote. We quote only against what the diagnostic found, and only where the return clears our guarantee.
Engagement. You run the plan with our check-ins, or we lead it with you.

What you get

A complete read of your inventory, turned into decisions.

First, we gain consensus on your inventory standards. Next, a dead-stock analysis that names every item, how long it has sat and what it has tied up in cash. A margin read across best sellers to identify what is priced below demand. A stockout analysis. A ranked multi-factor inventory breakdown. And an action plan that puts it all in order: what to re-merchandise, clear, reprice, order more of, and speak with your vendors about. Then we sit down together and walk you through all of it, so you can read the next set without us.

Four-pillar coverage

What the diagnostic covers, pillar by pillar.

Cashflow

We identify the dead and slow-moving stock item by item and the cash it has tied up, investigate the state and impact of receivables and the payment terms your suppliers give you, and examine the size and timing of orders, wages and equipment spend, with the option of developing a cash-flow calendar for you so the money is there when the season needs it.

Turn

We surface stockouts on proven sellers, find the dead stock cluttering your displays, and examine merchandising and display standards, reorder cadence, and your team's sales training and product knowledge.

Margin

We find the best sellers priced below demand and work every factor that builds or erodes margin. We start with demand, what shapes value perception on the floor, and your own beliefs about pricing, to find every area where repricing into value is appropriate. Then we work the cost side: where purchasing incentives make sense, and how to cut freight and the other costs added to products and operations.

Technology

Security comes first: we address weaknesses from day one. Next, we investigate where integrating the software, applications and tools you use can cut duplicated work and the errors it invites. Then the AI engine compiles and analyzes your numbers, surfacing initial findings and raising flags for further review within each pillar, so decisions run on better data, faster. For owners who want their own system, we also build and implement a custom Claude-based AI operating system you own, and teach your team to run it; the AI for Owners page shows how.

The tiers

Six tiers of service.

Community and information. Complimentary workshops, talks and research findings on using data and technology to buy back your time.
The Performance Diagnostic. A field interview and a read of your floor and your point-of-sale records across all four pillars, with a ranked plan delivered in days.
Advanced Strategy. A deeper plan you run, from cash-flow timing to pricing, sales training and your own AI system, with 30-, 60- and 90-day reviews.
Implementation. We lead implementation with you, weekly, for 90 days, making achieving results simple while the changes take hold.
Retained advisory. Three-month, six-month or ongoing advice across all four pillars, at a cadence set to your business.
Custom AI resources. Your own Claude-based AI operating system, plus the AI Coach, on-demand help that knows your business. See AI for Owners.

Finding it is fast. Fixing it is the work.

Clearing stock, repricing, and refining the habits that created your business's unique performance constraints takes time, and we stay in the operation with you while it happens. This is not a report that gets handed over and forgotten. At the diagnostic and strategy tiers you run the plan and we follow up with 30-, 60- and 90-day reviews. At the implementation tier we make achieving results simple for you, leading implementation with you on a weekly basis for 90 days. Any engagement is quoted after the diagnostic, against what it found, and backed by our guarantee.

The guarantee

Quoted against your own numbers. Backed by a guarantee.

Before we quote, an anonymized set of your own numbers has to show a defined return on the fee within the year, checked conservatively. If the diagnostic cannot find it, the diagnostic is complimentary.

Data fit

Does your point of sale qualify?

The diagnostic runs on an anonymized set of your sales and inventory records, not on a specific brand of point of sale. Lightspeed, Square, and Korona are the strongest fits. Shopify, Clover, and Helcim work too. You do not need to switch systems, and you do not need your provider's permission. The analysis needs, for each item, its cost, quantity on hand, category, vendor, and sales history, ideally three years. If your system holds those and can export them, that is enough. Where a system does not expose one of them, we look for another route to it before ruling anything out. Not sure? Ask on the call.

Your data

Your records stay yours.

Every report we touch lives in an account you own and control access to. We verify that no sensitive information will be shared before we generate anything. Our data-handling protocol keeps you in control of your records and keeps your business information private and confidential.

Our process: Together we set up a OneDrive or Google Drive folder you own, and verify that the reports we will generate contain no sensitive customer or staff contact details, passwords, or banking information. You share access with us and we build your dataset there. We keep no copy of your data or your reports, and you can end our access to the shared folder at any time. The analysis runs in a Claude account with training disabled, so your data is never used to train AI.

If you want tighter control still, we can build your business its own Claude-based AI operating system that runs the analysis under your own login, then train you on safe and efficient AI operations.

FAQ

Common questions.

What does it cost?

The Performance Diagnostic comes first and is priced to your shop. Any engagement is quoted after it, against what it found, priced to the value of the result and backed by our guarantee: an anonymized set of your own numbers has to show a defined return on the fee within the year. If the diagnostic cannot find that, the diagnostic is complimentary.

How long does the diagnostic take?

We build your dataset from your point of sale, so you are not the one running reports, and deliver the readout and ranked plan in days.

Do I have to change my point of sale?

No.

What happens to my data?

It lives in an account you own and control: we keep no copy, and your data is never used to train AI.

Find out what your shelves are hiding.

A complimentary call. No pitch deck. We share what our research is finding in shops like yours, and you will leave knowing where to look first, whether or not we end up working together.

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Treeline Consulting is a strategy consulting practice based in Kamloops, British Columbia, working with independent retail and service owners across BC and the Alberta Rockies. Founded by Justin Terwiel, it pairs AI-powered analysis of an anonymized set of a business's own records with fourteen years of operator experience, reading the numbers alongside the floor across four areas of performance: cashflow, inventory turn, margin, and technology. The owner gets a ranked plan, built and executed together, not a report. In one two-season engagement, a Kamloops-area retailer grew gross-profit dollars 18.1% over six months; Treeline freed $27,925 of trapped cash and repriced its best sellers for lasting margin along the way.