the total economic impact™ of surefire local · successful programs with surefire still included...

A Forrester Total Economic Impact™ Study

Commissioned By Surefire

June 2018

The Total Economic Impact™ Of Surefire Local

Cost Savings And Business Benefits Enabled By Using Surefire To Modernize Marketing And Optimize Digital Channels For Local Businesses

Table Of Contents Executive Summary 1

Key Findings 1

TEI Framework And Methodology 3

The Surefire Local Customer Journey 4

Interviewed Organizations 4

Surefire And Enterprise Partner Programs 4

Key Challenges For Local Businesses 5

Key Results 5

Financial Analysis 7

Incremental Profit From Increased Revenue Growth 7

Avoided Cost Of Website Maintenance And Digital Marketing Channels 8

Unquantified Benefits 9

Flexibility 10

Cost Of Surefire Services 11

Website Redesign 12

Financial Summary 13

Surefire Local: Overview 14

Appendix A: Total Economic Impact 15

Project Director:

Dean Davison

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1 | The Total Economic Impact™ Of Surefire Local

Executive Summary

Surefire provides a marketing platform to help local businesses improve

the digital marketing and increase revenue. Surefire commissioned

Forrester Consulting to conduct a Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) study

and examine the potential return on investment (ROI) enterprises may

realize by deploying Surefire Local. The purpose of this study is to provide

readers with a framework to evaluate the potential financial impact of the

Surefire Local on their organizations.

To better understand the benefits, costs, and risks associated with this

investment, Forrester interviewed several customers with years of

experience using Surefire Local. The interviewees included an enterprise

that profiles Surefire in its recommended partner program and two local

businesses that use Surefire to transform their approach to digital

marketing.

Prior to using Surefire, the customers struggled with online programs. One

local owner said: “We were paying for search marketing and buying key

words from Google. At that point, we were throwing darts against the wall

to see what would give us results. One time, I was so frustrated with it I

said, ‘I’m not investing any further in the internet.’”

After engaging with Surefire, the same owner said: “I have seen a definite

positive effect in advertising savings because I’m not insecure in what I’m

doing. When another vendor comes in and says, ‘You need to be doing

this, you need to be doing that, because you’re not reaching what you

need to reach.’ I think to myself, ‘Hey we’re making it, I don’t really need

your information.’ With Surefire, I feel confident in my internet approach

because I have a partner that really knows the best approach.”

Successful programs with Surefire still included AdWord programs with

paid search advertising and remarketing campaigns, but they were

provided with the professional skills of the Surefire team, which greatly

improved results. AdWords represented about 15% to 20% of site traffic,

thereby increasing opportunity for customer engagement.

Key Findings

Quantified benefits. The following risk-adjusted quantified PV benefits

are representative of those experienced by the companies interviewed:

› Incremental profit from increased revenue growth of $408,932. The

local business increased their average growth rate from 4% to 10% with

effective websites and digital marketing tools and campaigns. The higher

growth provided income and incremental profit calculated using a 12%

net margin.

› Avoided cost of website maintenance and digital marketing

channels of $49,613. The business owners shifted from a self-

described “crapshoot” with spending on digital channels to having a

decisive strategy and demonstrable results. Instead of wondering if they

realized value, they had metrics that showed business impact.

Unquantified benefits. The interviewed organizations experienced the

following benefits, which are not quantified for this study:

› Surefire brings a collection of specialists to clients. The business

owners described the value of having a range of subject-matter experts

from Surefire. They could not afford to employ these experts individually

and it added a level of professionalism to their companies.

Benefits And Costs

Incremental profit from higher revenue growth:

$408,932

Avoided costs from previous approaches to marketing and digital channels:

$49,613

Total cost for Surefire and website redesign over three years:

$94,565


› Feedback from peers validated the Surefire approach. One owner

described a constant flow of compliments from peers who admired the

website and expressed their intent to duplicate the same look and feel.

› Freeing up time to work on other critical projects. By spending less

time on technology issues and marketing overall, the owners focused on

other aspects of their business, such as CRM tools, accounting

processes, and front-line operations.

Costs. The interviewed organizations experienced the following risk-

adjusted PV costs:

› Cost of Surefire services of $74,606 over three years. The

companies paid an average of $2,500 per month for an all-inclusive list

of services ranging from website hosting to SEO tools, including a

marketing coach.

› Website redesign at a total cost of $24,150. In the second year of

working with Surefire, the owners paid $7,000 to Surefire and the

balance in employee time to redesign their website to leverage more

modern capabilities and enable improved metrics.

Forrester’s interviews with three existing customers and subsequent

financial analysis found that an organization based on these interviewed

organizations experienced benefits of $458,545 over three years versus

costs of $94,565, adding up to a net present value (NPV) of $363,980 and

an ROI of 385%.

Total benefits

PV, $459K

Total costs PV,

$95KInitial Year 1 Year 2 Year 3

Financial Summary

Payback: <3 months

$408.9K

$49.6K

Incremental profit fromhigher revenue growth

Avoided cost of exisitingwebsite hosting

Benefits (Three-Year)

ROI 385%

Benefits PV $458,545

NPV $363,980

Payback <3 months


TEI Framework And Methodology

From the information provided in the interviews, Forrester has constructed

a Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) framework for those organizations

considering implementing Surefire Local.

The objective of the framework is to identify the cost, benefit, flexibility, and

risk factors that affect the investment decision. Forrester took a multistep

approach to evaluate the impact that Surefire Local can have on an

organization:

DUE DILIGENCE Interviewed Surefire stakeholders and Forrester analysts to gather data relative to Surefire Local.

CUSTOMER INTERVIEWS Interviewed three organizations using Surefire Local to obtain data with respect to costs, benefits, and risks.

COMPOSITE ORGANIZATION Designed a composite organization based on characteristics of the interviewed organizations.

FINANCIAL MODEL FRAMEWORK Constructed a financial model representative of the interviews using the TEI methodology and risk-adjusted the financial model based on issues and concerns of the interviewed organizations.

CASE STUDY Employed four fundamental elements of TEI in modeling Surefire Local’s impact: benefits, costs, flexibility, and risks. Given the increasing sophistication that enterprises have regarding ROI analyses related to IT investments, Forrester’s TEI methodology serves to provide a complete picture of the total economic impact of purchase decisions. Please see Appendix A for additional information on the TEI methodology.

The TEI methodology

helps companies

demonstrate, justify,

and realize the

tangible value of IT

initiatives to both

senior management

and other key

business

stakeholders.

DISCLOSURES

Readers should be aware of the following:

This study is commissioned by Surefire and delivered by Forrester Consulting.

It is not meant to be used as a competitive analysis.

Forrester makes no assumptions as to the potential ROI that other

organizations will receive. Forrester strongly advises that readers use their own

estimates within the framework provided in the report to determine the

appropriateness of an investment in Surefire Local.

Surefire reviewed and provided feedback to Forrester, but Forrester maintains

editorial control over the study and its findings and does not accept changes to

the study that contradict Forrester’s findings or obscure the meaning of the

study.

Surefire provided the customer names for the interviews but did not participate

in the interviews.


The Surefire Local Customer Journey

BEFORE AND AFTER THE SUREFIRE INVESTMENT

Interviewed Organizations

For this study, Forrester conducted three interviews with Surefire

customers. Interviewed customers include the following:

Surefire And Enterprise Partner Programs

Forrester interviewed a company that promotes Surefire in its preferred

partner program. The executive managing the program indicated that it:

› Recommends vendor partners for local contractors and

businesses that use the company’s products. The company has

thousands of contractors around North America that rely on key

business partners. After a lengthy selection, the company included

Surefire as one of a dozen recommended partners for local

contractors.

› Selects partners after a careful evaluation. The company selects

only partners with:

• A proven record working with existing contractors.

• A sustainable business model.

• Secure and robust technology solutions.

› Leverages feedback and recommendations from local

contractors. The company gathers anecdotal feedback and

proactively deploys surveys and other primary research tools to gather

insights from thousands of contractors.

› Includes Surefire as a recommended partner. In addition to

feedback from numerous partners, the company said that it was

impressed by Surefire’s ROI portal, it’s constant level of new ideas and

innovation, and the future capabilities for helping contractors define

and manage processes around demand generation — i.e.,

transitioning from lead to proposal to customer.

› Builds on client’s experience and expertise. The company worked

with Surefire for several years, which allowed it to launch successful

campaigns with near-immediate ROI by leveraging the history of

testing, research, and performance data across dozens of ad

campaigns.

INDUSTRY PROFILE LOCATION NUMBER OF AGENTS

Construction Enterprise manufacturing construction products

North America

Manages preferred partner program that recommends business services to local contractors that use, sell, or resell the company’s products.

Construction Local business owner providing roofing services

Eastern United States Contractor generates about 20 million in revenue annually with approximately 160 employees.

Construction Local business owner providing roofing services

Southern United Sates Contractor generates several million in revenue annually with approximately 50 employees and subcontractors.


› Reinforces brand awareness and optimizes advertising budget.

The company ran an integrated remarketing campaign that reinforced

brand awareness along with key benefits during various phases of the

customer purchase cycle. Executives used remarketing to maximize

spending against previous site visitors who were more likely to convert,

and less expensive to target.

Key Challenges For Local Businesses

Before engaging with Surefire, the local businesses told Forrester that

they experienced the following challenges:

› Lacking sophisticated marketing expertise. One owner said: “When

we started with marketing and advertising, it was kind of a crapshoot.

There wasn’t really much tracking of anything behind the marketing

budget. Later, we started putting call-tracking numbers on everything.

We revamped our whole accounting and started tracking the numbers,

started knowing the numbers, started paying attention to results, and

started weeding things out.”

› Relying on repeat business and customer referrals. The same

owner told Forrester: “We were spending 100% of our marketing

advertising dollars on acquiring what I call new clients while 60% to

70% of our business came from previous customers – referrals, friends

and families. We had a light bulb go off and we thought, ‘This is crazy.’”

› Experimenting with websites and digital channels. An owner said

about his company’s transition to online business: “We wanted to

dominate the online world, we wanted to be the dominant contractor in

our marketplace, period. We wanted to be dominant on organic SEO

and have an awesome website and be the company that everyone

aspires to be like. That was our vision and goal.”

Key Results

The interviews revealed that key results from working with Surefire

include:

› Consolidated spending on fewer channels. One owner said: “We

used to be in probably close to 50 various sources. We’re down to

about 25 to 30. We pulled out of print pretty much altogether. There are

a few little neighborhood pockets where we go to have local, feel-good

community neighborhood.”

› Leveraged third-party accreditation channels. The executive

continued: “We work with Angie's List and Better Business Bureau

(BBB) and some others. They're marketing, they generate leads, but

they also provide a form of validation or accreditation where they verify

your credibility as a contractor. There are a couple of other ones.

HomeAdvisor now has a few different platforms. We've done some

work with Yelp.”

› Achieved results with a mix of existing channels. One of the

owners described his research: “I did some Q&A with my customers to

try and track channels. They would say websites, but really, they saw

us because we were in the neighborhood and they saw our truck and

then they Googled it. Is that really our website doing the word or is it

our trucks? It’s a combination of tools, channels, and advertising.”

“We were spending 100% of

our marketing advertising

dollars on acquiring what I call

new clients while 60% to 70%

of our business came from

previous customers —

referrals, friends, and families.

We had a light bulb go off and

we thought, ‘This is crazy.’”

Owner, local construction

business owner

“You have to be able to be

easily found, you have to be

fresh, you have to be relative,

all that kind of stuff. That's

what Surefire does for us. I

don't know who else is out

there and what the

marketplace is really doing. All

I would say is that they

[Surefire] work great for us.”

Owner, local construction

business owner


› Achieved a professional and cutting-edge digital presence. One

owner said: “You have to be able to be easily found, you have to be

fresh, you have to be relative, all that kind of stuff. That's what Surefire

does for us. I don't know who else is out there and what the

marketplace is really doing. All I would say is that they [Surefire] work

great for us. And that's partly due because I have an awesome coach

that does a fantastic job.”

› Leveraged non-traditional information sources for marketing

programs. Clients worked with Surefire to tap into weather-driven

opportunities by monitoring weather in client regions and adjusting

budgets and keyword bids during periods of inclement weather. As a

result, interviewed companies were able to capture short-term spikes

in searches related to roof repairs, roof leaks, or emergency roofing

services; leads increase by as much as 258% during weather-triggered

events.


The table above shows the total of all benefits across the areas listed below, as well as present values (PVs) discounted at 10%. Over three years, the composite organization expects risk-adjusted total benefits to be a PV of $458,545.

Incremental profit from increased revenue growth:

79% of total benefits

Financial Analysis

QUANTIFIED BENEFIT AND COST DATA AS APPLIED TO THE COMPOSITE

Incremental Profit From Increased Revenue Growth

The business owners said that they realized an increase in revenue.

While they were already experimenting with digital channels, Surefire

provided an effective migration to digital.

One owner told Forrester how he dabbled in creating a website and

experimented with buying search words. The owner admitted that he

lacked the knowledge to effectively pursue either of these approaches.

While hiring Surefire cost more than his previous attempts, the results

were spectacular and increased the average revenue growth for the

company.

To show this increase in revenue, Forrester modeled a company with

$12 million in annual revenue that grows at 4% per year. After adopting

Surefire, the improved digital channels result in a growth rate of 10%.

Over three years, the increased growth yields more than $2.7 million in

incremental revenue.

Both of the companies that Forrester interviewed experienced an uplift in

revenue after using Surefire, but the results realized by readers will vary

widely based on the state of their internal projects before working with

Surefire. To account for this risk, Forrester adjusted this benefit

downward by 10%, yielding a three-year risk-adjusted total PV of

$408,932.

Total Benefits

REF. BENEFIT YEAR 1 YEAR 2 YEAR 3 TOTAL PRESENT

VALUE

Atr Incremental profit from increased revenue growth

$77,760 $166,406 $267,152 $511,319 $408,932

Btr Avoided cost of website maintenance and digital marketing channels

$19,950 $19,950 $19,950 $59,850 $49,613

Total benefits (risk-adjusted) $97,710 $186,356 $287,102 $571,169 $458,545

79%

three-year benefit PV

$408,932


Avoided cost of website maintenance and digital

marketing channels: 10% of total benefits

Avoided Cost Of Website Maintenance And Digital

Marketing Channels

Each of the organizations knew that digital channels were becoming

increasingly important but lacked the skills to navigate the various

opportunities. One owner said: “We had no clue what we were doing. We

heard about paying for search marketing and buying key words from

Google. For us at that point, we were just throwing darts up against the

wall to see what would give us results.”

Both organizations were able to eliminate or better focus the spending on

website and other digital channels. While Surefire was more expensive

that these previous alternatives, it also yielded significantly better results

and gave the owners confidence in their digital direction. Forrester

believes that most readers will experience a similar result and adjusted

this benefit downward by only 5%, yielding a three-year risk-adjusted

total PV of $49,613.

Incremental Profit From Increased Revenue Growth: Calculation Table

REF. METRIC CALC. YEAR 1 YEAR 2 YEAR 3

A1 Growth using traditional channels using a baseline of $12,000,000 revenue

4% growth $12,480,000 $12,979,200 $13,498,368

A2 Growth using traditional channels using a baseline of $12,000,000 revenue

10% growth $13,200,000 $14,520,000 $15,972,000

A3 Incremental revenue A2-A1 $720,000 $1,540,800 $2,473,632

A4 Net profit margin 12% 12% 12%

At Incremental profit from increased revenue growth

A3*A4 $86,400 $184,896 $296,836

Risk adjustment ↓10%

Atr Incremental profit from increased revenue growth (risk-adjusted)

$77,760 $166,406 $267,152

Avoided Cost Of Website Maintenance And Digital Marketing Channels: Calculation Table

REF. METRIC CALC. YEAR 1 YEAR 2 YEAR 3

B1 Cost of site hosting and maintenance $12,000 $12,000 $12,000

B2 Cost for digital program such as SEO and search word advertising

$9,000 $9,000 $9,000

Bt Avoided cost of website maintenance and digital marketing channels

C1+C2 $21,000 $21,000 $21,000

Risk adjustment ↓5%

Btr Avoided cost of website maintenance and digital marketing channels (risk-adjusted)

$19,950 $19,950 $19,950

10%

three-year benefit PV

$49,613


Impact risk is the risk that the business or technology needs of the organization may not be met by the investment, resulting in lower overall total benefits. The greater the uncertainty, the wider the potential range of outcomes for benefit estimates.

Unquantified Benefits

The organizations reported additional benefits from working with Surefire

that it was unable to specifically measure or quantify.

› Surefire brings a collection of specialists to clients. An owner told

Forrester: “When we looked at Surefire, we saw a team of people that

were all esteemed and respected and highly prized in their individual

specialties across the country and across the globe. They have this

team of resources, this team of minds, this team of people that were all

specialized in their fields who are working for me behind the scenes.

And I like that idea of having a collective pool of resources working for

our company instead of just one person.”

› Feedback from peers validated the Surefire approach. The owner

continued: “We have tons of people that check out our website and

learn about what we are doing. I’ve never had any negative feedback.

Everyone that I talk with says, ‘Man, you guys, your website is solid.’

Or, ‘Your website looks great, it functions good.’ ‘We want to copy your

style,’ or, ‘We want to be more like you.’ I’m always getting feedback

from other people.”

› Freeing up time to work on other critical projects. The same owner

said, “In the last few years, I had been spending a lot of efforts on just

our technology growth side of the systems and processes. We’ve

implemented a new CRM. We’ve built around software for payroll. I’ve

been putting a lot of my energy and efforts into systems software

processes, trying to add technology to make us more efficient and

more effective to serve our customers.”


Flexibility, as defined by TEI, represents an investment in additional capacity or capability that could be turned into business benefit for a future additional investment. This provides an organization with the "right" or the ability to engage in future initiatives but not the obligation to do so.

Flexibility

The value of flexibility is clearly unique to each customer, and the

measure of its value varies from organization to organization. There are

multiple scenarios in which a customer might choose to implement

Surefire Local and later realize additional uses and business

opportunities, including:

› Adapting to real-world leading indicators of business. One local

owner said: “One day I was talking to my Surefire coach and he said,

‘Man, we’re not up this month.’ And I said, ‘We shouldn’t be up.’ He

responded, ‘What are you talking about?’ And I told him, ‘We’re behind

on the rain this year. Our business volume is always determined by the

amount of rain we get in a year. The next week in my metrics, I saw

that Surefire was tracking the yearly rainfall for my city. We now gauge

how leads are coming in light of rain and in light of our ad program.” If

you look at it without understanding the broader context that comes

from real-world experience, you can get frustrated with advertising

results.”

› Shifting the business focus to marketing. One of the owners told

Forrester: “I’m thinking of entering into a couple of other businesses

and really trying to market other products a little bit more. We’ve

always offered other services, but we didn’t sell many of them. Now

that our marketing is going so well, we might increase our investment

into new product areas. In hindsight, I think our core competency might

changing from roofing to marketing.”

› Hiring marketing professionals that understand new markets. An

owner said: “As we got results using Surefire, I realized that we need

to stay further out in front of things with our marketing. Personally, I

realized that I’m older and don’t want to change. We hired a younger

person with an MBA who can stay on the cutting edge of emerging

technologies, such as mobile apps, that create new business

opportunities.”

Flexibility would also be quantified when evaluated as part of a specific

project (described in more detail in Appendix A).


The table above shows the total of all costs across the areas listed below, as well as present values (PVs) discounted at 10%. Over three years, the composite organization expects risk-adjusted total costs to be a PV of $94,565.

Cost Of Surefire Services

The organizations paid an average of $2,500 per month for fees to

Surefire Local. The services included the following:

› Marketing coach.

› Local directory submission.

› Social media monitoring and responding.

› Analytics dashboard.

› Integration with Mobile App.

› Keyword diagnostics.

› SEO ranking and analysis.

› Advanced website content.

› Social media and blog writing.

› Domain name and web hosting.

› Website maintenance.

Forrester did not risk-adjusted this cost, resulting a three-year risk-

adjusted total PV of $74,606.

Total Costs

REF. COST INITIAL YEAR 1 YEAR 2 YEAR 3 TOTAL PRESENT

VALUE

Ctr Cost of Surefire services $0 $30,000 $30,000 $30,000 $90,000 $74,606

Dtr Website redesign $0 $0 $24,150 $0 $24,150 $19,959

Total costs (risk-adjusted) $0 $30,000 $54,150 $30,000 $114,150 $94,565

Cost Of Surefire Services: Calculation Table

REF. METRIC CALC. INITIAL YEAR 1 YEAR 2 YEAR 3

D1 Fees paid for Surefire services $30,000 $30,000 $30,000

Dt Cost of Surefire services =D1 $30,000 $30,000 $30,000

Risk adjustment 0%

Dtr Cost of Surefire services (risk-adjusted)

$30,000 $30,000 $30,000


Implementation risk is the risk that a proposed investment may deviate from the original or expected requirements, resulting in higher costs than anticipated. The greater the uncertainty, the wider the potential range of outcomes for cost estimates.

Website Redesign

In the second year of the relationship, the owners had developed enough

trust in Surefire to redesign their website. The project took time and effort

for the companies but allowed them to leverage newer technologies and

create a more polished look. This yielded benefits that include a stronger

reputation among peers as well as a more positive reception from

potential customers that see the company name elsewhere and go to the

website to learn more.

The organizations spent $16,000 of employee time, which included two

employees working 20% of their time for six months. The work by

Surefire cost an additional $7,000. Forrester adjusted this cost upward

by 5% to account for variation in the effort and complexity of websites

required by readers. The result yielded a three-year risk-adjusted total

PV of $49,613.

Website Redesign: Calculation Table

REF. METRIC CALC. INITIAL YEAR 1 YEAR 2 YEAR 3

E1 Fees for Surefire work $7,000

E2 Time for two employees that spent 20% of time for six months (FTE years)

0.2

E3 Annual burdened salary $80,000

E4 Cost for internal staff E2*E3 $16,000

Et Website redesign E1+E4 $0 $0 $23,000 $0

Risk adjustment 5%

Etr Website redesign (risk-adjusted) $0 $0 $24,150 $0


The financial results calculated in the Benefits and Costs sections can be used to determine the ROI, NPV, and payback period for the composite organization's investment. Forrester assumes a yearly discount rate of 10% for this analysis.

Financial Summary

CONSOLIDATED THREE-YEAR RISK-ADJUSTED METRICS

Cash Flow Chart (Risk-Adjusted)

-$0.1 M

$0.1 M

$0.2 M

$0.3 M

$0.4 M

$0.5 M

Initial Year 1 Year 2 Year 3

Cashflows

Total costs

Total benefits

Cumulative net benefits

These risk-adjusted ROI,

NPV, and payback period

values are determined by

applying risk-adjustment

factors to the unadjusted

results in each Benefit and

Cost section.

Cash Flow Table (Risk-Adjusted)

INITIAL YEAR 1 YEAR 2 YEAR 3 TOTAL PRESENT VALUE

Total costs $0 ($30,000) ($54,150) ($30,000) ($114,150) ($94,565)

Total benefits $0 $97,710 $186,356 $287,102 $571,169 $458,545

Net benefits $0 $67,710 $132,206 $257,102 $457,019 $363,980

ROI 385%

Payback period <3 months


Surefire Local: Overview

The following information is provided by Surefire. Forrester has not validated any claims and does not endorse

Surefire or its offerings.

Description of the Vendor’s product and features. Table or chart inclusion optional as needed.


Appendix A: Total Economic Impact

Total Economic Impact is a methodology developed by Forrester

Research that enhances a company’s technology decision-making

processes and assists vendors in communicating the value proposition

of their products and services to clients. The TEI methodology helps

companies demonstrate, justify, and realize the tangible value of IT

initiatives to both senior management and other key business

stakeholders.

Total Economic Impact Approach

Benefits represent the value delivered to the business by the

product. The TEI methodology places equal weight on the

measure of benefits and the measure of costs, allowing for a

full examination of the effect of the technology on the entire

organization.

Costs consider all expenses necessary to deliver the

proposed value, or benefits, of the product. The cost category

within TEI captures incremental costs over the existing

environment for ongoing costs associated with the solution.

Flexibility represents the strategic value that can be

obtained for some future additional investment building on

top of the initial investment already made. Having the ability

to capture that benefit has a PV that can be estimated.

Risks measure the uncertainty of benefit and cost estimates

given: 1) the likelihood that estimates will meet original

projections and 2) the likelihood that estimates will be

tracked over time. TEI risk factors are based on “triangular

distribution.”

The initial investment column contains costs incurred at “time 0” or at the

beginning of Year 1 that are not discounted. All other cash flows are discounted

using the discount rate at the end of the year. PV calculations are calculated for

each total cost and benefit estimate. NPV calculations in the summary tables are

the sum of the initial investment and the discounted cash flows in each year.

Sums and present value calculations of the Total Benefits, Total Costs, and

Cash Flow tables may not exactly add up, as some rounding may occur.

PRESENT VALUE (PV)

The present or current value of (discounted) cost and benefit estimates given at an interest rate (the discount rate). The PV of costs and benefits feed into the total NPV of cash flows.

NET PRESENT VALUE (NPV)

The present or current value of (discounted) future net cash flows given an interest rate (the discount rate). A positive project NPV normally indicates that the investment should be made, unless other projects have higher NPVs.

RETURN ON INVESTMENT (ROI)

A project’s expected return in percentage terms. ROI is calculated by dividing net benefits (benefits less costs) by costs.

DISCOUNT RATE

The interest rate used in cash flow analysis to take into account the time value of money. Organizations typically use discount rates between 8% and 16%.

PAYBACK PERIOD

The breakeven point for an investment. This is the point in time at which net benefits (benefits minus costs) equal initial investment or cost.

the total economic impact™ of surefire local · successful programs with surefire still included...

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