Issue #81

3 Strategies To Unlock Profitable Growth

Growing profitably means breaking the link between costs and revenue. If every time you increase sales your costs rise in line, then you are just making a bigger problem to be solved everyday.

That may be growth, but it is not sustainable.

The benefits of increased sales need to be realised as you grow or eventually the business will collapse under its own weight.

The answer is the decoupling of costs and revenue and the never ending search for productivity.

Here’s how to do it.

1. Implement Scalable Systems

Scalable systems let you grow without ballooning costs. It is all about finding ways to delete, streamline, or automate processes.

The way you do this is:

1. Identify repetitive or inefficient tasks.
2. Break the task into its core steps.
3. Determine which steps can be streamlined or eliminated.
4. Automate where possible using technology or software.
5. Monitor and refine the system to improve efficiency over time.

Example: Airbnb scaled customer service ops using AI chatbots and automated workflows.

Instead of hiring thousands of new support agents as bookings grew, Airbnb used AI tools to handle routine inquiries. leaving human agents to focus on complex issues.

This allowed them to expand globally without proportional increases in support costs.

2. Diversify Your Offerings

A broader product mix spreads risk and increases revenue without proportionally increasing costs.

There are four ways to grow a business:

• Sell new products to existing customers (recommended): Use established relationships to expand offerings efficiently - this is the recommended way to diversify.
• Sell existing products to new customers: What your sales team does every day to grow revenue.
• Sell more existing products to existing customers: What your customer service team does through upselling and renewals.
• Sell new products to new customers: not so much diversifying as starting a new business. The is not a priority when optimising for profitable growth.

Example: ConvertKit, initially an email marketing tool, introduced e-commerce features and paid newsletter capabilities.

Instead of chasing new customers, they sold new features to existing users, increasing revenue while keeping acquisition costs low.

3. Outsource Strategically

Outsourcing frees up time and capital by shifting non-core activities to specialised providers.

However, if you outsource without oversight, you can lose critical internal knowledge over time.

No part of your business should be unmanaged by someone in-house, even if execution is outsourced.

Example: Shopify outsources aspects of customer support but ensures a dedicated internal team continuously trains outsourced agents and monitors quality.

This keeps operational costs in check while maintaining high service standards.

Bonus Idea: Focus on Customer Retention

Keeping customers costs far less than acquiring new ones. Strong relationships, great service, and personalised experiences increase lifetime value.

Example: Costco's membership model ensures customer retention by offering exclusive benefits and discounts. Members feel invested, which reduces churn and strengthens long-term loyalty.

Final Thought

"A business that is not growing after a certain stage is dying." – Peter Drucker.

The fundamental law of the universe is that things fall apart - so unless you want to wake up one day to an empty order book, you have to pursue profitable growth.

In the meantime, get the whole company selling, read this.

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If you are ready to take a step up in your sales career I can help - you can get my foundations course here or drop me a line to discuss personal or team based projects to increase your revenue.